Incredibly tough time for public health right now, but this new article from my old colleague and I highlights a few critical priorities states can take to continue progress on health and wellbeing.

Just in case: @statnews.com has backed up and is monitoring #CDC 's data. www.statnews.com/2025/02/14/t...

Today, along with 2,000 other NIH employees, I had to clear out my office 😭 It was truly the honor of my life to work with such incredibly passionate people focused on improving human health. I’ve never experienced a more positive culture where *everyone* cared about their job and serving others.

Absolutely recommend checking out @emmbadger.bsky.social’s new NYT article for those wanting to dig in more on NIH cuts. The combination of my article and hers really highlights the different attacks here—infectious dz, overhead cuts—and what they mean for states! www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Louisiana with yet another bad vaccine policy. It’s almost like they waited to make sure RFK Jr., a vaccine conspiracist, was empowered before make this move. Proud to see my hometown, New Orleans, and its health department taking a stand!

We should anticipate even more drastic changes to NIH following RFK Jr.’s confirmation as HHS Secretary—changes that undermine scientific integrity, innovation, and public trust. www.americanprogress.org/article/how-...

RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine record speaks for itself, even if he tries to deny it. Last week, Sen. @chrismurphyct.bsky.social called out exactly this. RFK Jr. puts your health at risk. Take action now before it’s too late: www.americanprogress.org/take-action/...

It's happening.

On top of this weirdness, buried here is a provision prohibiting communities from implementing vaccine or mask policies that keep people safe and healthy. That's going to be perfect if we have another public health emergency as if that's totally out of the realm of possibility!

A powerful commentary on the role of the medical, science, and public health community in these dark times. Incredibly, proud to call the author a collaborator in the hard work ahead. Great work, Steve!

Unsurprising as they said they would do this in Project 2025. Breathing clean air and drinking clean water should be the most basic things we can agree on and this administration won't even commit to that. Corporate greed is more important that public health.

Nice closing from Cassidy but he left too open a door for RFK Jr. to feign a shift on the viewpoints we already know he's committed to.

RFK Jr.:"I'll comply with the laws." *Prospective boss that he pledges to serve at the pleasure of proceeds to NOT comply with the laws*

This is unfair to the families affected and a very unserious response to a tragic event.

RFK Jr is asked: 'how will you decide which scientists are good, and which scientists are bad?" Says: the ones that are corrupt. Interesting. I wonder whether profiting off conspiracy theories (say, by making money from litigation against a vaccine you want to limit access to) constitutes corrupt?

Not only does he not understand Medicare (see my previous post). He doesn't understand Medicaid. This program covers almost 80 million people, including children.

This program covers 66 million people and the person we're interviewing to lead it doesn't even know the basic components of the program. We're gambling with real people's lives.

Wow, powerful words from Hassan: Questioning settled science prevents us from moving forward and making critical progress that helps families, freezing us in place. This is so dangerous not just for health but also for those so worried about us being able to compete with other countries.

Reminder: he makes money from spreading his anti-science views on vaccines.

Senator Murphy now with a great point. RFK Jr. isn't doing any "questioning", he's already made up his mind and there is no reason to believe he'll suddenly change his mind after confirmation.

How can you "question" when you don't know what you're questioning? This is basic research.

This is the question! HOW are they broken? He has no specifics for us, just sweeping summary statements. The lack of specifics should give you pause.

Not to mention there is a whole institute within NIH focused on diabetes 🫠

Rand Paul now claims no healthy child has died of COVID. This is false. COVID-NET data indicated that about 1 in 3 children who died of COVID had no relevant comorbidities. It is also disgustingly ableist to suggest that the deaths of those children is acceptable because they had comorbidities.

RFK Jr just said he doesn't know if the COVID-19 vaccine was a success. How can he say with a straight face that he will follow evidence? www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2022/tw...

I'll say again that you can't give infectious diseases a break and also make sure the country is prepared to fight against bird flu. The two things contradict.

Sen. Cassidy coming out strong to push RFK Jr. on his anti-vaccine views. However, his subtle response "If you show me the data, then I will commit." The evidence has been there! Someone coming in to lead HHS should already know this and shouldn't need more convincing, glad Sen. Bernie called this!

MAHA needs the partnership of America's farmers while doing very little to support the infectious disease outbreak happening throughout their farms. Make it make sense!

We're gearing up for round 2 of hearings for RFK Jr. Senators on the HELP committee today should consider deeply what his plan to "take a break" on infectious disease funding would mean, especially for their states. ⬇️

Smiling through the pain of a very sad and weird day. Thanks @andreaducas.bsky.social and @shwoolf.bsky.social for being my comrades in arms today!

One surefire way to stop losing farmers is to take bird flu seriously. Hard to farm dead chickens and cows. But RFK Jr calls infectious disease work a distraction.

Don't fall for RFK Jr.'s rhetoric about fluoride. The study he referenced in today's hearing has many issues with it (see the STAT article). I recommend YLE's article on the fluoride debate to understand why fluoride in our water is safe (key point: it's about the dose).

There is extensive research on chronic disease, and there were previous efforts to address processed food. It's never been a priority for Kennedy - he's been an anti-vaccine activist - and there's no reason to think his priorities changed.

This is a profoundly welcome step, but the White House has *not* rescinded it's other illegal impoundments. -It is still illegally impounding IRA and IIJA funds. -It is still illegally impounding foreign assistance.

How can you say you support the CDC but question the work of the scientists and experts at the agency without evidence?

RFK Jr. has made millions encouraging lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers. As HHS secretary, he'll have the opportunity to enrich himself even further—and he won't promise otherwise.

Literally, let's get anybody else.

RFK Jr. claims that NIH has infectious diseases as the chief funding focus while not funding chronic disease research. Last year, NIH's infectious disease institute had about $6B out of NIH's $40B budget. The cancer institute's budget alone was higher than this at $7B.

RFK Jr. says in principle we should not be paying more for drugs than other countries. Then why support reversing actions that help bring down the cost of prescription drugs for Americans?

Senator Warren is pushing RFK Jr. to go on the record about his conflicts of interest with drug lawsuits. He's skirting around the answer, per usual.

Rural hospitals are closing at an alarming rate. Nearly 700 are on the brink of closure. Yet, the attempted pause on federal grants would threaten funding for these hospitals. Now square that with RFK Jr.'s statement: "President Trump is determined to end the hemorrhaging of rural hospitals."

Clearly, he has no idea what HHS does or what his powers and responsibilities would be as Secretary.

I guess we might call this "on the job" training? 🫠 Though let's hope he never gets the job! #stoprfk

RFK Jr. says it is "immortal" not to have a system to report vaccine reactions. There already is a system. Not to mention the enormous body of publicly available evidence on vaccine safety. Our system for researching, approving, and monitoring vaccines is ROBUST.

RFK Jr. doesn't know what a community health center is. These are incredibly important providers for the most underserved communities. I wrote about that a bit in the article below. To me, this signals he doesn't understand the basics of our health care system. Disqualifying.

RFK Jr. wants to get rid of 600 employees at NIH "not doing their jobs." What does that even mean? It means the people working on infectious disease research, lifesaving drug development, and vaccine research.

Senator Bennet: Did you say Lyme disease is a highly likely militarily engineered bioweapon? RFK Jr.: I probably did say that.

RFK Jr.: "Americans by and far do not like the Affordable Care Act." This is categorically false. Recent polling shows that 64% of Americans have a favorable opinion. He doesn't know what the American people want.

RFK Jr's conspiracy theories about COVID, lyme disease, and more were just repeated by Senator Bennet. RFK's response: "I probably did say that" or "I don't remember" This is dangerous. This is who is being considered to LEAD the country's health. Let's get serious.

It's critical to fact check every thing he says today!