Exclusive: White House uses USAID funds for budget director Vought's security, documents show reut.rs/408Bam1

RFK Jr. says we should check with AI about what to eat and then AI totally dunked on his stupid dietary guidance. Also @bethmariem.bsky.social is doing some downright incredible work, and this article is another tour de force of very professional shade.

Thread. I really liked James Van Der Beek, but he supported RFK jr in the ‘24 election. His wife is a MAHA type health influencer. They moved to TX to a 36 acre ranch in 2020, and he’s worked steadily as an actor. He has two projects out this year. SAG insurance is very good.

1/ The death of James Van Der Beek is tragic and has understandably reopened fears about colon cancer among younger people. It has also opened a well-deserved conversation about the outrageous realities of healthcare costs. So let’s ground this in data.

Huge respect to Georgia Fort for continuing to report what was happening and why it was unconstitutional while the Feds were literally at her door.

Even though all evidence showed they were wrong, and they could not win the suits they filed, antivaxxers bullied the manufacturer of an effective vaccine for Lyme disease into withdrawing from the market just to avoid their bullying tactics. That was 24 yrs ago & we still don’t have a Lyme vaccine.

This may be the grossest #eye pic ever—but the cause is what’s truly horrifying ... | #bacteria | #vision | #infection | #antibiotics | #Klebsiella | By @bethmariem.bsky.social via @arstechnica.com

South Carolina's measles outbreak jumps again with 124 new cases since Tuesday, bringing the outbreak total to 558. 531 people quarantined. The outbreak began in Oct, but is wildly accelerating now. Since Jan 6, there have been 347 new cases (62% of total cases). dph.sc.gov/news/friday-...

Oh God, this is good news. I had been trying to bring myself to blog about this trial, but every time I was too enraged to get something together. This was a hideously stupid and unethical idea, and no one promoting it should have anything to do with medicine or public health.

BREAKING: The controversial hepatitis B vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau has been *cancelled,* I can now report. A senior official with Africa CDC confirmed the cancellation and said GB officials are working to make sure any research is conducted ethically: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

FDA deletes warning on bogus autism therapies touted by RFK Jr.‘s allies "The agency used to warn of chelation, used by RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine ally David Geier."

This is the video.

Children will die with RFK Jr.'s new vaccine recommendations. We're NOT doing the "experts disagree" game. The US vaccine schedule was painstakingly constructed through a deep & thorough process by experts with unquestionable expertise. This is policy by fiat. It is pre-meditated murder. 1/

Healthy #welder nearly died of #anthrax ... | #pneumonia | #infection | #Bacillus | #bacteria | #pathogen | By @bethmariem.bsky.social via @arstechnica.com

Tobacco use is leading cause of preventable disease, disability, & death in USA. Why did admin fire CDC's tobacco prevention & control experts? Illegal RIFs didn’t just eliminate jobs, they have silenced science. Critical data on tobacco use & its harms are NOT being published through MMWR. 1/2 🧵

What does it mean when your doctors keep insisting you redo the cognitive exam

They're lining up because the deals are weak... "“When you saw the lack of impact to earnings of the initial companies’ deals, for most coming after, it’s a no-brainer,” said Chris Meekins, a managing director at Raymond James.

I was on an IRB at UW Madison for 6 years, and chair for 2. We would have run this proposal through a shredder, set fire to the detritus, mixed the ashes with concrete, and buried it in a salt mine. It's just outrageous.

If you aren't able to watch this now, make sure to watch it when you can. Thank you, @bethmariem.bsky.social & @arstechnica.com.

I can’t tell you how glad I am to be released from the disgrace of Temu ACIP. I made a commitment to watch and comment on these proceedings. Not sure I’ll do it again. In summary, ACIP is no longer a legitimate scientific body. Every U.S. state needs to decouple their vaccine policy from ACIP.

Dr. Hoeg: I would pay to see the debate between Dr. Meissner and you. Note: She is an anti-vaccine activist, and she just showed it. Not a regulator. She does not have the qualifications, not the ability, and she is just biased.

lol the ACIP committee let Aaron Siri speak for some 90 minutes and cut off CDC experts and scientists off after two minutes (sometime yelling at them to shut them up). Incredible stuff.

Attorney Siri applauds his client RFK Jr.’s change to the CDC website which now claims that vaccines may cause autism. He is showing his cards. IMO the change was made to make it easier to file lawsuits, and I suspect it was done in collusion with Siri.

“I will just say we have heard ‘do no harm’ is a moral imperative. We are doing harm by changing this [recommendation],” Cody Meissner, pediatrician and voting member of ACIP said as he voted against the change. arstechnica.com/health/2025/...

Sen. Bill Cassidy, who cast the deciding vote to confirm RFK Jr. as health and human services secretary, disapproves of what Kennedy's handpicked panel has done to limit access to hep B vaccines.

Dr. Malone thinks he's the resident expert on immunology. No evidence we need does 2 and 3 to get longterm immunity. CDC member: fair hypothesis. No data to show it's in fact the case for hepatitis B.

Note: In the past, the #ACIP did not just make up schedules based on whether they make sense. They chose specific dates (at birth, at 2 months, etc) becuase clinical trials showed these times were the safest and most effective. The dates recommended were based on science, not conjecture

Dr. Levi still misrepresents the data and said he appreciates her "beliefs" - reminder: she's an expert in this. He is not.

Can't beat the 🩺 headlines from @arstechnica.com Factual, and to the point

Meissner makes a motion to postpone all votes on the HBV vaccine birth dose until tomorrow because no one understands the actual text of the vote. Seconded by Hibbeln.

"There is no significant evidence of horizontal transmission" because I can't read the article and can't evaluate the data is not, actually, a good argument, inexpert #ACIP.

Chairman of Senate’s health committee with his sharpest words yet as CDC’s vaccine advisers meeting gets underway. The question is what does Cassidy do now, beyond issue rebukes.

Absolutely unconscionable: Dr Prasad won't share details, data, evidence, or proof of causality. We just have Dr Tracy Beth Høeg's vibes - that's the assessment. AND: "FDA vaccine staff disagreed with the assessment that the reported deaths were caused by vaccines" endpoints.news/fda-says-it-...

At a time where most outlets are delicately avoiding naming things like racism, war crimes, and unconstitutional actions, huge props to Ars' @bethmariem.bsky.social for calling it like it actually is.

Martin Kulldorff gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he criticized public health responses to the crisis and co-authored an open letter advocating for letting the deadly virus spread unchecked through the population.

The destruction of the legitimacy of ACIP is so complete that the vague agenda on the left is all they have up for tomorrow’s meeting. It looks like no CDC scientists will present. No materials are posted. Usually ACIP posts a detailed agenda which includes materials (see example on right).

🚨The Trump administration just WITHDREW a proposed rule to make sure cosmetics products are tested for cancer-causing asbestos. Does exposing more Americans to asbestos Make America Healthy Again?? I wrote the law that required this testing—this move is dangerous and wrong.

Weaponization of the premier public health agency in the country for personal clout and gain. The CDC website should not be trusted given the fact that it is controlled by people who will profit from spurious and false attempts to link vaccines to autism. www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safe...

How awful. This is outright health disinformation, lying to the American people. Not only is there massive evidence showing no link between vaccines & autism, there’s not even a plausible mechanism based on what we’ve learned about the genetics of autism, some environmental exposures in pregnancy

RFK Jr had committed to Bill Cassidy, as a condition to win his vote, that he would keep website language. Cassidy in February: “If confirmed… CDC will not remove statements on their website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism.” Note the language in second photo.

Welp.