My latest for @jama.com

📖 New Hastings Bioethics Forum essay: in a powerful reflection, author Vladyslava Kachkovska, M.D. shares how life and work in #Ukraine during the ongoing invasion have revealed the profound necessity of #bioethics 🔗: https://lnkd.in/g9YJj2Md #UkraineWar #EthicsInCrisis

The Shingles vaccine has outperformed all expectations. Why? erictopol.substack.com/p/spotlight-...

Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She was 95.

The anti-abortion movement is testing new strategies to force a legal confrontation over so-called shield laws in Democratic-led states that protect abortion providers in those states from prosecution. https://cnn.it/4r49s5v

Great read! I basically had this same discussion with residents at noon conference this week.

Pentagon taking over Stars and Stripes to eliminate ‘woke distractions’. It comes a day after @washingtonpost.com reported that applicants to paper questioned on how they'd support Trump’s policies. Paper has been editorially independent from DOD since 1990s. #journalism #firstamendment

"A young child with measles landed in a Pennsylvania airport and traveled through Maryland, D.C. and Virginia last week." wtop.com/local/2026/0...

My latest for @jama.com:

What’s it like at a Maryland urgent care during a surge in flu? Snot so good.

FDA deletes warning on bogus autism therapies touted by RFK Jr.‘s allies "The agency used to warn of chelation, used by RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine ally David Geier."

seems suboptimal

A new FDA-cleared blood test makes #Alzheimer biomarker screening possible in primary care, but experts say it’s important to understand what such tests can and cannot do. ja.ma/49PA30c

Extremely disturbing

1984: “The National Portrait Gallery removed a swath of text that mentioned President Donald Trump’s two impeachments and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection as it swapped out a prominent photo of him this week.” www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...

The size of the winter COVlD wave has been revised upward as post-holiday data come in. We estimate 1 in 55 people in the U.S. are actively infectious. 🔥WV: 1 in 14 🔥IN: 1 in 15 🔥MI & OH: 1 in 21 🔥MO: 1 in 22 🔥CT: 1 in 24 🔥KS: 1 in 25 🔥MA & IL: 1 in 27 Quick 🧵 1/4

My latest for @jama.com:

In Trump’s unhinged rant yesterday praising the roll back of childhood vaccines, he thanked 4 men by name RFK Jr Jay Bhattacharya Marty Makary Jim O’Neill These men will have a special place in the history of the US anti-vaccine movement RFK Jr’s wildest dreams are coming true, each & every day

Cassidy rips RFK Jr. vaccine schedule change, says it’s ‘based on no scientific input’ thehill.com/policy/healt...

Cartoon by Mike Luckovich | Creators

Relatedly: COVID-19 social distancing and closures were so successfully that an entire strain of flu (type B/Yamagata) seems to have gone extinct in the wild. No hosts, couldn't spread! Time will tell...but as far as I know it hasn't reappeared.

That one person can drag us into a war without consulting or even notifying Congress, or our allies, or fully explaining to the American people why this is necessary, is absolutely bonkers. Reminder that Congress has the power to stop all of this. Where the hell are they?

1/n: More leadership changes at NIH, with institute director positions likely to start being filled soon. Too many good people are leaving. www.science.org/content/arti...

A new report from researchers at the Yale School of Public Health warns that the U.S. government’s abrupt cancellation of funding for mRNA vaccine research could have devastating health and economic consequences for the nation.

CDC funds controversial hepatitis B vaccine trial in African newborns: Experts doubt there's practical or expert justification. www.science.org/content/arti...

Leaving you tonight with a reminder of the works of our forebears. The greatest generation. Funded by moms across America mailing in their dimes to help prevent a disease they all feared.

RFK Jr. should have paid more attention to the comics in 1968.

Thank you Professor Reiss for your many years of working to protect public health.

Simply outrageous!

The law will apply to adults who have incurable, irreversible illnesses and six months or less to live, and each patient will need the sign-off of three doctors. #Medsky #Psychsky #cancer #Neurosky #dementia #Alzheimers #ALS #Parkinsons

Debating Science: No Thanks; that's the choice of those who have no data, but want to obscure that with theater, explains @pauloffit.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/pauloffi...

The Most Feared Person at the NIH Is a Vaccine Researcher Plucked From Obscurity www.theatlantic.com/health/2025/...

The anti-Semitic mass shooting in Australia will cause a national conversation and policy change. We know this because the 1996 Port Arthur massacre led to significant restrictions on guns. The shooting at Brown will do nothing. We know this because it occurred on the anniversary of Sandy Hook.

Again, NO evidence to support current COVID vax fearmongering. ONE recent example: "...results found NO increased risk of 4 yr all-cause mortality in individuals vaccinated against COVID..." "...further supporting the safety of the mRNA vaccines..." jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Measles cases in the US: 2020 - 13 cases 2025 - 1912 cases so far and 3 deaths This is a 147x increase. There's no spin DHHS can put on this explosion of measles cases that will make this justifiable or acceptable.

The head of one of the country's largest anti-abortion organizations wants President Donald Trump to fire U.S. Food and Drug Administrator Marty Makary over access to medication abortion, reports @jennifershutt.bsky.social.

We really love it when people who have never had to intubate an 8 month old infant for respiratory failure tell us how to prevent RSV.

#RSV tied to heart problems, breathing issues well after infection in adults Researchers identify nearly 5 excess cardiovascular events per 100 patients in the year after diagnosis. www.cidrap.umn.edu/r...

The National Weather Service is working to hire back hundreds of positions laid off or otherwise cut by the Trump administration, but it’s progressing at a snail’s pace, with about 80 final job offers accepted for meteorologists, hydrologists and other specialized staff. https://cnn.it/3MvtkPN

So, to all the "RFK's got some good ideas" folks (Rachael Bedard, Leana Wen) and Jay Bhattacharya is "an excellent choice for NIH" (Steven Macedo, Frances Lee) and Vinay Prasad "will bring a breath of fresh air to FDA" (Adam Cifu, John Mandrola) groupies--you own this now too.

#ACIP invites anti-vaccine lawyer Aaron Siri to present on the schedule, since apparently they could not find any vaccine experts to do that. Apparently they invited Drs. Offit and Hotez who refused, maybe because Malone called them "industry experts."

because he represents people who believe they have been harmed by vaccines and has no medical or vaccine science credentials. His presentation literally recycles anti-vax memes. It is overt propaganda. He does disclose his COI about his legal work and his book.

that is not true. Petitioners may sue vaccine manufacturers after going through the NVICP, and the NCVIA does not grant immunity for cases of negligence or fraud. We are off to a good start when a lawyer lies about the law in the field he directly litigates. Insane choice of presenter.

So with this chart, Siri is trying to argue that ACIP recommendations for routine use followed very shortly after vaccine licensure. That's... how it's supposed to work? If the FDA approves a vaccine, we need guidance on how to use it.

Cody Meissner has a few things to say to Aaron Siri, starting with his assertion that Siri's presentation was a "gross distortion". #ACIP #Medsky #CDC #MMR #pediatrics #vaccines

lol the ACIP committee let Aaron Siri speak for some 90 minutes and cut off CDC experts and scientists off after two minutes (sometime yelling at them to shut them up). Incredible stuff.