Iris Gorfinkel, M.D.

RFK Jr. may be planning to FIRE every current member of the U.S. Preventive Task Force.

This highly influential group informs clinicians what to do in standard medical checkups.

Opinion | RFK Jr. may be on the verge of dismantling U.S. preventive health care Here’s how the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force influences medical guidance.

This is DEEPLY CONCERNING

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Tracking Trump’s New Tariffs on Every Country The president’s trade campaign is only beginning — and whether he will succeed remains an open question with great consequence for the U.S. economy.

Tracking Trump’s New Tariffs on Every Country www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Tracking Trump’s New Tariffs on Every Country The president’s trade campaign is only beginning — and whether he will succeed remains an open question with great consequence for the U.S. economy.

A skip & hop from the Covid Tracker

Introducing ….
the NY Times Trump Tariff Tracker

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

This is a travesty.

Under HALF of the pregnant women & parents surveyed plan to accept all vaccines.

...and yes - it's a representative sample.

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

U.S. LIFE EXPECTANCY

There's a staggering 11-year lifespan difference that maps alongside political affiliations

Lowest life spans are in red
Longest are in dark green

Such divisions will get far worse with cuts to Medicaid

Yikes...

The most commonly used speculum today was invented by Dr. Frank Graves

...nearly 150 YEARS AGO

Photo credit - National Museum of American History

Researchers redesign vaginal speculum to ease fear and pain It is cold, hard, metallic and commonly associated with pain. Not a mediaeval torture instrument, but the vaginal speculum used every day around the world for essential gynecological exams.

Totally agree.

Medicine is LONG OVERDUE for a better-designed
speculum for gyne exams

www.ctvnews.ca/health/artic...

Increased vaccine uptake in US kids linked to reduced antibiotic prescriptions An ecological study finds increased uptake of recommended childhood vaccines was associated with a 47% decrease in the rate of overall antibiotic prescriptions from 2000 through 2019.

🚨GREAT TIMING for an urgently-needed reminder

ROUTINE VACCINES in 🇺🇸 children
slashed antibiotic use by HALF

Sinusitis ⬇️65%
Pharyngitis ⬇️40%

www.cidrap.umn.edu/antimicrobia...

Trump says pharmaceutical tariffs could reach 200% U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he is planning to announce tariffs on imported semiconductor and pharmaceuticals.

Dear President Trump,

The U.S. already pays the WORLD'S HIGHEST PRICES for Rx drugs.

A 200% tariff on pharmaceuticals would:

-Triple the cost of most drugs
-Make Rxs even MORE UNAFFORDABLE
-Skyrocket insurance costs
-Create MAJOR supply chain issues

Signed...

www.ctvnews.ca/world/trumps...

HHS backtracks on pledge to disclose new vaccine advisers’ conflicts of interest RFK Jr. has pledged radical transparency, but his vaccine advisers' financial disclosures aren't public.

RFK Jr's U.S. Dept of Health & Human Services is now
BACK-TRACKING on the pledge to disclose CONFLICTS OF INTEREST by their new appointees.

New members might retain ties with ANTI-VACCINE groups - including financial ones

It's gonna be a LONG 4 years...

www.statnews.com/2025/07/09/k...

Danielle Smith, Queen of Measles | The Tyee Alberta leads the continent in stoking the disease’s resurgence. The province’s former top doctor lays blame.

APPALLING

Number of MEASLES CASES per MILLION

India 7.5
Mexico 11.5
Texas 24
Ontario 137
Alberta 200

thetyee.ca/Analysis/202...

The U.S. government is failing on vaccine policy. The Vaccine Integrity Project is here to help The Vaccine Integrity Project will convene experts to assess the evidence on influenza, RSV, and Covid-19 to equip clinicians with reliable, evidence-based information.

At long last...

While the U.S. Govt FAILS on vaccine policy, the VACCINE INTEGRITY PROJECT offers HOPE

-Made up of 80+ top experts

-Will provide scientific briefs on the epidemiology, virology & vaccine safety/efficacy for INFLUENZA, COVID-19 & RSV

www.statnews.com/2025/07/03/v...

Full article

© CBC/Radio-Canada 2025. All rights reserved.

🏋️‍♂️TESTOSTERONE REPLACEMENT
in Men 40+yrs

Won't improve
❌Sexual function
❌Strength
❌Fatigue
❌Cognition

Will improve
✅ Muscle mass (⤴️1.6 kg on avg)

🧐 Better read the fine print...

🎧7 min
www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

Leading medical groups sue Kennedy over changed Covid-19 vaccine recommendations Six major medical groups, and a pregnant physician, are suing HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over changes he made to Covid-19 vaccine recommendations.

RFK Jr is being SUED for changing COVID vaccine guidelines

KUDOS to the American
-Academy of Pediatrics
-College of Physicians
-Public Health Assctn
-Infectious Diseases Soc.
-Mass. Public Health Alliance
-Soc. for Maternal-Fetal Medicine

...& 1 brave pregnant MD

statnews.com/2025/07/07/d... v

Appalling & catastrophic

The Trump administration is defunding research on LEADING GLOBAL CAUSES OF DEATH

...compounding the 2.4 MILLION DEATHS ANNUALLY
from having shut down the 🇺🇸Agency for International Development (USAID)

Way to go!

More straight-talking clinicians are needed if we’re to have a prayer fighting dis- & mis-information

Iris Gorfinkel: Five examples of how hubris in public health could lead to repeated mistakes It’s urgent that political agendas don’t blind policymakers to the harsh realities of COVID-19. If hubris is left to shape public health policy, it ensures the same mistakes will be

5 COVID-19 LESSONS

1 Fewer hospitalizations doesn't mean Covid is over

2 Long Covid is downplayed

3 Disregarding Covid's later hospitalizations & deaths sends the wrong message

4 Health policy isn't a weapon

5 A national COVID-19 inquiry is tomorrow's guidebook

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Ditch Fast Fashion and Give Your Wardrobe a Sustainable Glow-Up Trade impulse clothing purchases for botanical dyes, upcycled apparel, creative mending, flexible sizing, and more

It's WORSE than I thought...

💃FAST FASHION is responsible for

-134 million tons of textile waste PER YEAR
-Over 1/3 of the ocean's microplastics
-10% of 🌍's greenhouse gas emissions

PLUS unsafe working conditions.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

Time to follow Quebec’s lead

…& phase out private nursing agencies altogether

They’re draining the coffers of Public Health

What to know about COVID variant NB.1.8.1 causing 'razor blade throat' A newer COVID-19 variant may be causing a severe sore throat in those who contract the infections. Here's what to know about "razor blade throat."<b></b>

COVID Variant NB.1.8.1 ("Nimbus")
++Contagious - accounts for 2 in 5 cases in the U.S.

😟 Can cause 'razor blade throat'
🏥 NOT more severe than previous variants
💉 Current vaccines remain effective

abcnews.go.com/Health/covid...

Iris Gorfinkel: Emergency room wait times: They are going to get worse in Ontario The recent budget falls far short of the funding needed to maintain even the current level of hospital services, turning its back on an aging population with more complex health

Emergency room wait times are bad. But they are going to get worse. The recent Ontario budget falls far short of the funding needed to maintain even the current level of hospital services, by @drgorfinkel.bsky.social www.thestar.com/opinion/cont... via @thestar.com

Iris Gorfinkel: Emergency room wait times: They are going to get worse in Ontario The recent budget falls far short of the funding needed to maintain even the current level of hospital services, turning its back on an aging population with more complex health

Dear @fordnation,

EVERYONE eventually needs an ER

WAIT TIMES will NOT ⬇️ without
⤴️Nurse & GP work conditions & pay
⤴️Beds - acute & chronic
❌Privatization

...yet Ontario spends the LEAST PER CAPITA on its healthcare.

Don't we matter?

Signed.

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont... via @torontostar

Iris Gorfinkel: Emergency room wait times: They are going to get worse in Ontario The recent budget falls far short of the funding needed to maintain even the current level of hospital services, turning its back on an aging population with more complex health

WHY
Ontarians can expect ER WAITS to WORSEN

...dehumanizing & exhausting as they are

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont... via @torontostar

HIV protection with just two shots a year: FDA approves Gilead drug A new twice-yearly shot could be a "game changer" in the fight against AIDS, but experts' hopes have dimmed because of the current political climate.

🚨 MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGH

💉💉HIV PROTECTION in 2 shots a year
The 🇺🇸 FDA has approved LENACAPAVIR

It could SLOW the AIDS pandemic...
but it faces Trump-era obstacles

www.statnews.com/2025/06/18/f...

MEASLES isn't 'just a rash'

The measles virus causes IMMUNE AMNESIA
⤵️ Memory cells crucial to fight off past infections
⤵️ Antibodies by up to 73%.

This ⤴️ vulnerability to infections like colds & flus
for up to 2 years.

www.schulich.uwo.ca/microbiology...

As Ontario pumps millions into private health care, public health will continue to suffer Private facilities seem like a quick fix, but it leaves the public system with fewer health-care workers, which only further exacerbates public wait times for treatments. It’s a domino effect

Governments get ensnared into a vicious cycle of their own making: The longer waits grow, the more pressure builds to deliver services

...but privatization leaves the public with fewer health-care workers...which exacerbates public wait times.

The cycle must STOP

www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Global News | Breaking, Latest News and Video for Canada Globalnews.ca – Watch and read Canada’s Breaking news plus Business, Health, Politics and World News

MEASLES in Ontario since Oct 2024

🤒 > 2000 CASES
🏥 140 HOSPITALIZATIONS
🧸 1 DEATH

Tragic. Preventable. Ongoing...

Ontario baby dies after being born prematurely with measles, other complications
Globalnews.ca globalnews.ca/news/1121470...