Peter Suwondo, MD MPH

Opinion | The Public Health Disaster Everyone Saw Coming

RFK Jr "the nation’s leading public health official does not have any real interest in — or possibly any real understanding of — public health"

@jeneeninterlandi.bsky.social @nytopinion.nytimes.com

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/o...

🚨BREAKING: IDSA, along with AAP, APHA, ACP and others, has filed a lawsuit against HHS/Secretary Kennedy to stop unlawful changes to vaccine policy and defend public health.

We refuse to stand by while America’s public health safeguards are torn apart. bit.ly/4lm7UkW

Clear and actionable points by my brilliant friend and colleague Dr. @jncherabiemd.bsky.social on ways to keep standing up against the attacks on health and science. Seems especially relevant today.
"Silence = Death Is Real Now More Than Ever, but Words Aren’t Enough—Action Is Needed!"

Today, what’s left of USAID is being transferred to the State Dept, which is gutting that development work. Ending USAID will go down in history as a colossal failure and mistake. bsky.app/profile/ddia...

Evaluating the impact of two decades of USAID interventions and projecting the effects of defunding on mortality up to 2030: a retrospective impact evaluation and forecasting analysis USAID funding has significantly contributed to the reduction in adult and child mortality across low-income and middle-income countries over the past two decades. Our estimates show that, unless the a...

A new paper in The Lancet, one of the world’s foremost peer reviewed medical journals, estimates that USAID prevented 91 million deaths across 133 countries over 20 years.

The paper estimates that Elon Musk’s DOGE funding cuts to USAID will lead to 14 million deaths by 2030 (4.5 million children).

USAID cuts could lead to 14 million deaths over the next five years, researchers say An analysis published Monday in the medical journal The Lancet projects that cuts to the agency will lead to more deaths from diseases like AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.

A new study estimates that USAID saved 92 million lives from 2001 to 2021, and that its demolition could kill 14 million people in only five years through 2030.

That would make the end of USAID by far the most impactful action Trump has taken this year. www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

ICE Is Using a New Facial Recognition App to Identify People, Leaked Emails Show The new tool, called Mobile Fortify, uses the CBP system which ordinarily takes photos of people when they enter or exit the U.S., according to internal ICE emails viewed by 404 Media. Now ICE is usin...

New from 404 Media: ICE is using a new facial recognition app to identify people, leaked emails show. Point camera at person, reveal their identity. It uses the CBP system that records peoples' faces as they enter or exit the U.S. Now, turned inwards to be used by ICE www.404media.co/ice-is-using...

Calculating the Damage of Vaccine Skepticism It’s clear that we’re on the precipice of a surge in preventable diseases. But how bad will it get?

“The U.S. may be doing more than simply failing to aid global vaccination efforts. The domestic stoking of anti-vaccine sentiment is itself infectious—a disease-carrying rat population on the ships exporting American culture.” @jackiantonovich.bsky.social

RFK Jr. says US won’t donate to global vaccine effort Kennedy ripped into Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in a video address at its pledging summit.

This is a travesty & a nightmare. The US was a founder of @gavi.org. It lowers global vaccine costs, has vaccinated 1B children, & averted 19M deaths. This pull out will cost 100s of thousands of children's lives a year - and RFK Jr will be personally responsible.
www.politico.com/news/2025/06...

Why a Vaccine Expert Left the C.D.C.: ‘Americans Are Going to Die’

Thank you Bill Cassidy (R-LA). www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/h...

Feeling a lot like I did in early days of the pandemic these days. It is so clear what’s coming: The people that will die because of cuts in global health, because of cuts to research, because of the concerted anti-vaccine push.
It’s clear what’s coming, but we will have to wait to count the dead.🧪

“Pro-vaccine” is a misnomer here! It’s the standard of medical care. We don’t call doctors “pro-insulin” or “pro-antibiotic” for recommending these treatments to their patients when necessary. The uproar is because people want their medicines to be recommended based on science, not politics.

Ousted CDC vaccine adviser says RFK Jr.'s message is clear: ‘Scientific expertise is no longer of use’ Terminated CDC vaccine adviser Helen Chu spoke with STAT about her fears for the future of vaccine policy

Helen Chu is one of the ousted #ACIP members. She spoke to me today about her grave concerns for future vaccination policy and vaccine access in the United States. www.statnews.com/2025/06/10/c...

Rewording my earlier post.

RFK Jr will be testifying before Congress.

I am interested in what experts and others think would be the best way to leverage this time and opportunity for the public good.

If you were behind the dais for this hearing, what would you do? What do you want to see asked?

The CDC sent a forecast for the measles outbreak to HHS for approval, but it has not been publicly released.

And there are more ways this federal response to measles is unusual. Gift link: wapo.st/4i3sKmn

Who Will Care for Infants With H.I.V. Overseas? (Gift Article) The consequences of mother-to-child transmission can be enormous, a new study suggests. But the U.S. has dismissed experts working to solve the problem.

USA led the world in expertise stopping HIV, incl preventing mother to child transmission. But DOGE has now dismissed every global prevention expert at USAID, CDC, & State Dept.

The risk is insane: Resurgent HIV & 500K child deaths by 2030. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/08/h...

Thousands of the best experts at FDA, NIH, and all across HHS are being terminated right now.

These are the people who make sure the medications you and your children take are safe.

These are the people who perform and oversee research on cancer, infant health, and so so so much more.

Decoding the HHS Reorganization In his latest column, KFF President and CEO Drew Altman examines the implications of Secretary Kennedy’s reorganization of HHS and why it’s a sharp break from past efforts to reorganize the department...

At some point in the future, a Democratic President and Secretary of HHS will probably try to rebuild the department following the major staffing cuts happening now. It won't be easy, and will likely require Congress.
www.kff.org/from-drew-al...

Administration pledges radical and unprecedented transparency—then shunts down all the FOIA offices across HHS...

New US FDA Commissioner Makary Was Sworn In, Knew Of Plan to Push Out Marks, Sources Say FDA Commissioner Martin Makary was sworn in Friday and knew of the plan that ultimately lead to CBER director Peter Marks' resignation on 28 March.

SCOOP: New FDA commissioner Martin Makary was sworn in Friday before HHS tried to push Peter Marks out, knew it was going to happen and did not stop it. #healthpolicy #biosky #medsky
insights.citeline.com/pink-sheet/g...

First lines of NOT-OD-25-080, available at https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-25-080.html

Jay Bhattacharya said in his confirmation hearing that he plans to restore NIH to its former glory & repair public distrust of science.

Would love to hear how rescinding the NIH policy on scientific integrity accomplishes that goal.

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

The first randomized trial comparing fecal occult blood testing (every other year) testing and (one-time) colonoscopy. No significant difference in colon cancer mortality among >56,000 participants
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... @thelancet.bsky.social

Peter Marks, MD, PhD Director, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research U.S. Food and Drug Administration 10903 New Hampshire Avenue Silver Spring, MD 20903 March 28, 2025 Sara Brenner, MD, MPH Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs U.S. Food and Drug Administration 10903 New Hampshire Avenue Silver Spring, MD 20903 Dear Dr. Brenner: It is with a heavy heart that I have decided to resign from FDA and retire from federal service as Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research effective April 5, 2025. I leave behind a staff of professionals who are undoubtedly the most devoted to protecting and promoting the public health of any group of people that I have encountered during my four decades working in the public and private sectors. I have always done my best to advocate for their well-being and I would ask that you do the same during this very difficult time during which their critical importance to the safety and security of our nation may be underappreciated. Over the past years I have been involved in enhancing the safety of our nation's blood supply, in advancing the field of cell and gene therapy, and in responding to public health emergencies. In the last of these, during the COVID-19 pandemic I had the privilege of watching the vision that I conceived for Operation Warp Speed in March 2020 in collaboration with Dr. Robert Kadlec become a reality under the leadership of HHS Secretary Azar and President Trump due to the unwavering commitment of public servants at FDA and elsewhere across the government. At FDA, the tireless efforts of staff across the agency resulted in remarkably expediting the development of vaccines against the virus, meeting the standards for quality, safety, and effectiveness expected by the American public. The vaccines undoubtedly markedly reduced morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 in the United States and elsewhere. Many of these same individuals applied learnings from the pandemic during a flawless response helping…

ongoing multistate measles outbreak that is particularly severe in Texas reminds us of what happens when confidence in well-established science underlying public health and well-being is undermined. Measles, which killed more than 100,000 unvaccinated children last year in Africa and Asia owing to pneumonitis and encephalitis caused by the virus, had been eliminated from our shores. The two-dose measles, mumps, rubella vaccine regimen (MMR) using over the past decades has a remarkably favorable benefit-risk profile. The MMR vaccine is 97% or more effective in preventing measles following the two-dose series, and its safety has been remarkably well studied. Though rarely followed by a single fever-related seizure, or very rarely by allergic reactions or blood clotting disorders, the vaccine very simply does not cause autism, nor is it associated with encephalitis or death. It does, however, protect against a potential devasting consequence of prior measles infection, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), which is an untreatable, relentlessly progressive neurologic disorder leading to death in about 1 in 10,000 individuals infected with measles. Undermining confidence in well-established vaccines that have met the high standards for quality, safety, and effectiveness that have been in place for decades at FDA is irresponsible, detrimental to public health, and a clear danger to our nation's health, safety. and security. In the years following the pandemic, at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research we have applied the same unwavering commitment to public health priorities to the development of cell and gene therapies to address both hereditary and acquired rare diseases. During my tenure as Center Director we have approved 22 gene therapies, including the first gene therapy ever to be approved in the United States. However, we know that we must do better to expedite the development of treatments for those individual suffering from any one of the thousan…

Peter Marks’s resignation letter. Everyone should read this.

RFK’s mantra that “vaccination is a personal decision” is unconscionable in the midst of the country’s worst measles outbreak in decades. Wearing a seatbelt is also a personal decision—but a decision so effective in preventing injuries that we’ve made it the law in all 50 states.

Thanks for doing what you do! If only policymakers could see what docs see every day. Easy to cut funding when you don’t have to look a patient in the eye and tell them their lifesaving treatments don’t matter.

I’m sure the Senator will have much to discuss in his monthly meeting with the Secretary…

Texas measles outbreak now at 400 cases and 41 hospitalizations.
It was at 327 cases 3 days ago. Unclear how many of the hospitalizations are due to Vitamin A liver toxicity, as promoted by RFK Jr. The number of actual cases surely exceeds 1,000 at this point
www.dshs.texas.gov/news-alerts/...

We desperately need more officials like Dr Marks in office. Unclear who will be left by the end of the week…

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a resignation letter so pointed from a career official. Can’t imagine the meltdown that is going on inside HHS right now as people are asked to undo their entire life’s scientific work.