👇 Timely 🧵 on public health news from @ylepidemiologist.bsky.social

statement by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists

Medical ethicist Arthur Kaplan, quoted in the NYT: “The announcement on autism was the saddest display of a lack of evidence, rumors, recyling old myths, lousy advice, outright lies & dangerous advice I have ever witnessed by anyone in authority in the world claiming to know anything about science”

This large Swedish study found no association between acetaminophen & autism using matched sibling controls. Also no dose-response effect. Ppl who use acetaminophen while pregnant differ in many ways from those who do not, & using sibling controls was a great way to reduce unmeasured confounding

🚨🚨 If I could just summarize 1 sentence from the new National Academy of Sciences study on climate, boldface, flashing red, it would be: "the evidence for current and future harm to human health and welfare created by human-caused GHGs is beyond scientific dispute." BEYOND SCIENTIFIC DISPUTE 🚨🚨

4) COVID vaccine was made “shared clinical decision making” (SCDM). Which means different barriers in different states. Some will require a prescription. Some won’t… ACIP had been moving away from SCDM because of the barriers. Doublespeak jargon about individual choice means nothing.

Well worth the read. Reiss calmly & unemotionally lays out the case as to how & why RFK is a serious threat to our children’s health. He’s “paring down public health agencies” by firing staff, replacing w/ “political appointees judged more by loyalty than expertise”. www.wsws.org/en/articles/...

"No vaccine was tested more extensively than the RNA vaccines, and no vaccine was given to more people than the mRNA vaccines, & they were found to be incredibly safe...and effective. They saved 20 million lives, & they stopped a pandemic that was shutting down the world." -Drew Weissman

👇👇

if you wouldn’t let random weirdos from the comments section make healthcare decisions for your child, then you shouldn’t be okay with what’s happening here

My family had a pharmacist and a pharm tech (in 2 different states) go to great lengths to dissuade them from getting their Covid shot, even with a Rx in hand. They stood their ground and got their shots, but lots of people won't. There are going to be a lot of personal beliefs thrown around.

At least Dr. Kulldorff realizes that they cannot make decisions on prescriptions, that their only practical vote - the only one within their authority - is 4. Note: they are making it shared clinical decision making for everyone.

Re-upping this in light of the dumpster fire at ACIP today.

It was a good informed consent document. It's part of the process. Putting misinformation into the document undermines informed consent. Misleading people does not go with informed consent. 2/2

Listening to Malone is absolutely WILD "I worked in this field so I know quite a bit about correlates of protection and you're lying if you claim we have one for SARS-CoV-2" You would think as someone who worked in this field, he would understand the difference between CoP and absolute correlates.

Excellent ACIP presentation by Dr. Su on the robust vaccine safety monitoring system, using ischemic stroke signal evaluation as an example.

A brilliant response to ACIP policy-making by anecdote 👇

ACIP is in chaos, they don't understand the policy implications, and it is only going to get worse.

"[ACIP] made its choice about MMRV at breakneck speed. In advance of meetings, ACIP...work groups...would evaluate the evidence on vaccines... Major decisions would not be made without an assessment of the benefits & risks... All of that has gone out the window." www.theatlantic.com/health/2025/...

As critical as I am of the CDC right now, I know many dedicated experts are still there. If we could hear their voices—not just political appointees—I’d feel differently. But the current messaging isn’t science-based, so I can’t trust the CDC or FDA at this time.

“It’s a real concern that someone so unqualified, [who] so clearly has an agenda…is apparently…trying to get access to the VSD data to try and persuade the public that they have evidence that there’s an association with vaccines and autism. When, in fact, there’s not.” - Dr. Edward Belongia

HHS abruptly cancels CDC meeting with RFK Jr., anti-vaccine activist as scrutiny mounts www.statnews.com/2025/09/17/r... via @statnews.com

Monarez: "Kennedy demanded 2 things of me that were were inconsistent w/ my oath of office. He directed me to commit in advance to approving every ACIP recommendation regardless of the scientific evidence. He also directed me to dismiss career officials responsible for vaccine policy without cause"

Rumor says that RFKJ's NayCIP wants to delay the Hepatitis B (HepB) vaccine dose we give to newborns. What's the worst that could happen? 🤷‍♂️ Turns out that the earlier you get HepB, the more likely you are to deal with lifelong problems like cancer and permanent liver damage. Awful, right? 🧵👇

“Allowing [access to vaccines] to be limited based on anecdote, whim, or flawed research is reckless and irresponsible.” That’s exactly what the CDC's ACIP risks doing. This isn’t just policy—it’s people’s lives.

“Americans expect their government to be ready, to tell the truth even when the evidence is uncomfortable, and to keep partisan fights out of the doctor’s office. The current leadership of HHS is failing those expectations” - @drdebhoury.bsky.social in her written testimony for tomorrow’s hearing

Some good news for Wisconsin residents.

Good advice 👇

We will be in deep, deep trouble when the next pandemic hits or we face some other public health crisis. And it will happen—we just don’t know when.

One of the saddest things is when children have cancer, immune deficiency or need bone marrow or organ transplants. And to add insult to injury, they’re unable to receive vaccines. But YOU can do your part to help protect them by immunizing yourself & your family. We are ALL in this together.

I'm a Former Surgeon General. Here's Why I'm Getting the COVID Shot This Year. www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/seco...

VAERS data are being weaponized for anti-vax propaganda. It’s a biased data source that is helpful for early detection of potential safety issues, but it can’t prove an adverse event was caused by a vaccine. VAERS signals must be confirmed in a population cohort such as Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD)

She has an account here too it's @formerantivax.bsky.social

Compelling personal story of a Canadian nurse who joined the anti-vax movement in a misguided effort to protect her young kids. She eventually came to realize it was all based on lies & misinformation. Now she is sharing her story & providing support for vax-hesitant parents. Highly recommended 👇

kevin is a former ACIP member 👇

We have data to answer questions about safety and effectiveness of COVID vaccines during pregnancy. Literally hundreds of studies.... #IDSky + #ObGynSky + #MedSky.

10 Great Public Health Achievements - US, 1900-1999: 👉Vaccination Motor-vehicle safety Safer workplaces Infect dis control Decline in deaths from heart disease & stroke Safer & healthier foods Healthier mothers & babies Family planning Fluoridation of water Recognition of tobacco as a health hazard

“Choosing people because they are hostile to coronavirus vaccines is choosing them by bias and not by expertise and is not a good way to populate an expert committee” @doritreiss.bsky.social wapo.st/3JStzDh

“We will never know what diseases might have been cured or what advances in technology might have been invented had the lights not gone out in the labs.” 🧪 #giftarticle

Today, I tried to get my COVID vaccine and was denied. Even after showing the pharmacist @govwesmoore.bsky.social 's statement that Maryland law says all Marylanders should have access to the COVID vaccine, I was still denied. They said they had to follow the box. This is RFK's fault. RFK must go.

it looks really, really bad that the American Medical Association @ama-assn.org is not calling for this guy to be fired. all the other organizations are doing it. what the hell?

“The tragedy is that expertise isn’t about blind faith. Science invites scrutiny, demands evidence, and self-corrects. But when we reject expertise entirely, we don’t get freedom — we get chaos” Great article about an impromptu conversation between a public health scientist & 4 Covid vax skeptics 👇

New polling finds an overwhelming majority (81%) of parents support mandates for vaccines against diseases like MMR and polio. That includes 82% of parents in Florida, 75% of Republicans, and 73% of MAGA Republicans. Anti-vaccine positions remain extremely unpopular. www.kff.org/quick-take/m...

Agree 💯 👇 @drdebhoury.bsky.social

Instead of using peer-reviewed science, they deceive the public by: 1. Pretending there are no data when in reality there is a massive amount of hi-quality data (eg autism) 2. Blaming it on 'Big Pharma' when data dont fit their beliefs 3. Doing 'studies' with flawed methods & predetermined outcomes

"The federal government has functionally abdicated its role in keeping Americans safe from dangerous illness...The country’s defensive shields against disease are shattering, in ways that could take decades, even generations, to mend." @katherinejwu.com www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

perfect 👌

i’ve been getting texts from family & friends all week, asking for help getting their annual fall vaccines. this isn’t what americans in either party want. trump should fire RFK

RFK Jr.'s ridiculous conspiracy theories and pseudoscience are pushing our nation’s best and brightest out of the CDC. The health of our families are better off in the hands of professionals. He must be fired.

Excellent article by @fullerlab.bsky.social on the importance of mRNA and why it’s insane for HHS to abandon this area of research. 👇