Bill Hanage

Can you guess which of these quotes are about COVID, and which about the 1918 influenza pandemic?

Answers here: kucharski.substack.com/p/how-will-h...

Predicting headlines tomorrow about how #Arsenal have lost their set piece mojo

More from the UK on Baroness Hallett’s report. And yes it was obvious what was coming

I’m afraid not (i should talk to them about that) but they asked me to share this update from the last week

Really excellent. And it’s good to hear someone (finally!) recognize that the point of strong response early in the curve is to avoid an even stronger, more damaging response being forced upon you later.

Was also interested by how it chimes with my own memory of the time

And being in the US, I’d not realised until listening to this that the UKs report had come out. I may have more to say once I’ve read more about it. It would be great if the US held a similar inquiry but a) fat chance and b) enough on our plate right now

Superb take on the UK govt’s pandemic response and what it signifies for politics in an emergency. It chimes with a lot of my own recollections and knowledge of expert discussions at the time. But I did not realise @rory-stewart.bsky.social had been such an advocate for a more sensible policy

I’ve no idea. But if they were done and shared in an appropriate fashion we would be able to see the evidence and assess it for ourselves

Indeed. And now I have some idea what was causing the TX outbreak, given that this afternoon I noticed a bunch of new UT measles genomes on the nextstrain tree.

No TX ones. I guess they are kept secret

C.D.C. Links Measles Outbreaks in Multiple States for the First Time

After Canada now the US is on course to lose measles elimination status. The TX outbreak that started in jan this year has spread to AZ and UT with evidence of multiple transmission chains, some of which have not been chased down so there may well be more. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/17/h...

Estimated preventable COVID-19-associated deaths due to non-vaccination in the United States While some studies have previously estimated lives saved by COVID-19 vaccination, we estimate how many deaths could have been averted by vaccination in the US but were not because of a failure to vaccinate. We used a simple method based on a ...

It’s also a reminder that since then we saw, and continue to see, large amounts of preventable suffering and death pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

COVID’s leadership failures Two moments that were too big for us, and the unfixable chain of mistakes that was set off after November 2020

This, from @maciekboni.bsky.social, is a sobering reminder of just how bad things were five years ago.

But it’s also five years since we got the trial results which signposted a way out of the nightmare. Warp speed was a huge success and we should not forget

maciekboni.substack.com/p/covids-lea...

I never bothered reading The Tipping Point because my BS detector was off the chart. Sounds like that was the right choice

My favorite line “and is immediately filled with pigeon”

YouTube video by Tim Minchin Storm by Tim Minchin

Just think, this was only 2009…

youtu.be/jIWj3tI-DXg

Willing to bet that the images made with AI now will in a few years look as convincing as the special effects in Star Trek (the original)

If they’re lucky

I’m reading Moby Dick, and I keeps hearing Ishmael as laszlo from what we do in the shadows and a) can’t stop and b) wonder if this was always intended

RFK Jr.: “Vaccines Don’t Save Lives” In a recent post on X, RFK Jr. said that vaccines are overrated.

open.substack.com/pub/pauloffi...
In the midst of a measles epidemic that killed 3 people, RFK Jr. reminds us that vaccines don't save lives.

Slashing of funding for mRNA vaccine development raises concern | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health In August, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cancelled nearly $500 million in contracts that funded mRNA vaccine development. The mRNA

“It’s hard to explain how the Secretary can think that the President deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for this, while at the same time believing that these vaccines are the most harmful that have ever been made”

Me on mRNA vaccines

hsph.harvard.edu/news/slashin...

Official communication from FDA to physicians on acetaminophen use in pregnancy acknowledges there is no causal link between its use in pregnancy and autism. Also states clearly that this is the safest over the counter treatment for fever and pain in pregnancy. It is very different from what was communicated at the press conference.

This is the official communication from the FDA to physicians on acetaminophen use in pregnancy.
- They acknowledge the lack of a causal link with autism
- Essentially tell physicians to keep doing what we've been doing anyway
It's very different from the press conference.
Pass it on.

My understanding is that the situation for H1B visa holders outside the US today is urgent: if a current H-1B holder seeks entry into the U.S. after 12:01 a.m. EDT on September 21, 2025, it is too late to avoid the fee—entry will be restricted without the newly-imposed $100,000 employer payment.

Politics and the English Language | The Orwell Foundation "Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind."

www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-f... 2/2

About CDC CDC serves the American public who rely on accurate data, health guidance, and preventive measures

There have been some… extensive changes to this web page. This thread will include resources to help understand them cdc.gov/about/cdc/in... 1/2

Crikey atomic mass is a hard concept to explain

How RFK Jr.’s misguided science on mRNA vaccines is shaping policy − a vaccine expert examines the false claims | CNN At a Sept. 4, 2025, hearing before the Senate Finance Committee, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced heated questions from numerous senators about his vaccine policies, inc...

“If a new pandemic began today, mRNA vaccines are currently the only type of vaccine that could be developed quickly enough to disrupt its spread”

www.cnn.com/2025/09/10/h...

Persistent SARS-CoV-2 Infection Lasting Over 750 Days Documented in Person With HIV William Hanage, PhD, discusses viral evolution, transmission risk, and clinical implications for immunocompromised patients.

Recently we published a report describing what I *think* is the longest known continuous case of Covid-19 to date.

For some reason I've not found time to post about it. While I get around to doing so you can read a summary here 👇

www.contagionlive.com/view/persist...

This astonishing feat has been dismissed across the political spectrum

Some are upset about things the administration did/did not do

Warp speed still delivered and deserves recognition

Others applaud things the administration did/did not do

Warp speed still delivered and deserves recognition

This astonishing feat has been dismissed across the political spectrum

Some are upset about things the administration did/did not do

Warp speed still delivered and deserves recognition

Others applaud things the administration did/did not do

Warp speed still delivered and deserves recognition

Imagine doing something that saved quite literally millions of lives

That’s a summary of Operation Warp Speed, started under the first Trump Administration. And everyone involved including the president should be proud

Vaccines don’t care how you vote

Operation Warp Speed was arguably one of the most successful policy initiatives in recent history, accelerating vaccine delivery that saved millions of lives.

It’s remarkable to see some now urging the leaders who backed it to disown the achievement.