This piece stays at the right level of zoomed out and has the right take home messages imo! bsky.app/profile/josh...

I don’t know who needs to hear this but the CDC is being eviscerated right now. America is not going to have any kind of outbreak response capacity after tonight. Americans’ health data is no longer secure. Say goodbye to federal public health in any capacity. It’s a disaster. We won’t recover.

Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials

This is beyond bad. All of our disease defenses are down now. We are sitting ducks. This is #RussellVought #DonaldTrump #RFKJr. They are endangering American lives with their insane crusade. These men are hazardous to your health and dangerous to the republic. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

Full frontal attack on public health

Changes at NIH Give Political Appointees Greater Power To Fund or Block Research - KFF Health News The National Institutes of Health’s long-held standard of peer review for grantmaking has been subverted by President Donald Trump and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, who gave unprecedented power to po...

IMO this hasn't gotten enough attention: a recent memo at NIH announces that peer review will be devalued in determining which grants get funded, granting more power to political appointees to make decisions based on the admin's whims over scientific merit

kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

This ought to be engraved somewhere.

Trump said today that he heard rumors that people in Cuba are too poor to buy acetaminophen and autism doesn’t exist there. Both of these statements are incorrect.

Rumors is a great album by Fleetwood Mac but not a great basis for public health policy.

States rally to offset fracturing of federal healthcare agencies: ‘Diseases don’t see state lines’ Changes to regulatory or information environments will help states decouple from federal health recommendations

Eight states and New York City officially announced the Northeast Public Health Collaborative this week, while the West Coast Health Alliance released its first vaccination guidelines. My latest:
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

As the RFK antivax gang dismantles vaccine access, kids will suffer, along with their families

As will the child health care work force 👇🏾

“There can be beauty, even when the worst of humanity is on display.”

Play Fruit Merge | Games | CBC Kids Use your mouse to drop and combine fruit, making even bigger pieces of fruit!

If you need an ad-free mental distraction from <gestures at everything>, I have found the Fruit Merge game on the CBC Kids website very addictive and fun: www.cbc.ca/kids/games/p...

Can You Still Get the Covid Shot?

I know this isn't the news right now. But I have some updated info on Covid vax availability.

Several states where CVS/Walgreens weren't offering them or required Rx 1.5 wks ago now have them without Rx because of state officials' actions.

But still 13 states where CVS and/or Walgreens require Rx.

At least 19 Russian drones crossed into Polish air space last night. This was not an accidental breach or a mistake.

Elon Musk Torpedoed a Beloved Pediatric Cancer Bill. It’s Yet to Recover. Sometimes, a good piece of legislation fails to become a law for one simple, stupid reason: congressional inertia.

"In the context of the larger fight against cancer, the failure to pass the Give Kids a Chance Act is just one of many political setbacks." A failure, a disgrace, and an abdication of congressional responsibility.

U.S. map showing where COVID vaccines are available (green), available with a doctor’s prescription (yellow), and not available (Nevada - purple).

If you are wondering whether or not you can get a COVID vaccine, wonder no more…

🧪#MedSky

Aside from the incredibly flimsy evidence claiming a link between ASD and acetaminophen use in pregnancy, there is something remarkably cruel about effectively trying to restrict one of very few pain medications that are known to be safe in pregnancy.

Don’t let them tell you he’s joking.

He’s putting armed troops in the streets.

Not a joke. Not a drill.

A functional Congress that remembers its Article I duties would be amazing right now.

"How did you go fascist?"

"Two ways: gradually, then suddenly"

The States Where It’s Riskier to Have a Baby In places with significant abortion restrictions, many pregnant women experience delays, confusion, and other substandard care.

and “People are dying from being pregnant.”

Read my story, about how abortion bans hurt obstetric care, at the gift link below: www.theatlantic.com/family/archi...

It’s not that they will take away your grants. It’s that they will always move the goalposts.

too many tales like this one
too many insanely great ideas
too much accomplishment
too much promise

all of it suffocated by design

We could have had cancer vaccines, and instead the United States will contribute nothing whatsoever to mRNA research, condemning millions of people worldwide to unnecessary illness and death

A “Striking” Trend: After Texas Banned Abortion, More Women Nearly Bled to Death During Miscarriage A new ProPublica data analysis adds to the mounting evidence that abortion bans have made the common experience of first-trimester miscarriage far more dangerous.

More women have nearly bled to death during miscarriage under Texas’ abortion ban.

Experts say the trend paints a troubling picture of the harms of unnecessary delays in care.

“This is striking,” one doctor said. “The trend is very clear.”

There's a Major Publishing Slowdown at CDC's Flagship Journal Each MMWR article now requires clearance by the HHS secretary, sources said

Each MMWR article now requires clearance by the HHS secretary
www.medpagetoday.com/special-repo...

Translation for non-scientists. The major funder for cancer research in the world is now only funding proposals that score in top 4 percent. They’re funding roughly 2/3 fewer proposals than they had in recent years. I suspect the funding line has actually never been this low.

Cancer vaccines and the future of immunotherapy Vaccines have had a major impact on the control of infectious disease, most recently by helping to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Prophylactic cancer vaccines have prevented several malignancies by pro...

🗨️ “Vaccines have done more to improve public health than any other medical intervention.”

A Viewpoint focuses on cancer vaccines & the future of immunotherapy—analysing trials & how the next generation of cancer vaccines can help improve patient outcomes & quality of life. tinyurl.com/n94jsbju

I still can’t believe that all NIH grants to my colleagues at Harvard and Harvard Medical School have been nullified. And that, as a nation, we’re somehow okay with this illegal, arbitrary, and petty act. Just think of the consequences: scientists, students, and patients will all suffer.