“These latest findings once again underline the need to hold Russia accountable for its repeated violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention and, in this instance, the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention.”

Joint Statement by the UK, Sweden, France, Germany and The Netherlands on Alexei Navalny's death www.gov.uk/government/n...

Russia killed Alexei Navalny with frog toxin, UK and allies say

Exclusive: Key US infectious-diseases centre to drop pandemic preparation Staff members have been instructed to scrub this topic and ‘biodefense’ from the agency’s website. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The TAK-003 story: key decisions that shaped development of a tetravalent dengue vaccine www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Moderna are being very careful in their responses about next steps here but given the likely arbitrariness and unreasonableness of an outright refusal to file (let alone the economic impacts), I expect they will appeal, with a range of options available: trendspotting.sidley.com/trends/fda

NEW: The FDA just shot down Moderna's new flu shot. From me: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

A chance to learn from the best in the business.

Macbeth: SHIT

FT: An oral history of the Fed’s Covid-19 crisis www.ft.com/content/cb9a...

We commend Senators Tom Cotton & Amy Klobuchar for intro legislation to est. a fed biosecurity framework. "This bill sets the U.S. on a path to continue its global leadership in biotech innovation, while enhancing our national resilience to emerging biological risks" said @t-inglesby.bsky.social.

Once had privilege of listening to Ian McKellen perform at Oxford. Seemed timely then - even more so now.

BREAKING: Federal health officials on Monday announced dramatic revisions to the slate of vaccines recommended for American children, reducing the number of diseases prevented by routine shots to 11 from 17. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/h...

JID: A BEACON for novel disease threats: Leveraging AI for informal event-based outbreak surveillance Nahid Bhadelia et al bit.ly/4joYsNd @bhadeliamd.bsky.social

The U.S. will very likely lose its measles-elimination status, and Americans will have to confront how difficult this virus can be to control, Katherine J. Wu reports: theatln.tc/bZcb1Wmr

What a haul.

Private equity must be stopped. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/14/u...

Jailed for gene-editing, a notorious scientist is not done yet www.ft.com/content/1399...

He told them to put the whiskey in the jar

“There are now 12 confirmed cases in the outbreak, which was first reported in mid-November and is occurring in the southern part of the country..73 suspected case-patients have been tested so far, and 349 contacts were being monitored” www.cidrap.umn.edu/marburg/deat...

I have posted about this before, but... Researchers at Pitt School of Public Health (with NIH funding) developed Project Tycho where they digitized reportable disease data from across the country going back to ~1900. graphics.wsj.com/infectious-d... 1/6

This is true both in this context, and beyond. Inherent safety may appear to be a predictable outcome of a complex system, but it isn’t. It’s the product of deliberate engineering.

"...the only long-term solution is for governments to invest in safe drinking water and sanitation." www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

Sopranos creator David Chase to write HBO limited series on CIA drug program. apple.news/AkpUSN4twTKe...

Wow. NHANES js incredibly for population health surveillance, and is nationally representative as well. What a loss.

“While the administration has since rescinded more than half of the approximately 1,300 termination notices it sent, the upheaval from the layoffs that are still taking effect could undermine efforts to protect public health.” www.axios.com/2025/10/13/t...

Inside Medicine: Breaking News: RIFs in reverse. Some CDC workers have been brought back, in latest whiplash by @jeremyfaust.bsky.social bit.ly/3W4AHzk

Lots of Epidemic Intelligence Service officers ("disease detectives") gone. In-country staff in Africa (including those helping to manage the current Ebola outbreak) are fired.

CDC employees terminated in apparent Friday night massacre. open.substack.com/pub/insideme...

Predictability of infectious disease outbreak severity: Chikungunya as a case study www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The reason for military rules of engagement and adhering to laws of armed combat is not “political correctness,” it’s better strategy, serves long-term national interest, and is a way to make an awful part of the human experience a little less awful, based on lessons learned from centuries of blood.

Nemesys Insights, in partnership with Frontier Design Group , is currently conducting an online Red Teaming exercise to reduce the dangers posed by cutting-edge AI applications.  See the flyer for more information and scan the QR code to register!

#OTD in 1918, the Indianapolis News reported an outbreak of influenza at Fort Harrison. By October 2, the epidemic had spread into the community and the "Indianapolis Board of Health essentially shut down all public gatherings in the city." indyencyclopedia.org/1918-spanish...

“For now, the new Moderna Innovation and Technology Centre..is set to produce Covid and RSV vaccines..In the case of a future health emergency, the site is meant to be able to produce 100 million vaccine doses within six months.” www.statnews.com/2025/09/25/m...

RFK Jr cancelled mRNA research — but the US military is still funding it www.nature.com/articles/d41...

After months of aid cuts, the State Department has released a 35-page document detailing how it plans to roll out global health assistance. Here's what it says — and what the reaction is.

Sen. Tim Kaine: "Brian Kilmeade 10 days ago suggested that homeless, mentally ill people should be lethally injected. He apologized...He didn't get pulled off the air."

This is a perfect description.

A lack of faith in the soundness of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new direction has led states to explore enacting their own vaccine policies. A patchwork of divergent recommendations and requirements could result. kffhealthnews.org/news/article...

Making recommendations about vaccines isn't easy. It takes leadership & expertise from multiple sectors. Medicine, manufacturing, supply chain, policy, financing, public health. It takes real experts willing to tackle hard problems. The composition of ACIP in the US does not meet this need.

IT'S OFFICIAL: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York State, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and New York City have formed the Northeast Public Health Collaborative. The collaborative will issue their own vaccine recommendations and coordinate public health efforts.

Susan Monarez, the CDC director for 29 days, said RFK Jr. Kennedy told her “the childhood vaccine schedule would be changing starting in September, and I needed to be on board with it”. My story, with updates to come as this Senate hearing continues: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Monarez: "Kennedy demanded 2 things of me that were were inconsistent w/ my oath of office. He directed me to commit in advance to approving every ACIP recommendation regardless of the scientific evidence. He also directed me to dismiss career officials responsible for vaccine policy without cause"

🚨 NEW: Climate change is already causing 30,000 deaths per year - a global annual economic loss of $100-350B USD - but the true damage is probably 10x higher. Out TODAY in Nature Climate Change: the first systematic look at the science of "health impact attribution" 🔓 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Here's how high-profile departures and widespread layoffs at the CDC will affect our health. Tldr: "Americans should be alarmed," a former top official said. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

“the agency is misusing the database” www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

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...