Before her (too early) death, the amazing Sharon Begley wrote this piece on double helix co-discoverer James Watson and the racist and sexist pronouncements he seemed to revel in making in later life. Fascinating read about a troubling individual. www.statnews.com/2025/11/07/j...

“We are witnessing nothing less than a clown show at #FDA right now.” People who worked at or rely on the US drug regulator see dysfunctional leadership & soap opera-ish behavior at a key federal agency, @matthewherper.bsky.social & @lizzylawrence.bsky.social report. www.statnews.com/2025/11/04/f...

This story about the lawsuit by a former business associate against former #FDA drug czar George Tidmarsh is beyond wild. Tidmarsh resigned Sunday after being placed on leave by Commissioner Marty Makary. www.statnews.com/2025/11/03/g...

#PAHO 's regional verification commission for #measles elimination meets this week. The likely outcome: Canada will lose its measles-free status, due to its large & long-running outbreak. If so, the Americas region will also lose elimination status. www.statnews.com/2025/11/03/m...

More disruption at #FDA. Exclusive from @lizzylawrence.bsky.social and @adamfeuerstein.bsky.social. www.statnews.com/2025/11/02/f...

1. Looking for weekend reads? Can't do better than these by my uber-talented @statnews.com colleagues @jasonmast.bsky.social & @lizzylawrence.bsky.social. First, Jason's indepth look at #Moderna's transition from pandemic savior to company with significant problems. www.statnews.com/2025/10/30/m...

The government shutdown is about to hit home in homes with the least capacity to weather shortfalls. Millions who rely on #SNAP to feed their families are caught in the crosshairs. “We need to remember that #SNAP is the safety net. Below the safety net is concrete.” www.statnews.com/2025/10/27/s...

The destruction of #ACIP and its critical role in advising on the use of vaccines in the United States continues. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

If only there were a way to prevent #measles infections. Oh, wait.... www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Barney Graham, one of the chief architects of the technology that gave the world #Covid & #RSV vaccines, is among 100 new members elected to the National Academy of Medicine. nam.edu/news-and-ins...

You know we're in uncharted territory when a former acting director of the #CDC, a scientist who spent years at the agency, says Americans can no longer look to the current CDC, under the current HHS leadership, for accurate vaccine guidance. www.statnews.com/2025/10/18/r...

If people think the attack on scientific advances is going to stop with #mRNA vaccines, they should think again, a co-founder of Moderna warned last week at the #STATSummit. This is going to make it harder to treat a raft of common diseases, Noubar Afeyan warned. www.statnews.com/2025/10/20/m...

The countdown to the end of DRC's most recent #Ebola outbreak has begun with the release from hospital of the last known patient. Of 64 cases (53 confirmed, 11 probables), there have been 45 deaths & 19 survivors. +35,000 people were vaccinated in this response. www.afro.who.int/news/last-eb...

Idaho reported another #H5N1 #birdflu infected dairy herd recently, its 108th. That makes 1,081 confirmed infected herds in 18 states since the outbreak was first recognized in spring 2024. www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-po...

This is not how science is supposed to work: @lizzylawrence.bsky.social interviews #FDA staffers on how the agency is being asked to investigate issues of interest to Health Secretary Kennedy. “It’s like the tail wagging the dog.... Go find data to support this." www.statnews.com/2025/10/14/f...

100s of #CDC employees were notified Friday they were being fired — RIF'd. The firings cross multiple parts of the agency, endangering its core mission of keeping Americans safe. Saturday, some were informed they were RIF'd in error. Hard to imagine how this happens www.statnews.com/2025/10/11/c...

So tragic: Alberta baby born with congenital #measles (mother contracted measles late in pregnancy) died shortly after birth. The province, which has had a massive measles outbreak this year, says this is the 7th case of congenital measles in 2025. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Leucovorin may have a role in treatment of some people with #autism. But one of the researchers who studied it warns it's not a silver bullet. @rosebroderick.bsky.social reports. www.statnews.com/2025/10/01/l...

"I’m not a doctor," President Trump said yesterday. That acknowledged lack of medical credentials did not stop him from offering medical opinions on risk factors for autism that the preponderance of the scientific evidence does not support. www.statnews.com/2025/09/22/t...

The brilliant @juliabelluz.bsky.social & @kevinh-phd.bsky.social have a new book out today on nutritional science. Food Intelligence explores how today’s food environment drives what & how we eat — and the impacts on our health. Can't wait to read it. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/671334...

Belatedly: #USDA announced that Nebraska has joined the states that have detected #H5N1 #birdflu in dairy cattle. Since H5 was first detected in cows in the US in spring 2024, 1,080 herds in 18 states have tested positive for the virus. www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-...

Broad access to vaccines of all sorts is in jeopardy, former CDC director Rochelle Walensky warns in an Op Ed in @statnews.com. www.statnews.com/2025/09/16/r...

#USDA announcement that Nebraska joins the states that have reported #H5N1 #birdflu in dairy cows says this is the 17th state. As @thijskuiken.bsky.social notes, it is the 18th.

Former surgeon general Jerome Adams pulls no punches in his assessment of health secretary Kennedy and the risk he poses to vaccine policy. www.statnews.com/2025/09/15/j...

Rollout of #Ebola vaccine has begun in DRC in response to the country’s most recent zairevirus outbreak. It is still thrilling to know a vaccine for this scourge has been licensed and can be rapidly deployed. Vaccines save lives. www.afro.who.int/countries/de...

If you read 1 thing today, please make it this: my so-talented colleague @ericboodman.bsky.social explains why babies in the US are vaccinated at birth against hep B — and what the human costs of changing that policy would be. www.statnews.com/2025/09/11/n...

The history of the #Covid19 #pandemic is being furiously rewritten, especially (though not solely) re: the safety and efficacy of the vaccines. But there is an evidentiary record and this is a hugely helpful compilation of it. Read and bookmark.

#CDC was alerted to 3 more #flu deaths in kids, bringing the total for the 2024-25 season (so far) to 278 — only 10 fewer than during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. About 90% of those kids weren't vaccinated against flu. So tragic. Kids should be vaccinated against flu. www.cdc.gov/fluview/surv...

Health Canada has approved Moderna’s newly updated Covid vaccine — and for the first time, the vaccines will be manufactured in Canada. globalnews.ca/news/1134908... #medsky

The number of kids who died from flu in the 2024-25 season is still rising. #CDC was informed of another 5 deaths, bringing the season total to 275 so far. Deaths occurred in Jan & May. The only time more peds deaths from flu were reported was in the 2009 pandemic. www.cdc.gov/fluview/surv...

Revered former #CDC dictator Bill Foege to those in public health whose resolve & faith in their mission has been shaken by current events, including the deadly attack on CDC HQ: “Do not back down. We will live through this drought of values, principles, and facts” www.statnews.com/2025/08/18/r...

This point isnt being made enough. Last week’s attack on the #CDC could have been a slaughter. www.statnews.com/2025/08/15/c...

#CDC has been advised of another 3 children who died from #flu in the 2024-25 season, bringing the confirmed pediatric death toll to 270. This number could rise further; pediatric deaths are often reported months later. Most weren't vaccinated. This is beyond tragic. www.cdc.gov/fluview/surv...

"The final steps in approving research grants, previously routine and rapid after scientific review panels signed off, has become a bottleneck." @aniloza.bsky.social, @mmolteni.bsky.social & @angusrohan.bsky.social on the politicization of #NIH. www.statnews.com/2025/08/15/i...

The "data" package Secretary Kennedy used to bolster his argument for discontinuing #BARDA funding for #mRNA research doesn't support his argument. @jakescottmd.bsky.social lays it out in a must read for @statnews.com. www.statnews.com/2025/08/13/r...

#NIH director Jay Bhattacharya doubles down on his assertion that the US is moving away from mRNA vaccine research because the public does not trust these vaccines. Distrust of mRNA is not universal; where it exists, the flames have been very actively fanned. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Massachusetts announces the risk of #WestNile has risen to "high" in a number of municipalities at this point. Between #WNV and #EasternEquineEncephalitis or #EEE, this is a good time of the year not to be bitten by mosquitoes!

Journal will NOT retract the Danish paper that found aluminum in childhood vaccines wasn't linked to increased risk of conditions like autism & asthma. Retraction calls — including from Sec. Kennedy — appear to be based on a dislike of the findings, editor says. www.medpagetoday.com/neurology/au...

Rocky start for new #CDC director Susan Monarez, whose first week was punctuated by Friday's attack. Her first all-hands meeting lasted ~13 minutes, with technical challenges with dead air for a time & some staff unable to join the call. "This is a mess," one said. www.statnews.com/2025/08/12/c...

#CDC staff, understandably shaken by Friday's attack on the agency's main campus, fear security isn't adequate to protect them. “Words of sympathy, however sincere, do not substitute for tangible action to ensure that we and our families can feel safe again.” www.statnews.com/2025/08/12/c...

#NIH director Jay Bhattacharya says the #BARDA mRNA contracts were terminated because the platform isn't viable because people don't trust it. Experts question some of the claims Bhattacharya made. www.statnews.com/2025/08/11/m...

"Public health workers are not the enemy:" former surgeon general Jerome Adams on yesterday's alarming attack on the CDC. www.statnews.com/2025/08/09/c...

Big news: Vinay Prasad is returning to #FDA as head of the center for biologics, @lizzylawrence.bsky.social reports. www.statnews.com/2025/08/09/v...

“We reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted,” Secretary Kennedy said earlier this week, when he announced he was discontinuing #BARDA investments in #mRNA vaccines. More on the science he relied on. www.statnews.com/2025/08/08/k...

#FDA 's new drug czar (who is also acting biologics czar) tried to reassure the regulatory agency's concerned staff in meetings this week. But it sounds like George Tidmarsh may not be the salvation of FDA's advisory committees. @lizzylawrence.bsky.social reports. www.statnews.com/2025/08/08/f...

#CDC has been informed of another pediatric #flu death in the 2024-25 season. That makes 267 children who died from flu this season. Such a tragedy. 90% of these kids (of those for whom vax status is known) weren't vaccinated, up from 82% in 2023-24. www.cdc.gov/fluview/surv...

Axing #BARDA funding for research on #mRNA vaccines is not just a problem for pandemic preparedness, it's a national security threat, experts in that area tell STAT. “We're unilaterally disarming ourselves" — and advertising that fact. www.statnews.com/2025/08/07/k...

Pandemic preparedness in the US has been leveled a crippling blow with the cancellation of multiple #BARDA contracts to help develop mRNA vaccines. No other vaccine platform produces vaccine so quickly; without mRNA, Americans will have a long wait for pandemic vax. www.statnews.com/2025/08/05/m...

The #USPSTF, which is under fire from the HHS secretary, lowered the age at which it recommended colorectal cancer screening to 45 from 50 in 2021, because more cases of advanced cancer were being seen in younger adults. New studies suggest the new policy is working. www.statnews.com/2025/08/04/c...