TIL the anecdote that Pasteur accidentally discovered an effective chicken cholera vaccine was probably made up, and the soured broth actually resulted from lots of work by his assistant Emile Roux.

For those in the back…

Make sure you’ve exhausted all other treatments options before going straight to antibiotics. “If you need it, you need it, but then be judicious about it." www.latimes.com/california/s...

"U.S. Magistrate Judge Lindsey Vaala expressed confusion and surprise at some points during the seven-minute court session when a federal grand jury impaneled in Alexandria, Virginia, returned the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey Thursday night."

There's a reason David Gorski has long-referred to Age of Autism as "that wretched hive of antivaccine scum and quackery." Age of Autism was cofounded by Mark Blaxill, who is #29 in the Encyclopedia of American Loons.

No, doctors don't get rich off vaccines. www.npr.org/2025/09/25/n...

I really appreciate how Dr. Glaucomflecken has become all of medicine and public health's emotional support ophthalmologist. I sat through 16 hours of ACIP meetings last week. If I do not laugh, I will cry.

100% and RFK Jr. treats a court verdict in his favor (& its lower bar for causality) as equivalent to (or a workaround for) scientific community validation--if a judge/jury decides in his favor, then that's validation of scientific truth. And in the area of policy & even public opinion, that works.

Annenberg poll in April 2025: 7%pt increase (since Aug. 2023) in support for req'ing kids to have MMR vaccination to attend school. A lot could have contributed to this uptick since Aug. 2023, but recall April had TX measles outbreak (& others) plus RFK Jr.'s statements/actions about it. 🛟😷 medsky

Annenberg Poll from Aug 5-18 2025 shows sig. decline in trust of CDC, FDA, & NIH, but also NASA & EPA, thus indicating general declining trust of Trump admin-led agencies vs. specific ones. Nearly all the change seems driven by Dems. Fauci still has overall popularity #'s RFK Jr. shld envy. 🛟medsky

Clever analysis of "what if" NIH had long been 40% smaller, as current cuts aim to make it. "Assuming...near term resembles the recent past...substantial NIH budget cuts--including those implemented at the funding margin--cld curtail research linked to a large share of potential drug approvals."🛟😷

Trump admin looking into ways to allow ppl w/autism to seek compensation via Nat'l Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. RFK Jr. has authority to change the conditions ppl can file claims for. How awful: could overwhelm the program, backlog cases, & would give cred to debunked autism risk claim. 🛟

🦆🚨 Quack alert: Mark Blaxill, major anti-vax author who blames his child's autism on vaccines, is now occupying prime space in CDC’s Immediate Office of the Director 😫 For perspective, pediatrician, vaccine scientist and parent of an autistic child Dr. Peter Hotez writes about his own experience

Another win for "Fuck you. Make me."

Walgreens confirms to me that they, too, will provide Covid vaccines without a prescription nationwide if CDC formally adopts ACIP's recommendations. (Please note that, for both CVS and Walgreens, this change is still contingent on that formal adoption!) Explainer has been updated to reflect this.

In a UN speech today, President Trump said that "all of these [climate] predictions were wrong". Back in 2019 I led a research effort to digitize old climate model projections and assess how well they did. Turns out they got future warming pretty spot on!

whoa. Every single one of the Sinclair advert buyers on this list is automotive or automotive related (insurance). That is one aspect of the power in our society held by car companies that I haven't seen studied enough.

Researchers: next time you go to complain about being allowed too few words/characters to craft those "highlight" bullet points about your paper that some journals want, keep this headline in mind as inspiration... Awful lot here packed into 22 words. academicsky sociology polisky demography 📉😷

🛟 health policy polisky sociology

Weird way to say you seek attention

Kimmel comes out of the gate with a Tylenol joke

The DC ICE crackdown "...effect is indeed dramatic — most of all on immigrants who have seen their lives upended, and the neighbors who’ve witnessed troubling scenes of masked federal agents hauling people into unmarked vehicles. But the impact on consumers is starting to be felt, too."

It’s #MythBustingTuesday. Today’s target: “Natural immunity is always better than vaccine-induced immunity.” I hear this all the time. Although it sounds appealing, it’s dangerously misleading. 🧵

Some good ideas here for further thinking, esp in current times... "Public health has traditionally been seen as a govt responsibility, but in an era of rising health challenges, it's time to recognize that the private sector has both a stake & a role in keeping Americans healthy..." health policy😷

NOT NOW NIGHTMARE BACTERIA

“'...there was a huge surge in antibiotic use during the pandemic, so this likely is reflected in increasing drug resistance'... Many states are not fully testing & reporting cases... which means the absolute # of US infections 'is definitely underestimated.'” 🛟 medsky idsky health policy sociology

New CDC priorities posted on 9/17. If you thought the 9/22 WH Press Conf. on Tylenol & autism was bad, look at this problematic read wrt DEI, "gender ideology," elective abortion, & harm reduction methods for illicit drugs, while pro-Parental Rights & vax safety that implies autism risk.🛟

"All Trump did was put fetuses at risk and make moms who took Tylenol feel guilty. Kennedy’s agreement was no surprise, but incredibly, the actual doctors in the room just smiled and nodded in agreement like doltish bobbleheads." 🛟 medsky health policy 😷

The word “autism” was first used to describe behavioral differences in children in 1911 but autism has been documented using available records going back to the 1700s (definitively) and further. Acetaminophen (Tylenol, paracetamol) was discovered in 1878 and first sold in the United States in 1950.

🛟😷medsky health policy polisky sociology

This ought to be engraved somewhere.

Bravo...

So much focus on the causes of autism, but has anyone seen/heard much from RFK Jr./HHS (even Dept. of Education) about resources devoted to improving services for people with autism, including children and their parents? I sure haven't.

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Affirms Safety and Benefits of Acetaminophen during Pregnancy 🛟

American Academy of Pediatrics statement on the 9/22 WH autism press conference: “Today’s White House event on autism was filled with dangerous claims and misleading information that sends a confusing message to parents and expecting parents and does a disservice to autistic individuals."

my favorite step in the scientific method: gossip

What a difference when sci/health journalists cover sci topics (even highly politicized ones). With the increased politicization of sci over the yrs, the standard political journalism practice of both-sides-ing is unhelpful for reporting a story--can help legitimate/amp un-/poorly-supported claims.

Before people call to ask. Measles is not available as a single antigen product in the USA. It's not FDA approved, we don't carry it, and we can't order it for you.

I’ve been combating medical misinformation for over two decades, and this feels not just quantitatively different, but qualitatively different.

BREAKING: A federal judge has ordered Trump to restore $500 million in frozen UCLA NIH grants. The same judge, Rita F. Lin, previously ordered all UCLA NSF grants reinstated. Lin has now nearly entirely reversed Trump's July de-funding of UCLA research: www.latimes.com/california/s...

What a mess this is going to create... But sowing confusion works well for the aims of RFK Jr., antivax activism, and MAHA. And think of other problems that might increase as a result of moms enduring illnesses/fevers. 🛟 medsky health policy

I can't imagine this 9/22 press briefing at 4pm ET/1PT to be anything but a mess with regard to #autism. Background here: www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru... If it's about Tylenol, then anyone's guess as to how much RFK Jr. will pull the pharma shill gambit to deflect criticism of his claims. 🛟medsky

Between this and the Press-Enterprise's numerous stories of deputy misconduct, raises the q of how Riverside County Sheriff's dept. fares on such deputy charges and convictions relative to other sheriff's depts. in CA. There has to be stats on this.

TP "pastor" and con artist Rob McCoy tells the audience "Take a picture of this QR code". This "memorial"s real intent is a money making scam no different than the bible thumping American televangelists we've seen for decades.

I AM VERY TIRED OF LOSING THREADS I PUT A TON OF WORK INTO BECAUSE BSKY REFRESHED GIVE US DRAFTS

Public trust around secure data is already challenging for legit scientists seeking access (e.g., vetting & use protocols), yet: "...it's not clear what Geier is doing w/ his access. If he has studies planned, no one has seen the protocols or methods, & it's not known if peer review is planned..."

aaaand final vote of the day, on Covid vaccines — written by @lizzylawrence.bsky.social & @chelseacirruzzo.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2025/09/19/a...