Didn’t someone do a RCT showing that health visitors are “ineffective”? Healthcare is a complex system; we need to stop relying on 20th century research tools.

To clarify: I’m being cynical about the reliance on RCT evidence. Thanks @profsarahcowley.bsky.social for confirming - there was no RCT but policy decisions to withdraw HVs were made because no RCT had shown benefit.

I talked to the lovely Dan Snow about how the Roman Empire never fell - but evolved - and my book, Domination: youtu.be/HynJ2_9_Rmk?...

What a speech! Really worth listening to in full. Cant help thinking we would be far better off if our countries were run by some of our mayors @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social @london.gov.uk @annehidalgo.bsky.social @andyburnham.bsky.social youtu.be/NFVT5iUV8bA?...

Happy 2026 folks! S

We don't know if the BA.3.2.2 saltation will mirror BA.2.86>JN1. Yet, I'm struck by complacency & cognitive dissonance wrt vax & possible impact. For flu, a handful of HA muts is bad clinically, despite OK ANNUAL vax ND50. BA.3.2.2 is off the map, but apparently all is well...

We don't know if the BA.3.2.2 saltation will mirror BA.2.86>JN1. Yet, I'm struck by complacency & cognitive dissonance wrt vax & possible impact. For flu, a handful of HA muts is bad clinically, despite OK ANNUAL vax ND50. BA.3.2.2 is off the map, but apparently all is well...

Want a 2.5 minute primer on the ingenuity of randomised controlled trials? Of course you do.

Good morning!

Let’s go back to 2010! We didn’t need cancer pathways as urgent referrals were seen in 2-3 weeks, routine in 2-3 months Recruitment was rising, jobs were good. It wasn’t perfect but in 4 decades of NHS work it was the best it had been THEN SOMETHING HAPPENED ….

Oh my God it just keeps getting worse. This #RFK sponsored #hepatitis vaccine trial in #Guinea-Bissau is being run by people whose research methods have been totally discredited. This isn’t research, it’s gun-for-hire antivax nonsense. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Miniature musical instrument makers admit defeat as violin size requirement for story is declared "too small to build."

We've been doing wastewater metagenomics for 2 years. In the first 20 months we never detected measles once. However, in the last 4 months we've detected it 10 times across numerous states. It's going endemic again; good reason to get vaccinated. health.hawaii.gov/news/newsroo...

Interesting article that suggests that RFKJr can’t change the childhood vaccine schedule to the Danish vaccine schedule that easily as has to follow laws. I hope so but I worry his pincer moves to discredit vaccine ingredients whilst funding dubious research into eg autism causes will enable him

Turns out to be a pretty average flu year that started a bit earlier. NHS and Govt have a responsibility to communicate data responsibly and they failed this winter.

And finally we come around full circle to the human centipede. As with many apparatchiks, it's all too often someone else's shit that is passing through his lips.

For all my anger how the damage he did during the initial phases of the COVID pandemic and my distrust him based on everything he's done since, this genuinely makes me sad.

But it's totally normal for the head of NIH not to speak with AAAS Science, right? See how bad he is at this?

Once again JPAI revealing himself as the most clueless motherfucker in the 94305 zip code. If not for Jay, things would get political, he explains.

You can't make this shit up. The man has the charisma of a hung-over JD Vance.

I wouldn't describe Jay as "man in the middle" unless I were making sort of human centipede analogy.

Persona non grata-ing your own ambassadors does appear to be a novel way of doing diplomacy.

Well done, Canada.

“new evidence that first exposure to SARS-CoV-2 antigens via vaccination strengthens the long-term protective effect of hybrid immunity”…Overall, the study highlights the role of the vaccination campaigns against SARS-CoV-2 by helping shape a strong immune response as new variants emerge.”

@profstevegriffin.bsky.social has been saying all along letting children get their first experience as the virus (almost inevitable) rather than the vaccine, is reprehensible.

Excellent piece illustrating the fallacy of RFKJr and Hoeg making accusations the USA over vaccinate & conflicts with other countries. This is not the case - it’s brutally similar to many and each country vaccine policy reflects its health infrastructure, population and budget constraints.

Could never happen here... "[BBC's Newsnight] will lose its dedicated reporters, be shortened by 10 minutes and drop its investigative films to focus on studio-based debates." www.bbc.co.uk/news/enterta...

Trump and DOGE gutted US science: Scientists from a variety of fields researching anything from chemical hazards, drug addiction, pollution, LBTQ health care & paediatric brain disease report how grants were withdrawn and and they struggle to support students, staff and research 🧪

Inside and on top of the Wellington Arch in London - the first time I’ve been inside!

I just found a comfort food hamper on the doorstep and a “thanks for being the best boss in the world” note and I’m 😭.

I’m really proud to be a patron of HealthProm, supporting the great work they do in Ukraine, Afghanistan and other places. This year’s Christmas appeal supports work with refugee child just arrived in UK. Please support them if you can www.justgiving.com/campaign/hea...

Great @yorkshirebylines.co.uk write up of my recent talk about Trump for grassroots Europe yorkshirebylines.co.uk/politics/tru... Thanks @colinngordon.bsky.social for inviting me back!

Sometimes, viruses don't have to be the bad guys... Sometimes we can use one to treat another! Chuffed to present excellent work from Dr Samantha Garcia-Cardenas showing how the innate immune system can be "rewired" by a benign Reovirus to eliminate SARS2 infection. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Apart from this being another example of nauseating sycophancy, Trump seems obsessed with getting his name on as many things as he can just now.

www.newscientist.com/article/2508... Excellent piece including update on ME/CFS genetics and on our 'Rosetta' project on Long Covid and ME/CFS

Come and join us at Imperial College to work a project looking at mechanisms in Long Covid and ME/CFS We're looking for: A keen, experienced Research Nurse A gifted molecular immunologist with a strong bioinformatics background www.imperial.ac.uk/.../descript.... www.imperial.ac.uk/.../descript....

Job links for those posts with our team: www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...

Flu (+RSV/HMPV etc) doesn't have to be "super" to cause profound harm, disruption, & NHS pressure. SARS2 variants don't have to be "more virulent". Not being in the emergency phase of a pandemic does NOT mean we should revert back to ignoring infectious disease. #VaccinesPlus

When I was a medical student 45 years ago, I clerked in a 13 year old girl with deep jaundice and an abdominal mass. She was Hepatitis B positive. That had led to a primary liver tumour. In a 13-year-old. She was dead within the month. Avoidable with vaccination.

Meanwhile RFKjr has awarded substantive funding to Danish researchers to investigate impacts of deliberately withholding access to hepB vaccines at birth and delaying in Guinea-Bissau which has a high prevalence of the infection.

Expect more such actions if RFKjr and his team are allowed to stay in their roles with future targets including childhood vaccines schedule and any aluminium salt containing vaccine (many vaccines)

Reliance will be heavily on the use of blood tests now to detect ‘at-risk infants’ the committee tests never acknowledged were flawed- testing provision is patchy, tests can give wrong results and the decision ignored potential hepB transmission via droplets and risks of infection

Further there ACIP’s favourite statement of ‘ individual-based decision-making’ will be used to let parents decide when and if they will vaccinate if the mother tests negative for hepatitis B virus. This implies consent was not given already which is untrue

The CDC has endorsed ACIP’s decision of revoking universal access in USA to hepatitis B vaccines at birth. The policy had been in place for 34y and was changed despite no new evidence emerging of any risk of vaccination. #HealthPolicy 🧵

Wouldn't it be nice? www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

As expected - the BBC knows there is a deliberate slowdown in elective surgery but is still blaming the resident doctors.

Reminds me of the apocryphal question attributed to various US commentators during Gulf wars - “How did our oil get under their sand?”

Trump demonstrates ignorance of history AND geography in a single post . (PSA: the original Armada did not end well)

Thank goodness for that. Something that shouldn’t have happened, happened. And now it’s set to unhappen. Great for students, great for research in general and great for Britain. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...