"The U.S. (child vaccination) schedule is not a historical accident or the result of bureaucratic overreach. It is the product of decades of rigorous, U.S.-specific epidemiology, modeling and real-world data... Replacing it with Denmark’s schedule is not simplification. It is negligence." 🛟😷 Policy

Sensible health policy takes social, political, and economic reality into account. For example, risk-based Hep B vaccination is more viable in health systems with universal screening (which we *do not* have here in the US). Adopting Denmark's vax. schedule in the US simply doesn't make sense.

Grading and googling hallucinated citations, as one does nowadays, and now that LLMs have been around for a while, I've discovered new horrors: hallucinated journals are now appearing in Google Scholar with dozens of citations bc so many people are citing these fake things

One of the most blatantly authoritarian threats in a Trump term full of them

ICYMI: The Supreme Court is revisiting the legality of religious vaccine exemption bans. That's bad news for public health. Religious exemptions are broader than medical exemptions, which can increase infectious disease risk. That's why (some) states treat them differently under the law.

"Putting Tracy Beth (Hoeg) in charge is like dropping an atom bomb," one (FDA) source said, adding that multiple top-level officials are preparing resignations. "It's an extinction level event. (She) has never supervised a drug review...conducted a clinical trial...doesn't understand laws & reg's."🛟

Aaron Siri has had the longest airtime of any presenter at the two days of ACIP. No CDC experts were allowed formal speaking slots. No infectious disease, pediatric or immunology specialists were given formal time to speak. #Medsky #IDsky #pediatrics #vaccines #CDC

ACIP has been thrown into chaos. Panelists can't figure out what they're voting on. Scientific evidence is being shut out of the process. Now, universal Hep B vaccination is a thing of the past. RFK Jr's efforts to replace scientific experts with political appointees is making us all less safe.

ACIP may end universal Hep B vaccination today. Hep B prevention is Cassidy's passion, as he made clear during RFK Jr's confirmation hearings. But let's not forget... his vote to confirm RFK Jr. got us into this mess! He needs to use every lever of power he has in the Senate to fix it.

Alright, pals: ACIP meeting is beginning. Here is the link to the livestream: www.youtube.com/live/LpthhPB... The updated agenda: www.cdc.gov/acip/downloa... And the prebunk from TEC/Your Local Epidemiologist: open.substack.com/pub/yourloca... Anticipated votes: www.cdc.gov/acip/meeting...

As Washington debates health insurance policy, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has focused on his own priorities like promoting beef tallow and promising to end the "War on Saturated Fat" writes @mattmotta.bsky.social thebulletin.org/2025/11/let-...

One of the things about trust is that it is efficient. It saves you having to invest a lot of time and effort in verification, and if placed in the right places, saves you a lot of pain. "The diseases will do the education" is what we get when we don't trust.

Needed - larger samples, more realism about (the lack of) heterogeneous treatment effects: -"less than a third of proposed hypotheses were supported... the largest predictor of positive exp. results was sample size" -"moderation hypotheses were rarely significant" academic.oup.com/poq/advance-...

Washington's decision to require smallpox inoculation (variolation) for his troops was controversial. It was also the single most important strategic decision he ever made. One of many reasons to watch Ken Burns' fantastic docuseries retelling the story of The American Revolution.

RFK Jr is more concerned about how Shake Shack prepares its fries than it is about preserving Americans' access to affordable health insurance. Today in @thebulletin.org I discuss why the public *needs* to hold MAHA accountable for its inaction. thebulletin.org/2025/11/let-...

💬 Viewpoint: @kff.org polling indicates nearly three-quarters of US adults support congressional extension of #ACA premium tax credits, making health care affordability a decisive economic issue in upcoming elections and policy debates. ja.ma/4oZfvaB

The new face of CDC's public health emergency response is someone who: -- Promoted hydroxychloroquine & ivermectin as COVID-19 remedies -- Eliminated vaccine promotion campaigns in Louisiana -- Believes COVID-19 vaccines cause significant bodily injury www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/h...

My @nytimes.com op-ed: The Boomers Are Protesting Trump. Where Is Gen Z? www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/o... (gift link) The key point: "The absence of young people from conventional protests is both a problem and a warning."

I've had a missile blow up next to my airplane, been shot at dozens of times by anti-aircraft fire, and launched into orbit — all for my country. I never thought I'd see a President call for my execution. Trump doesn’t understand the Constitution, and we're all less safe for it.

A maddening double standard from Kennedy's CDC. RFK Jr. believes that NO studies are good enough to show that vaccines do not cause autism. But he'll cite just about *anything* showing that vaccines might cause injury. CDC exploits sci. uncertainty when convenient, and ignores it otherwise.

Today in @jhppl.bsky.social, we show that few Americans express strong concern about H5N1 health risks. That's a problem, because public apathy may impede an already-sluggish policy response to a potential pandemic (as @propublica.org documented this week). read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

Political expedience doesn't magically transform correlation into causation.

Check out my op-ed in @thehill.com on why now is the time for the GOP to embrace the public option @bridgingthegap.bsky.social @buceid.bsky.social @bucas.bsky.social @dadakim.bsky.social @mattmotta.bsky.social @thcallaghan.bsky.social @asanews.bsky.social @apsa.bsky.social @whitehouse-47.bsky.social

@marydwillis.bsky.social and I published a paper published today in Environmental Research Letters! iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1... We found that about 46.6 million people in the US, or about 14.1% of the US population, live within a mile of a piece of energy infrastructure. Why do we care? 🛟 |💡🔌

Donald Trump says the House Oversight Committee should get all files it is "legally entitled to." That phrase is critical. I suspect he will use that phrase to block most of the files not already release now that he has re-opened an investigation into Jeffry Epstein.

I can't tell you how many interviews I've done where I've been asked: If Trump's policies are so problematic, why are U.S. stocks rising so rapidly. A bit of international context illustrates the real issue here. U.S. stocks have dramatically underperformed other advanced economies.

Trump just got massively booed and flipped off by the crowd at the Commanders game. (Video: Marisa Schultz)

"The deal would include a promised vote on extending Obamacare tax credits in December, the sources said."

"overwhelming defeat" is when you lose by a point and a half (historically narrow) www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/u...

This is how Pres. Obama responded when Karmel Allison fainted on stage. He caught her and said: “You’re OK. I’m right here. I got you." The idea that the president could -- as a natural impulse -- display genuine concern and empathy for another person feels completely unrecognizable today.

I can't believe that this needs to be said, but... Oz's confident assertion that Americans will lose 125 *billion* pounds (up from 125 million, just moments before!) is why we need people running HHS who actually know what they're doing.

Sports betting & legalized gambling are major public health problems. Excited to be part of BUSPH's team to study this issue for the Mass. Gaming Commission over the next three years. (w/ @thcallaghan.bsky.social @jencornacc.bsky.social & more!) More about our work 👇 www.bu.edu/articles/202...

Among the many amazing things about Adams pleading his case here is that he openly supports and now is asking for help from… people who cancelled funding for cancer research.

ANES Data Release! electionstudies.org/data-center/... The 3-wave ANES panel is now available. It merges data from 3 election studies (2016-2020-2024), the first time the ANES has collected interviews of the same respondents across 3 presidential elections.

“.. the Times editorial board has compiled a list of 12 markers of democratic erosion .. The sobering reality is that the United States has regressed, to different degrees, on all 12.” @nytopinion.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The reality TV star who runs NASA for the reality TV star in the White House is pushing back on the reality TV star who thinks that we didn't land on the moon. 🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠

This is the sound of candidates losing the struggle against the crushing weight of partisan gravity. This is nationalization and polarization and presidentialization swallowing everything else. This is the dangerous collapse of dimensionality, in one chart leedrutman.substack.com/p/the-modera...

Excuse me? So the company the President currently owns is teaming up with a cryptocurrency company to create a prediction market, which will take bets... on things the President himself has quite a lot of control over? Gosh, I'm sure nothing bad will happen. www.ft.com/content/4855...

As @gelliottmorris.com notes, the welcomePAC report on Dems shows that the least popular parts of the Dem agenda are things not on the Dem agenda, while the least popular parts of the GOP agenda are things Trump has done this year. open.substack.com/pub/gelliott...

As I and several others (including @simonfhaeder.bsky.social) discuss with NYT today, pet parent vaccine hesitancy isn't just a health risk for our four-legged friends. It's a complex health policy challenge with important public health implications. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/s...

@thcallaghan.bsky.social & @mattmotta.bsky.social evaluate the challenge that polarization poses for our health and importantly, they propose a three-pronged path for better understanding and overcoming polarization in health and medicine. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

I know I speak for both @thcallaghan.bsky.social and I when I say we're so excited to collaborate with this amazing team!

💉 New Maxwell study explores how state vaccination policies shape COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. It’s led by Brittany Kmush and @sgadarian.bsky.social, and supported by David Kelso ’68.

Climate science is facing significant opposition in the US. Today we are launching the collaborative Strengthening Trust in Climate Scientists Megastudy 📈 Find out more and join our efforts 👇🧵

Really encouraging progress in cancer vaccine work. Bonus editorial at the end:

"We're doing the studies to make the proof." This is the first lesson you learn in Pseudoscience 101. Followed by "well actually, correlation *is* causation." abcnews.go.com/Politics/wir...

US public health is in crisis. In this special JHPPL issue edited by @oberlanderunc.bsky.social & @sarahgollust.bsky.social, you’ll find articles that help contextualize the erosion of public health infrastructure & adoption of policies harmful to public health. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/advanc...

@mattmotta.bsky.social assesses Trump Administration efforts to undermine health agencies’ regulatory authority & how this stems from disdain for those working in civil service roles, rooted in dislike of academic, medical & scientific experts. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

The Trump administration's attacks on civil service are profoundly personal. Today at @jhppl.bsky.social, I outline the "science of standing up for science;" how we can use social science research to restore health agencies' regulatory authority. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

Stand Up for Science: Statement on Compact Corrupting Higher Education "(W)hen the White House takes over what is defined as 'truth' regardless of scientific evidence, we are no longer in a free nation" - @standupforscience.bsky.social