If this is their idea of “support,” one wonders what their idea of “gutting the future of American science for kicks” might look like.

WELL NOW, would you look at that?

A massive, 4-YEAR-LONG study of NEARLY 30 MILLION people in France found that individuals who received a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine had a 74% LOWER risk of death from severe COVID-19 compared to unvaccinated individuals and ZERO increased risk of all-cause mortality.

Dear Member of Congress: The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and HIV Medicine Association (HIVMA) are deeply grateful for the longstanding bipartisan support from Congress for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). We want to inform you of current and likely impacts of delays and changes in funding policies and procedures for NIH grants. Our concerns relate to the following areas within NIH: • Massive reduction in notice of funding opportunities • Delays in funding processes and inadequate capacity to administer grants • Increase in forward funding of multiyear awards in year one • Delays and potential lapses in funding for large clinical trial networks and clinical trial units Lack of transparency around permitted international collaborative partners for research projects • Disproportionate impact of grant terminations on vulnerable populations, especially women and people of color

U.S. infectious disease research is on the brink. Without immediate action from Congress, much of it will cease to exist within a year.

For example👇

1️⃣ No collaborative RFAs posted for >1 year (normal: many / year).
2️⃣ No foreign collaborators allowed on grants.

🧪🪦 www.idsociety.org/globalassets...

Impossible to disagree with a single word that Ben Rhodes (Obama era NSC official) is saying here:

Trump Truth Social post

Donald Trump just threatened to unilaterally destroy an entire civilization.

Is there genuinely no limit to what Republicans will allow this unhinged, unwell man to do?

Congress must come back to Washington to rein in this dangerous behavior immediately.

“I think it’s incredibly important to do whole genome sequencing for outbreaks,” Andersen said, “but we shouldn’t need to do this for measles in the first place, because we have an extremely effective and safe vaccine.”

holy shit they are finally just actually saying "we do wars, not healthcare." I mean, WE'VE been pointing it out for decades, but to hear it casually said that yeah, we do wars and kill people and that's where our money goes, so we can't take care of our citizens. there's no bottom to this dig.

The ancient scrolls tell us that, in the Before Time, a president's admission that his administration had not considered the obvious likelihood of the war widening when they first attacked Iran would lead to immediate congressional hearings.

To be clear: the SAVE Act does not simply require the identification voting ALREADY requires. It demands proof of CITIZENSHIP— a birth certificate with a name that matches yours now (bye, bye, married women), or a passport— both of which are expensive and take a long time to obtain.

MAHAspital - SNL YouTube video by Saturday Night Live

If you need a few laughs amidst this hellscape:

I am shocked that a person who has spent the latter half of his career speaking about how awful medicine & public health are has not restored trust in medicine and public health.

Guinea-Bissau officials stop CDC-funded hepatitis B vaccine trial The country's foreign minister told Reuters the controversial trial is "not going to happen."

Guinea-Bissau officials stop CDC-funded hepatitis B vaccine trial www.cidrap.umn.edu/hepatitis/gu...

Luckovich is never NOT brilliant.

Suffice it to say, this will not make America healthy again.

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/h...

A valentine from Public Health of Seattle and King County. A man shivers in bed while a smiling lady in a red mask shows off her bandage on her arm. Text: Noses are red Ice packs are blue I'm vaxed so miss me with severe symptoms of flu.

A valentine from Public Health of Seattle and King County. Two lady scientists shrug lackadaisically. Text reads: My love for you can't be explained by science. Just like the new federal vaccine guidelines.

A valentine from Public Health of Seattle and King County. Protesters in Minneapolis wear thick clothes and hold signs of support for immigrant neighbors. Text reads: To the health departments in the Twin Cities: Love unites us. Our hearts are with you.

Oh my GOD King County Public Health is just wilding out for Valentines Day (and a lovely one).

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.

"[the US's] premier infectious-disease research institute have been instructed to remove the words “biodefense” and “pandemic preparedness” from the institute’s web pages".

As leadership said, all as part of the effort to "restore trust".

Down is up and up is down.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

You can't... repeal... a scientific finding. At that point it's just called lying about it.

Measles exposure in Durham February 6 Exposición al sarampión en Durham, 6 de febrero. An individual with measles visited the following locations on Friday, February 6: Goodwill, 4318 Garret Rd., Durham, NC February 6, 2026, 10:20AM. to 1:10PM Chubby’s Tacos, 4711 Hope Valley Road., Durham, NC February 6, 2026, 11:45AM to 2:30PM Plato’s Closet, 8128 Renaissance Pkwy #110, Durham, NC February 6, 12:45PM to 4:00PM If you visited one of these locations during these time frames, check your vaccination status and get vaccinated as soon as possible if you are unvaccinated; monitor your symptoms for 21 days; and call your doctor if symptoms develop. Learn more: https://tinyurl.com/2rabwb5t

An individual with measles visited 3 Durham locations on February 6. Learn more here: dconc.gov/DurhamCo-New.... If you were in one of these locations during the affected time frames, get vaccinated if you are unvaccinated, monitor your symptoms for 21 days, & call your doctor symptoms develop.

70,000 Voters Must Fix Their Registrations or Face Hurdle at the Polls Thousands of North Carolinians will have to cast a provisional ballot in the 2026 midterms if they don’t update their voter registration information.

Through no fault of their own, more than 70,000 North Carolinians could hit an extra obstacle when trying to cast a ballot in this year’s primaries.

Read this piece and weep. Trump's concentration camps cannot be "reformed" or "modernized," they must be closed.

A striking parallel:

Milhoan, chair of RFK Jr’s vaccine committee, sees the US explosion of measles as a chance to learn about how uncontrolled measles affects the unvaxxed

RFK Jr financed Danish researchers to learn what happens when you deny the hep B vaxx birth dose to babies in Guinea Bissau

ICE now confirming that there is a measles outbreak at the Texas concentration camp where young Liam was held.

I see we're at the 'arresting opposition journalists' phase of I Can't Believe It's Not Fascism!

The MAHA approach!

(Seriously. They ended the universal hep B vaccine birth dose recommendation based on zero data—I’m convinced that RFK Jr funded that proposed unethical trial of withholding the birth dose from babies in Guinea-Bissau in the hope of generating some kind of “data” to back him up)

Not content to roll back vaccination in the US alone, the extreme anti-vaxx activist & conspiracy theorist RFK Jr is taking his anti-vaxx crusade worldwide

It is children in low- & middle-income countries who will suffer the most from his awful anti-science policies

Let’s talk about that

A 🧵

State health officials expand access to measles vaccine following confirmed community spread in WNC The new guidance allows early infant doses and no-cost shots for adults as transmission moves beyond travel-linked cases

New measures in Western NC to improve measles vaccine availability and access: elective (early) doses available for babies over 6 months and free shots from the health department for underinsured adults.

www.bpr.org/health/2026-...

UI researcher loses grant funding amid NIH shakeup - The Daily Illini A University influenza research lab lost its NIH funding after shifting federal rules on gain-of-function studies.

“What she told me is that (the grant) was terminated for violating guidelines that don’t exist...She told me she doesn’t even know if anyone’s working on developing the guidelines.” dailyillini.com/news-stories...

#governmentefficiency

damn

it’s incumbent on us to be this brave

Amazing SciENcv biosketch tip from faculty meeting today - if the system won't accept your biosketch without any awards just add the Nobel and FIFA Peace prizes.

The median American here imo