“So the plan is to have a plan — eventually.” @rollingstone.com with the healthcare and US policy analysis we need.

There are ongoing claims that acetaminophen (Tylenol) use in pregnancy causes autism. Here’s five things you should know 🧵

Nearly 1 in 5 Urinary Tract Infections Linked to Contaminated Meat New study finds people in underserved neighborhoods face the highest risk of foodborne infections Primary source study posted in thread

Excellent thread on the paper out this week in Nature suggesting COVID mRNA vaccines may support the immune system in responding to cancer ⬇️

1. We ( @jbakcoleman.bsky.social, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social, and I) have a new preprint up on the arXiv. There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.

New 📄! We inter-compare satellite-based NASA TEMPO column NO2 with ground monitor surface NO2. Correlation is very good; best in the mid-AM and worst in the late-PM. The work highlights when and where satellite data best represents surface air quality. agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

Just another normal HHS week: CDC researchers cannot present work at an annual Infectious Disease conference in (checks notes) Atlanta. As a CDC researcher put it: “It appears to me that HHS’s goal is to prevent the dissemination of scientific information. It’s insane.” apnews.com/article/infe...

#NoKings D.C. edition.

Washington, D.C.’s No Kings protest is converging on a rallying point just west of the Capitol building. This was one of several locally-organized feeder marches just before merging with an even bigger crowd on Pennsylvania Avenue 👇

THIS WEEKEND! Join us for No Kings Day nationwide, across 50 states, in DC and Puerto Rico, and internationally! We're standing up for science and democracy, and in solidarity with fired federal workers. #standupforscience #nokingsday

“Genomic analysis identified an Ebola virus with more than 99·5% identity to the lineage that was responsible for the first outbreak in Yambuku in 1976.”

Here is the students' @idsnews.bsky.social report out of Indiana University, where the student media director was fired today. www.idsnews.com/article/2025...

NEW: More than half of the roughly 1,300 layoffs notices at @CDCgov have been rescinded. But analysts with top-secret clearance working on biodefense preparedness at another health agency have lost their jobs, per sources. Our story 1/4 @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

The White House’s mass firing of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff on Friday has decimated offices related to injury prevention, respiratory disease surveillance, and chronic disease. www.statnews.com/2025/10/11/c...

Searching for Jackie Merlos: What happened when the Trump administration disappeared an immigrant mother and her four U.S. citizen kids

Did I ever tell y’all about the first time I was in Paris (recently!), sat down at a cafe, and ordered “French onion soup”? The waitress looked confused and said something to the effect of, “erm you mean onion soup”?! Yes, of course.

"As medical care evaporates it is moms who die in childbirth. As food disappears overwhelmed husbands abandon wives and children. As social order unravels it is mostly girls who are raped. And when times are desperate it is girls who are married against their will." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/27/o...

Thanks so much for your reporting on this, Ben. I just got an email from my campus's IT office triumphantly advertising free student access to four different AI models -- at the same time as we have a hiring freeze, caps on grad enrollment, and a 7% budget cut -- and wanted to scream.

Before prescribing leucovorin, doctors would first need to determine whether a patient suffered from the deficiency, Dr. Kesselheim said. How they would arrive at that diagnosis short of a risky, expensive spinal tap was not clear, he said. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/23/h...

It’s hard to know whether talking about these things is helpful or just gives them more oxygen, but the current acetaminophen fire is already roaring so here we go. Most importantly: ACOG affirms their position that acetaminophen is safe in pregnancy bsky.app/profile/acog...

And FWIW a study of medication use during pregnancy in the United States from 2011 to 2020 found that while use of acetaminophen with opioids declined over this period, trends for acetaminophen use remained stable (Mansour et al. AJOG 2024) www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Indeed, untreated fever in pregnancy is linked to miscarriage, birth defects, and preterm birth. Unmanaged pain in pregnancy is linked to high blood pressure, anxiety, and depression which are all bad for both mom and baby. So yes, “toughing it out” and avoiding meds in pregnancy is dangerous.

For you epi nerds inspired to brush up on analytical challenges in perinatal pharmacoepidemiology, here is a nice piece from @anecdatally.bsky.social! Associations between prenatal acetaminophen exposure & child neurodevelopment: Truth, bias, or a bit of both? pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

ACOG and all other professional societies continue to affirm the safety of using Tylenol, also known as as acetaminophen or paracetamol, in pregnancy to treat pain and fever during pregnancy.

Filling the gap left by flailing federal public health surveillance efforts…

Some personal news: I've been fired from the Washington Post in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting. Thread incoming. substack.com/@karenattiah...

A deep dive into the destruction of US cancer research by @jonathanmahler.bsky.social “It’s an absolutely unmitigated disaster,” a former top official at NIH told him. “It will take decades to recover from this, if we ever do.” Gift link: nyti.ms/48iH3Cr

That’s the thing, I do think we all agree that moms deserve a positive pregnancy experience & babies deserve a healthy start to life. Our health policies can make that happen (or not)! These cuts fly in the face of our shared values.

Are we ready for the next pandemic? Chatting about “The Big One” with @mtosterholm.bsky.social today @gwpublichealth.bsky.social

🧵Florida just announced it will end all vaccine mandates for children to attend school—the first state to do so. This will endanger kids’ health. Here’s a few key points on vaccine mandates. 1/10 www.cidrap.umn.edu/anti-science...

Here's a #GiftLink for those who want to read the full NYT obit of historian of science & gender, Margaret Rossiter. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/29/s... #histSTM 🧪🗃️

Things aren't looking great for women & infants in Mississippi. 🔹️"About a third of US counties do not have a single obstetric clinician," but in Mississippi, "nearly half of all counties are considered maternity care deserts." 🔹️Nationally,... 1/4 amp-cnn-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.cnn....

🚨 OUT NOW! Our new @science.org study led by @kohrathefog.bsky.social is the first to comprehensively quantify the health impacts of and inequities in outdoor air pollution exposure across all stages of the US oil and gas lifecycle: extraction ➡️ transport/storage ➡️ refining/processing ➡️ end-use. 🧵

The data package HHS offered to defend Kennedy’s decision is not the work of U.S. government scientists… “The compilation originated as material for a book titled “TOXIC SHOT: Facing the Dangers of the COVID ‘Vaccines’,” an anthology of essays by prominent anti-vaxxers.” @jackiantonovich.bsky.social

Trump wants the Washington Football team to bring back their old name: R–skins, a dictionary-defined racial slur. Research shows racist mascots harm Native youth’s self-esteem & mental health. What the research also found is that it makes white feel better about being white. 🧵

Note: Even though the Senate has removed $400 million in PEPFAR funding from the rescissions package, another $500 million in global health funding could still be cut. www.politico.com/live-updates...

Serious concerns as the US Preventive Services Task Force (the people who set recommendations for cancer screenings, STI testing, and preventive care generally) will not meet Thursday, as scheduled. www.cnn.com/2025/07/09/h...

I would once again like to take this opportunity to remind you all to support billionaire free, local, and/or worker run news. if you're in the DMV area: @washingtoninformer.com @51st.news @wcp.bsky.social @streetsensedc.bsky.social @thebaltimorebanner.com @baltimorebeat.bsky.social

While warehouses in the U.S. overflow with ready-to-use therapeutic foods (known as RUTFs), designed to treat severe malnutrition, children in places like South Sudan are going hungry.

And somehow these folks aren’t ranting about the need to ensure occupational health & safety either! There are millions of workplace injuries each year and thousands of workplace deaths. Manual labor comes with serious risks to workers (who often deserve more from their government).

WHO recently rapidly surveyed 108 of its country offices to assess the impact of Trump’s huge aid cuts ‼️85 offices (80%) said at least 1 health system was interrupted—the most severely affected included health emergencies, public health surveillance & service provision cdn.who.int/media/docs/d...

The New York Times has a story on PAGE TWENTY of today’s Sunday paper saying thousands mobilized?! Absurd. Most others estimates suggest there were millions who took to the streets in something like 2,000 separate protests around the country yesterday.

The FDA has approved Moderna’s mResvia (mRNA-1345) for the prevention of RSV in people ages 18 to 59 years old who are at increased risk. ACIP is scheduled to vote on the recommendation at the June meeting. www.cidrap.umn.edu/respiratory-...

Amer Academy of Pediatrics: “We are witnessing an escalating effort by the administration to silence independent medical expertise and stoke distrust in lifesaving vaccines. Creating confusion around proven vaccines endangers families' health + contributes to the spread of preventable diseases."

17 dedicated doctors, pediatricians, scientists, and parents who served on the Advisory Committee of Immunization Practices (ACIP) were just fired by Secretary Kennedy based on false claims of conflicts of interest – a dangerous and unprecedented action that makes our families less safe.

Measles infection during pregnancy is dangerous! It’s linked to early pregnancy loss, preterm labor and other pregnancy complications, increased risk of stillbirth, and neonatal mortality. In this recent case, a newborn with congenital measles has died.

Pretty damning considering the JAMA piece last week that said Long COVID has surpassed asthma as the most prevalent chronic illness among children.

“Each of us is part of a truly global university community. We know that the benefits of bringing talented people together from around the world are unique and irreplaceable.” -Alan Garber in a message, noting that Harvard will sue over the Trump administration barring international students.

“proposes to eliminate the CDC’s global health unit, effectively shutting down its $230 million immunization program: $180 million for polio eradication and the rest for measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases. The budget plan also withdraws financial support for Gavi”

I've seen folks talk about how "in four years" they'll be able to get back to their planned projects and I really don't think that's going to work out. People & projects losing funding now will not be able to hit pause and come back once funding is restored. Hard-won progress & capacity will be lost