Joshua Weitz

As a liver doctor who has treated patients with hepatitis B for decades, this change to the vaccine schedule is a mistake. The hepatitis B vaccine is safe and effective. The birth dose is a recommendation, NOT a mandate. Bill Cassidy on X Before the birth dose was recommended, 20,000 newborns a year were infected with hepatitis B. Now, it’s fewer than 20. Ending the recommendation for newborns makes it more likely the number of cases will begin to increase again. This makes America sicker. Acting CDC Director O’Neill should not sign these new recommendations and instead retain the current, evidence-based approach.

Voted yes on RFK Jr when he could have voted no.

Continues to hedge, when he could act.

The decision by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to downgrade its recommendations to protect infants from hepatitis B is a dangerous move that will harm children.

Click here to read AAP's full statement: bit.ly/3Y9ZQJT

RFK Jr.’s CDC panel: No more hepatitis B vaccine for some newborns The CDC's vaccine advisory panel, stocked with anti-vaccine activists and loyalists to RFK Jr., voted Friday to stop recommending a birth dose of vaccine.

Kennedy's zombie ACIP panel just voted to restrict hepatitis B vaccine for newborns. Experts say it will harm children for no reason. www.ms.now/news/rfk-cdc...

ACIP member Dr. Cody Meissner:

"'Do no harm' is a moral imperative. We are doing harm by changing this wording. And I vote no."

What is Isaac Chotiner doing and why isn't he already interviewing the ACIP members who voted yes...

ACIP votes to abandon universal hepatitis B vaccination for newborns Vaccine advisers to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are meeting today on what could be a major change to the childhood vaccination schedule. Follow here for live updates.

ACIP votes to end universal HBV birth dose for newborns. The consequence? Prepare to see a reversal of our rates of chronic liver disease and liver cancer as more children are left unprotected.

The birth dose has an up to 90% efficacy rate of protecting newborns from Hep B, which is incurable.

CDC panel recommends delaying birth dose of hepatitis B vaccine The CDC's ACIP panel voted to recommend delaying the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine, ending a policy that has reined in the virus.

Breaking news story via @statnews.com from @helenbranswell.bsky.social sky.social.

As the subtitle makes clear:
"The change is likely to increase the number of people who develop chronic infections and liver cancer."

"Breaking" is the correct adjective.

www.statnews.com/2025/12/05/c...

Mark this day and vote... and those who voted for it.

Hibbeln says that he has 11 questions about the evidence framework used for the proposal of not recommending the birth dose of HepB vaccine.

Malone says they’ve moved on. Because he cannot permit more demands for evidence of the claims being made at Temu ACIP.

I'll be live posting from the #ACIP meeting today. #Follow me for all the play-by-play. They will vote today on whether to recommend restricting the birth dose of hepatitis B vaccines, which have reduced infections by 99%. Most likely, they will vote to limit this vaccine.

Cutting, delaying, and terminating science funding comes with costs to...

discovery,
projects,
and
people.

One more example of impacts: to a NSF-funded Biology Integration Institute. It is well past time to restore expert-driven decision-making & stable budgets to NSF, NIH, CDC...

Gonna wallow for a second: I'll share more info tomorrow, but over the last couple weeks, we've finally put our NSF center on ice as we continue to just not get paid and run out of money. I'm just so sad and angry about it. No real "but" at the end of this

ACIP Meeting Information ACIP holds three regular meetings each year. Learn about upcoming meetings and view materials.

This story comes out in a critical moment where the health of children and families are increasingly at risk.

www.cdc.gov/acip/meeting...

Kennedy’s Methodical 2-Decade Quest to Dismantle Vaccine Policy

"Vaccines must be a potential culprit, because they became ubiquitous along that timeline.” -RFK Jr

'Culprit' -> for asthma, allergies, autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders

Data? -> no evidence of any link, but that has not stopped RFK Jr & allies.

🎁
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/u...

Very bad indeed.

A Threat to Evidence-Based Vaccine Policy and Public Health Security at the FDA | NEJM Twelve former commissioners of the FDA express concern that the agency’s recent moves will undermine a regulatory model designed to ensure vaccine safety, effectiveness, and availability.

This is extraordinary. Prasad's memo was something else, but to have 12 former FDA commissioners get together so quickly and say what a threat it is...just wow. www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.... #medsky #vaccine #fda

A dozen former FDA commissioners decry Prasad memo on vaccine regulation Changes to the ways in which the FDA plans to regulate vaccines represent a threat to effective vaccines and public health, 12 former commissioners say.

A raft of former #FDA commissioners — nearly all who've held the post over the past 35 years — decried Vinay Prasad's leaked plan to change the regulation of vaccines. In a letter to @nejm.org they wrote: "The answer is not to toss aside the basic rules of science." www.statnews.com/2025/12/03/f...

Drawing on panelist experiences, we will discuss the imperative to support evidence-based approaches to confront disease threats while discussing the root causes of the current moment and new challenges arising from policy changes within HHS & beyond.

The panel will explore the link between COVID responses (and counter-narratives), anti-science, misinformation and ongoing threats to science, scientists, and institutions.

Confronting Covid's Wake - Epidemics10

Looking forward to this morning's panel at #Epidemics10, convening a compelling group of experts in dialogue on the theme of "Confronting Covid's Wake"

virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/event/73356/...

In which we will be engaging in open conversation on themes often discussed in coffee breaks.

Precisely so, I look forward to convening a Wed AM panel on "Confronting Covid's Wake."

We will explore the link between COVID responses, anti-science, and misinformation… and how & why to support evidence-based inquiry to confront disease threats.

virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/event/public...

Five Years Ago, Five Years from Now It has been five long years since the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 as a US public health threat. It will be a longer five years if we don’t protect independent scientific and public health expertise.

Our work launched early efforts to estimate the risk that one (or more) individuals might be infected in indoor events... and despite successes in mitigation and control, we face an environment in which progress is under threat:

joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/five-years...

The Art of Epidemics: Data Storytelling through Effective Visualizations

Many thanks to @jessica-davis.bsky.social + team for the 'The Art of Epidemics' session at #EPIDEMICS10 on how visualization can enhance engagement & reduce risks.

Grateful to share a case study on communicating #COVID19 risk, especially pre-vaccination.

artofepidemics.wixsite.com/epidemics10

The U.S. Is Funding Fewer Grants in Every Area of Science and Medicine (Gift Article) A quiet policy change means the government is making fewer bets on long-term science.

@aatishb.bsky.social got me on the record. “My colleagues did an outstanding job to work their butts off to approve things.” I swear it's true. It's still true at #NIH.

The end of academic freedom, Flowchart Edition.

Photo of the FEMA solidarity rally in front of FEMA HQ. Text reads: Breaking: #FEMA36 Workers reinstated after facing retaliation and suspension for signing the Katrina declaration.

Text reads: We share the following from the Katrina Declaration Signers: We’re thrilled that our coworkers have been reinstated and are back to serving the American people. These actions reaffirm what we’ve said all along: these employees did nothing wrong. Their retaliation was part of a broader pattern that also targeted employees at the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, The United States Department of Agriculture and the National Institutes of Health. We call for every one of those workers be reinstated immediately."

The retaliation was a wasteful and costly political stunt, and the concerns we raised in the Katrina Declaration remain unresolved. Programs are still stalled, funding remains frozen, and our ability to respond to disasters continues to be weakened. As we work toward real solutions, it’s critical that leaders listen to the people who know this work best, the experts and professionals who understand what it takes to build a stronger FEMA. We urge Congress to advance the FEMA Act now so the agency can restore stability, uphold its legal obligations, and protect communities effectively. The work ahead is significant, and we will continue to stand up and speak out for disaster survivors everywhere.

BREAKING: The DHS walks back its retaliation against the suspended #fema36 signatories of the Katrina Declaration. We are proud of these public servants for speaking up and continue to rally behind all patriots using their rights to call out the Trump admin's dangerous policies.

FDA to impose strict new vaccine requirements, claiming child covid shot deaths Vinay Prasad, the nation’s top vaccine regulator, said his team concluded that coronavirus shots were linked to children’s deaths, necessitating a new approach.

Recharging will be key to confront what's to come... the days and months ahead will be marked by a elevation of Covid grievances into policies that could transform the health and regulatory landscape.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Show us the evidence.

🎁

wapo.st/49GmNLP

Dr. Nirav Shah, who served as the C.D.C!s principal deputy director for two years before resigning this year, called Dr. Abraham "unqualified" for the post and said when he learned that he had been appointed, "My jaw hit the ground." "A large part of the principal deputy's portfolio is emergency response," Dr. Shah said. "Delayed notifying of the public of at least two pertussis deaths is not just unacceptable, it's shameful," he added.

nirav shah not mincing words re: the new principle deputy director of CDC. good report from @apoorvanyt.bsky.social

🎁 www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/h...

C.D.C. Quietly Appoints Doctor Critical of Vaccines as Second in Command

Dr. Ralph Lee Abraham, who as Louisiana’s surgeon general ordered the state health department to stop promoting vaccinations and who has called Covid vaccines “dangerous,” has been named the second in command at the CDC.
(Gift article)

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/h...

National Academies - Statement on CDC’s Updated Vaccine Guidance National Academies respond to CDC’s updated vaccine guidance, offering scientific context and clarity on vaccine safety.

Appreciate @nationalacademies.org speaking up about the RFK jr directed changes to CDC website and pointing out that the science cited did not include the greater context or full body of research. Where is the “radical transparency”?

No time like the present...

👇