Aaron Pride, PhD

How Meningitis Affected My Brain – and My Life I survived meningitis, seemingly unaffected. It took years to understand the true impact.

One of the greatest things about vaccines is that they prevent meningitis, which can be life-altering even if you survive.

"If you get the disease, you may not live. And even if you do, it’s a long road ahead." www.voicesforvaccines.org/meningitis-e...

From a journalist friend: Just spreading the word. The CDC is purging data, so people should archive their favorite CDC datasets today, namely ones around race/ethnic diversity, LGBTQ, and reproductive health. Also health data involving climate. The youth risk behavior survey has already gone down.

PSA: Influenza vaccination is a great way to avoid the worst outcomes of an influenza infection.

Are you affected by the Trump administration’s pause on health communications, science meetings, and reviews? Have you been affected by the Trump administration’s pause on communications, science meetings, and reviews? @statnews would like to hear from you.

Several databases at the #CDC have gone offline today. We know of some — Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, AtlasPlus. There are undoubtedly more.
If you are a researcher & use these databases, please share with @statnews.com how this will affect your work.
www.statnews.com/2025/01/25/t...

Interim estimates of vaccine effectiveness against influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 and A(H3N2) during a delayed influenza season, Canada, 2024/25 The Canadian Sentinel Practitioner Surveillance Network (SPSN) reports interim 2024/25 vaccine effectiveness (VE) against acute respiratory illness due to laboratory-confirmed influenza during a delay...

Interim estimates of vaccine effectiveness against influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 and A(H3N2) during a delayed influenza season, Canada, 2024/25
" Adjusted VE is 53% (95% CI: 36–65) against A(H1N1)pdm09"
#IDSky
@eurosurveillance.org

www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2...

There’s a related joke here somewhere about Children’s Health Defense- something something “defending children from the horrors of adulthood”. Very cool onesie btw :)

No apologies necessary, it was pretty dark already :|

Why do you think they have been dismantling education for decades? Also I’m not even sure if I’m joking or not

a man with white hair and a beard is talking about taking crazy pills . ALT: a man with white hair and a beard is talking about taking crazy pills .

I’m getting the same feeling as trying to explain why the earth is round to a family member.

If he wants to end chronic disease my recommendation would be to do something about the policies his president is helping put into place to dismantle social support. But given his focus on food dyes and how life was better in the 50s, maybe he’s not familiar with social determinants of health…

The perennial problem of "when nothing happens, the intervention worked". You see a ton of people with kids injured by preventable diseases with similar regrets they did NOT vaccinate.

When we think about social determinants of health/the socioecological model, primordial prevention is some of the best ROI on resources spent -> this kind of action specifically rests (for me) solidly within that concept. Plus, I enjoy the glimmer of hope in a particularly dark time.

Some of the "vaccines as miracles" framing is a bummer, because they've set expectations of performance way, way too high. Are vaccines incredible? 100%. Is the effect they've had on avoidable morbidity and mortality unquestionably a success? 100% But a miracle? No, just rigorous applied science.

Is there a possible future where innovators that aren't already billionaires see the writing on the wall and flee? The brain drain across multiple industries, not just public health, is terrifying to me. I guess it's time to put out good science while I can!

I feel like we'll see pockets of near-zero vaccination coverage become the norm, and then we'll get what's happening in Minnesota and Kansas happening everywhere. Even if national coverage is seemingly high (spoiler alert: it's not), it's deceptive in its obscuring the true impact of vaccine refusal

Flu Put Me in A Nursing Home… at 38 I never got my flu shot, until one winter the virus put me in a 10 day coma. This is my cautionary tale.

Charlie had no risk factors for influenza, so he never got the vaccine. Until one unlucky year, the virus changed his life.

"If you can prevent it with a fifteen-minute wait and minor pain in your arm for a day, that is absolutely worth the trade-off." www.voicesforvaccines.org/influenza-pu...

Scope of the communications hold on federal health agencies expands

The pause encompasses government-related scientific meetings, travel, and the National Institutes of Health grant review process.

www.cidrap.umn.edu/m...

Trump administration’s abrupt cancellation of scientific meetings prompts confusion, concern A flurry of scientific gatherings and panels across federal science agencies were canceled on Wednesday, at a time of heightened sensitivity about how the

+1 - According to STAT, a Feb. 20-21 meeting of the National Vaccine Advisory Committee was also canceled.
www.statnews.com/2025/01/22/t... via @statnews.com

Public health under attack from within. Day 3 of the new Trump Administration was an "own goal" against our shared interests.

Today was as busy a day in public health news as I can remember since the peak of Covid.

Here's a rundown on what happened, all in one place.

(In the Brief19 tradition)...
open.substack.com/pub/insideme...

For those of you who vaccinate, in the event (god forbid) that the ACIP collapses, who will you look to for recommendations or guidance? A given medical society, a trusted expert, or…? What happens in a post-MMWR landscape? Personally I hope that this “pause for review” is only temporary.

Why Should I Trust You? News Commentary Podcast · 5 Episodes · Updated Weekly

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...
Who should we trust about vaccines?

Large global study finds strong trust in science, lessons for improved communication

With moderately high trust in scientists, respondents wanted a higher priority on public health, energy challenges, and poverty.

www.cidrap.umn.edu/a...

#CWD prions confirmed in raw, cooked elk meat, water used for boiling, but risk to people unclear

Grilling boosted detection of prions, which the authors say may be because heat helps release prions trapped in tissue.

www.cidrap.umn.edu/c...

Photo: Oregon DOA / Flickr cc

Trump officials pause health agencies’ communications, citing review The agencies are charged with making decisions that touch the lives of every American and are the source of crucial information to health-care providers.

Trump officials pause health agencies’ communications, citing review - including publications such as MMWR , data updates and health data releases. wapo.st/4aqfN44

US flu activity still high, with 11 new deaths in kids


Outpatient visits for flu are trending down, but the CDC said this not likely because the flu season has peaked.


www.cidrap.umn.edu/i...

CDC urges faster testing to find human bird flu cases The agency says labs should accelerate testing on patients hospitalized with the flu within 24 hours of their admission.

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday urged labs nationwide to determine within 24 hours of admission whether people hospitalized with the flu have seasonal influenza or are infected with the bird flu that's behind an escalating outbreak in dairy cows and poultry”

This kind of spread honestly terrifies me worse than most transmissible diseases--maybe with the exception of avian flu. I know it remains unlikely that we see this as widespread concern for humanity in terms of active transmission, but it is a viscerally uncomfortable proposition.

How one solar-powered fridge brought relief to rural South Sudan The global vaccine cold chain is a branching network with myriad endpoints. In South Sudan, reporter Winnie Cirino profiled one of them.

In Omeo, South Sudan, a single solar-powered vaccine fridge is revolutionising immunisation. Vaccines are now available locally with no more delays, saving time and lives. Here’s the full story:

I guess that's the challenge, though - how to have consistent, powerful messaging that inspires confidence in vaccines in a time of great uncertainty without putting them beyond the reach of what they can deliver. Great article!

I wonder if our collective pubhealth messaging should avoid the use of "miracle". It applies a layer of expectation to vaccines that demands more than what is possible from medicine. Vaccines aren't perfect, but we shouldn't expect perfect, and to your point the preventative benefit is unparalleled.