First story from our new writer, Laine Bergeson! RSV vaccine highly effective against hospital admission in older adults, study suggests 82% effective against any RSV-related illness & 87% effective against severe RSV www.cidrap.umn.edu/r... Pic: Whispyhistory/Wikimedia Cmmns

many people have been saying

Unbelievable. Daycare Teacher Pulled Out Of Preschool By Armed Federal Agents, 'Traumatizing,' Parents Say blockclubchicago.org/2025/11/05/d...

I'd bet solid money that cefazolin is the #1 most-avoided drug do to fear of drug allergy, and it almost never needs to be avoided in penicillin-allergy. Et tu, @pharmermeg.bsky.social ?

Thank you, @cidrap.bsky.social, for covering our new @nejm.org review of Covid-19, RSV, and influenza immunizations. Check it out: cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/meta-analysis-covid-rsv-flu-vaccines-fall-provides-sea-data-showing-efficacy-safety

Just for a second, imagine what the world could be like if Gilead just gave this drug away at cost. Lives would be saved, economies would be improved, and they'd be heroes.

NEW: The entire staff supporting ACIP was laid off, and most working groups haven't met in months. That means the US may not make routine vaccine recommendations for more than half of children in 2026, and it could halt new vaccines in the pipeline. My latest: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

$40b to bailout Milei enriches zillionaire hedge fund managers who advise Scott Bessent. Trump admits this: " 'We don’t have to do it,' he said...'It’s not going to make a big difference for our country.' " Compare this w/USAID's FY24 humanitarian aid budget: ~$14.5b, or ~3 dictator bailouts.

My extra-credit "Show me an error that you caught AI making" idea is either a smashing success at illuminating the weaknesses in LLMs or instead illuminated that students are good at prompting AI to say stupid things. I'm going to hope for the first. #IDSky #academiclife

There is more evidence that #shingles vaccination significantly decreases the risk for heart disease, dementia and death among people aged 50 years or older with herpes zoster infection, according to data presented at #IDWeek2025. 💉 #IDSky 🥼 #MedSky www.healio.com/news/infecti...

Talk about a timely highlight of the importance of NIH #idweek @idweek.bsky.social

"ExamSoft"

Alarming report on FDA political interference. Scientists are being asked to find data supporting predetermined conclusions on autism treatments, vaccines, SSRIs - the opposite of how science works. We need evidence-based regulation, not regulation-based evidence. www.statnews.com/2025/10/14/f...

Journalist here I’m interested in talking to a federal agency scientist who was fired, then rehired. I can keep you anonymous. I’m on Signal ginnyg.04 Reposts are appreciated!

Trump has threatened a 200% tariff on pharmaceuticals, meaning Americans would see drug prices increase by potentially thousands of dollars.

🇺🇸 This is how ICE operates: Agents tackled a 79-year-old U.S. citizen in an LA raid — leaving him with broken ribs, chest trauma, elbow injuries & TBI (traumatic brain injury). His “crime”? Trying to show papers proving his workers were legal. shorturl.at/PEAhK #BlueSky #MedSky #NewsSky

"Expanding Medicaid in the remaining 10 non-expansion states, which constitute the top six states with the highest uninsurance rates among adults 19 to 64 years of age ... may lead to improvements in cancer outcomes" www.medpagetoday.com/hematologyon...

There’s now an app for all things fungi 🦠🍄 Dr. Matthew Pullen, Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota, helped launch Dr Fungus—a free app that brings the trusted resource to your phone. Explore fungal infections, antifungal treatments, and case-based learning—all in one place.

The Trump admin’s offer to give preferential treatment to institutions that toe the party line reeks of bribery in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological agenda. This is corruption. Adherence to ‘loyalty oaths’ would usher in a new era of thought policing in American higher education.

Now pushing no Tylenol for kids. My two small kids recently spiked three fevers in two weeks (Covid, virus, virus). You want me to make them stay up all night sweating and keening rather than give them one safe chewable, drop their temp, and let them go to sleep? You are an actual monster.

This is one of those quaint ... what do you call them? Oh, "facts" about vaccines that few people know or understand. That's a failure of science communication, which really doesn't stand a chance going against science disinformation's much less complex message of "lots of shots must be bad!"

This is bonkers. FDA is going to change leucovorin's label based on a lit review with data on 40 patients w/ cerebral folate deficiency and comparisons to "known natural history." www.statnews.com/2025/09/22/f...

ACOG reaffirms that acetaminophen is safe for managing pain and fever during pregnancy. No reputable studies support suggestions like those in HHS’s recent announcement linking acetaminophen use in pregnancy to autism; in fact, high-quality studies show no such risk. https://bit.ly/47Wxc59

Ugh “Many, if not most, of the removed pages have obvious tie-ins to topics known to be disfavored by the Trump administration……the care of LGBTQ+ people, health equity issues related to a variety of diseases or disabilities, sexually transmitted infections, and related educational resources.”

25% of Drs in US are foreign grads. Many are on an H1B visa. This will hit health systems hard especially rural hospitals and hospitals in underserved areas that sponsor these visas through waiver programs. The old cost was about 5000$ a year. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Universities. Rural hospitals. Tech companies. Several sectors are going to be profoundly hurt by this. Not to mention the chaos of the moment as current H1-B owners scramble to get back to the U.S., cancel travel, etc. due to the uncertainty. An absolute mess. As intended.

"Over 70% of Americans Jews oppose Trump's weaponizing of anti Semitism by attacking and defunding universities, according to a new poll" www.latimes.com/california/s...

Blue line shows ages 0-19: near-zero hepatitis B cases. The birth dose created an entire generation nearly free of hepatitis B. Adults who missed this protection still get infected. That's 30 years of proof this works. Tomorrow's vote could end it. www.cdc.gov/hepatitis-su...

Senator Bill Cassidy needs to be asked about RFK’s ACIP panel every single day until RFK no longer heads HHS. “Some members seemed confused about the data they were being presented. After their vote on the program that provides free vaccines for children, some members asked what they just voted on.”

It's really stunning that we're seeing US public health being taken over by states due to the abdication of responsibilities by the Administration. Truly amazing.

Stated at ACIP: MMRV isn’t acceptable for kids <4 to prevent measles, mumps, rubella & varicella. ❌ False. MMRV/MMR vaccines are safe & highly effective. Studies show only a very small increase in febrile seizure risk after the 1st dose.

ACIP member and anti-vax conspiracy theorist suggests fired CDC Director Monarez has been trained to lie by the CIA. This is so bonkers.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has signed an executive order which permits pharmacists and other medical personnel to administer vaccines recommended by state officials, no prior prescription needed. The order also requires insurance companies to cover the vaccines.

A colleague just heard that two NIH grant proposals -- totally aligned with addressing chronic disease -- one with a 4th percentile and one with a 1st percentile score, will likely not be funded. See rationale in the image. This does not seem like "radical transparency." #NIH #HHS

BREAKING: Susan Monarez, forced out by RFK Jr as CDC director, to testify in front of Senate panel next week. Monarez has said RFK Jr pressured her around vaccines. RFK Jr has said she was untrustworthy. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

My students rocked it on their 'major quiz' about antibiotics and bacteria and I just need to share that with the world.

There is a public comment period open now for the upcoming ACIP mtg which has Hep B, MMRV, RSV & COVID vax on their agenda. Please #MedSky comment: The comment period ends on 9/13!

Trump: You have some vaccines that are so amazing. The polio vaccine I think is amazing. A lot of people think that covid is amazing. You know. I think you have to be very careful when you say that some people don't have to be vaccinated.

Leg braces - $20-$30k, I’ve had at LEAST 6 leg braces. Wheelchairs - $5k for manual with no bells and whistles, I’ve had 2 Medications - anywhere between $100-$2000 /month pending health issues Surgeries - 19 surgeries $40k to - $1m inc. hospital stays I had polio. This is the cost.

Wow. New NBC poll finds 78% support vaccines, including 72% of independents and 67% of Republicans. As I keep trying to argue, Democrats should polarize the shit out of the vaccine/public health debate. Make people take sides. It will split Republicans and MAGA. See this:

There is, as of right now, no coverage of this protest on the WaPo website or in their @washingtonpost.com feed. So, if you (you reading this) want people to SEE this protest, you must share it.

This is a useful, and depressing, live blog by @aetiology.bsky.social #FireRFK

DRC just declared an Ebola outbreak with 13 deaths so far.

Keep the pressure on! Flood Congress with calls to impeach RFK Jr starting with Sen Bill Cassidy of Louisiana! Congressional Switchboard: (202) 224-3121

RFK pressured her to *pre approve* panel recommendations for a panel that had not actually met! "Once trusted experts are removed and advisory bodies are stacked, the results are predetermined. That isn’t reform. It is sabotage."

Opposition to RFKJr is ramping up. Joint statement from Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and 21 other organizations 👇

we lack good PK/PD models of what “mop-up” looks like. It would be a lot more reassuring to have a “mop-up” target exposure. This paper (h/t Nav Narayan) being an example (journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...). Important as new PO carbapenems hit the market.

About this Florida vaccine story: When they were little - 1 yr and 3 1/2 - my two older boys, who’d had all their shots, got whooping cough. We asked their pediatrician what would’ve happened if they hadn’t been vaccinated. “Oh, they’d have died.”

Normally a paper that concludes “Should you do X? It depends.” wouldn’t be at the top of my reading list but I think our (@jgpharmd.bsky.social, @emilylheil.bsky.social) new case-based paper on PO beta-lactams for GNRs highlights nuances & challenges generalizations academic.oup.com/ofid/article...