Retsef Levi has just claimed that the CDC is not adequately assessing “outcomes and prognosis of myocarditis and other cardiovascular adverse events”. This is a BLATANT lie. Every single vaccine safety surveillance system detected and reported myocarditis in some subgroups after vaccination.

Millions of children's lives hang in the balance. end/

You need to stand up. Work to get these people out of office. Every member of Congress needs to hear from you every day. Organizing in your communities. 29/

From Vought all the way down to CDC, NIH, FDA and CMS, these folks have got to go. For our children's sake. For the millions of childen they are now endangering. 28/

You may say, well, I don't like politics, or even, I like some of what this Administration is doing. But measles doesn't care. Diptheria doesn't give a damn. 27/

If this sounds bad, it is because it is. 26/

And do not rest in satisfaction that you'll be able to get your children vaccinated and are "safe"--endemic measles, rubella, polio will endanger our communities from coast to coast. 25/

Mississippi already has declared infant mortality as a public health emergency. This is only going to get worse. 24/

We will see a divide now rupture in this country--among the vaccinated and unvaccinated children. Some states like Florida are our test case as Joe Ladapo, FL's Surgeon General lifts all vaccine mandates in the state. But poorer states will also suffer. 23/

Not many people watched yesterday's #ACIP proceedings. But for moms and dads around the country: hold your children close (and get them vaccinated according to @ameracadpeds.bsky.social guidelines, not #ACIP). But many now will be unable to afford to do this. 22/

We are plowing our children into the wood-chipper as a nation on the altar of #RussellVought and his crusade, with help from the useful fools who now run our scientific and public health agencies. 21/

A 10% decline in measles vaccination will lead to multiple outbreaks and hundreds of thousands of infections. Colleagues at Stanford estimate that in this scenario, measles cases would skyrocket to 11.1 million over the next 25 years. 20/

As #Kulldorff, #Malone, #Prasad, #Hoeg, #Bhattacharya, #RFKJr and #Vought wreak havoc on vaccine policy in the US, these diseases will come roaring back. You don't need a vast collapse in vaccine coverage to open the Pandora's box of infections. 19/

But back to #ACIP. Measles, polio, pertussis, hepatitis B are no joke. My father had polio and could have died in the 1930s from it like so many others. Anyone who lived through the pre-vaccine era for now-preventable childhood infections can tell the horror stories of those years. 18/

Of course, none of these men and women think they are caught up in the destruction of American science and public health. They are bringing all of us into the brave new world in which they are heroes and kings. We ignored them, disparaged them in 2020 and now they rule. 17/

But if you want to bring down the state and its core functions you need people who may not share your ideological purpose, but are hell-bent on destruction. Kulldorff, Prasad, Hoeg, Bhattacharya, Makary are fulfilling that function for Vought. 16/

Seeing him gut the NIH like a fish now, points to a deep pathology in this man. Let's not mince words or try to rationalize, whitewash his behavior. 15/

Russ was the architect of #Project2025 as well, so we were all forewarned about this man's intentions and plans. And a side note--Russ's daughter benefited from the fruits of science--a treatment for cystic fibrosis--developed in a partnership btwn NIH, drug companies and private foundations. 14/

This lead us to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget #RussellVought, a deeply disturbed man, who seeks to bring down the state to pursue his vision of a Christian theocracy. #Science, #knowledge, #expertise only get in the way for Russ. 13/

During the first Trump Administration you had many people who while you could disagree with their politics, had the requisite skills and experience do to their jobs. Trump 2.0 is wildly different. 12/

They could be bothered, could barely understand the votes they were being asked to take. What a deep kind of callousness these people displayed on matters that will affect millions of children. It's astounding. 11/

While #ACIP now discourages the combined MMRV shot for young children, the VFC program will still provide it, creating a conflict between the recommendation and coverage. 10/

What was also in full view was their carelessness. They simply didn't understand basic facts--for instance, on how vaccines are paid for in the US, so their recommendations on MMRV pull in different directions, in contradiction to each other. 9/

Yesterday at the #ACIP meeting you saw this in full flourish--the rush towards "alternative" science on settled questions on vaccines long-used in the US, with evidence provided in real time by CDC staff, which they summarily ignored. 8/

In a way, they are mirrors of their patron, President Trump, deeply aggrieved and ready for vengeance even it means pulling the house down around them, presiding over the destruction of NIH, CDC, FDA. It is worth it to them. 7/

They are destructive. Vindictive. They are all deeply narcissistic. They all have tremendous self-regard, which combined with their persecution complexes, has made them impervious to any argument: they are right, the rest of us are wrong. In fact, we will pay for not recognizing this. /6

First, all of them have been central to dismantling the public health and scientific infrastructure of their agencies, sidelining and firing hundreds of people. Any notion that they were going offer a constructive new vision was sadly mistaken. 5/

Now they are in power. In control. When you get the keys to the car, we get to all watch where you go, how you drive. You are in charge. No one is censoring you now. And this moment reveals the truth about these individuals. 4/

They cried foul, suggested they were being censored for their views, all modern day Galileos, facing off against the establishment. The sad fact is none of them has been a Galileo and many had the ear of the White House in the first Trump term, a bully pulpit of some regard. /3

During the early days of the COVID pandemic, each was criticized for their views on the pandemic, for underestimating its impact, for views on vaccine side-effects. The criticisms were scientific--these men and women got things wrong again and again. 2/

The chair of the #ACIP is a #COVID-contrarian, Martin Kulldorff, as are others on the committee (i.e., Robert Malone). COVID-contrarians also have hands on the lever of vaccine policy at #FDA (i.e., Vinay Prasad, Tracy Beth Hoeg), at #NIH (i.e., Jay Bhattacharya). 1/

Tara has been on the vaccine beat so long I have her articles bookmarked from when I moderated a Facebook Moms group a decade plus ago 😂

This should be bookmarked for all journalists & newsrooms.

In my latest at @sciam.bsky.social, I interviewed Regina Shih, Emory epi & co-PI of the NIH-funded State Alzheimer’s Research Support Center, about the current & worsening dementia care crisis and what must happen to meet the needs of an aging population.

With #ACIP happening, check out the fantastic toolkit of tip sheets from @sciline.org for reporting on #vaccines. I'm a bit biased because I contributed three of them, but there are seven in total, and they're all great, each addressing a different focus area. www.sciline.org/resource-lis...

Exactly this

Check out the fantastic toolkit of tip sheets from @sciline.org for reporting on #vaccines. I'm a bit biased because I contributed three of them, but there are seven in total, and they're all great, each addressing a different focus area. www.sciline.org/resource-lis...

Q: Do you think it would've been fitting to lower the flags to half staff when Melissa Hortman, the Minnesota House Speaker, was gunned down by an assassin? TRUMP: I'm not familiar. The who?

Polio Vaccines Saved America from the Disease. What Happens If We Lose Them? @tarahaelle.bsky.social @candidkitten.bsky.social @sciam.bsky.social www.scientificamerican.com/article/here...

"You are being musically mean to me and it's hurting my feelings so I am going to call the police department that we are supposed to be supporting to report a feels violation."

My very offline SIL is texting me very confused about what the fuck is going on and all I can tell her is that there's LAYERS of meme bullshit.

The story here is increasingly about the right’s reaction — the incitement, the calls for war, the effort to use this terrible incident to neuter opposition. This should be seen in the context of authoritarian regimes worldwide and their efforts to exploit acts of political violence to consolidate.

I’m around zoomers all day and to apply any kind of standardized template on their politics is a losing battle. They grew up online in a world of misinformation where a meme is more trustworthy than any message reaching them through the ether

Ppl could just wait 48 hours for his friends and family to say what “he got more political” means Other profiles and discord chats and whatever will prob drop. Instead ppl pick 2 bits of evidence - a t-shirt, a Halloween costume, a meme on a bullet - and decide THEY KNOW. They don’t, yet.

This. Exactly.

There are subcultures within subcultures here in the Very Online & video gaming communities. I hope journalists tread VERY carefully here and don’t inadvertently leap to conclusions about his ideology. We are FAR down the rabbit holes here—and we have a lot to learn before claiming we know motive.

In December, Rolling Stone kill a story of mine about groypers and Turning Point USA. Believe me, if I thought these things were connected in this shooting, I would be sitting here pitching that story to every media outlet, and not posting at you chucklefucks.

Join @healthjournalism.org and the Expert Vaccine Analysis Team THURS, SEPT 11 at 11am ET for a webinar on research re #vaccines & #autism. It's highly likely any HHS report on autism will try to implicate vaccines, so know the real science in advance. Register: healthjournalism.org/event/prepar...

Violence is not a viable path to change, even if it increasingly feels more inevitable. Assassinations in the 1960s did not solve problems. Neither will the assassinations of Charlie Kirk or Melissa Hortman. Kirk will now become a martyr, and this death may increase hate or violence.

This explains it better than I can