Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis is a rare but fatal side effect of #measles infection, which manifests years after a kid recovers. This story of a family who lost a 10-year old to it is heartbreaking. Renae was too young to be vaccinated when she caught measles. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/o...
An emerging contageous virus, like a flu virus, will easily spread in the confines of a military base or a military operation…unless the troops are vaccinated. So the brilliant leaders of HHS and DOD decide to stop protecting the troops by no longer requiring flu vaccination. In 1918, before
RFK Jr. just said that immigration is to blame for the outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases in the U.S., not him.
Wonderful news, because many institutions rushed the roll-out of this "rule" and didn't provide the requisite support for faculty whose teaching materials needed to be made compliant (not the same thing as accessible...)
Big abortion win in PA today - the ban on Medicaid funding is unconstitutional!
AND there's a fundamental right to abortion!
We won!
(Though this Commonwealth Court opinion can be appealed - we'll see what our AG does.)
Thank you! We're glad to be included in the list!
I’ve had the same editor since 1967. Many times he has said to me over the years or asked me, Why would you use a semicolon instead of a colon? And many times over the years I have said to him things like: I will never speak to you again. Forever. Goodbye. That is it. Thank you very much. And I leave. Then I read the piece and I think of his suggestions. I send him a telegram that says, OK, so you’re right. So what? Don’t ever mention this to me again. If you do, I will never speak to you again
Maya Angelou on the joys of being edited
This is a great list! As an editor for Health Affairs, I'll point out that our blog was rebranded as Health Affairs Forefront in 2021: www.healthaffairs.org/forefront
NEW: Porsha Ngumezi and Nevaeh Crain died during miscarriages in Texas after doctors delayed treatment.
The state’s medical board has ruled that substandard care led to the deaths, but the doctors were given minimal punishment.
By Kavitha Surana and Lizzie Presser
'Earth is being slowly dehydrated by the unmitigated mining of #groundwater, which underlies vast proportions of every continent.'
www.propublica.org/article/wate...
5 years ago, this week, I was lucky to receive my first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine that gave me a fighting chance during the pandemic
But millions were not as lucky...
This week, I reflect on why charity can never be justice
meridianletters.com/vaccine-ineq...
“The board, which is designed to function like a state utility commission, will now oversee a process to lower the cost of the type 2 diabetes medicine Jardiance for the state and local governments by January 2027. At that time, the price will be capped at $204, or $6.80 a pill, for a 30-day supply”
Spoiler alert: nothing trickled down.
Surprise, surprise. Bhattacharya trying to quiet science that doesn’t align with his predetermined conclusions.
Maybe the report should be released so the scientific community can discuss and debate? Isn’t that what Bhattacharya says he is all about?
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...
A judge ruled that members of RFK Jr’s vaccine committee were "distinctly unqualified.”
So RFK Jr rewrote the rules of membership for the committee, because of course he did.
I keep trying to make it clear that what RFK Jr. has done to public health and healthcare will take years before the full weight of the horror becomes visible.
We are seeing the canaries in the coal mine with the measles outbreak and the FDA idiocy around vaccine approvals.
“This unsigned commentary had a role in both staving off federal regulation of asbestos in cosmetic talc in the 1970s, and in more recent lawsuits seeking to hold cosmetic manufacturers accountable for diseases and deaths,”
Just wait until these eyesore monstrosities want to come to your neighborhood. Goodbye trees. Expect to hear a constant, electrical humming, warmer temperatures and higher energy bills. Fight like hell to keep data centers out of your area.
SCOTUS rejects state ban on conversion therapy for LGBTQ minors, ruling it regulates viewpoint speech
But this isn't speech; it's state regulation of harmful therapies, as explained in @medpagetoday
This undermines core state power to regulate medicine
www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/the-...
this (onion) article is nearly 12 years old
"At press time, representatives from the world’s leading economies had signaled that they would continue to heavily rely on fossil fuels until they had something more than an overwhelming scientific consensus to go on."
A graph titled “the public health success of the measles vaccine” that shows the number of measles cases in the United States plummeting after the vaccine was introduced in 1963
I showed this graph in class yesterday on how measles cases in the United States plummeted dramatically after the vaccine was licensed in 1963. It’s not subtle and I could not resist observing: “This stunning design in measles cases was not thanks to vitamin A. It was not due to beef tallow.”
"Countries heavily reliant on US aid see a 10.5% increase in maternal mortality following a switch from a Democratic to a Republican administration—about 44.7 additional deaths per 100 000 live births."
gh.bmj.com/content/11/3...
Infographic titled "Tracking Poll: Health Information and Trust - Use of AI for Health Information" by KFF. It states 1 in 3 adults have used AI chatbots for health info in the past year. Among these, 1 in 5 cite health care access/affordability as reasons, including young and lower-income adults. 3 in 10 sought physical health info, while 1 in 6 sought mental health info. 4 in 10 uploaded personal medical info to AI, with 65% expressing privacy concerns. The AI health info usage for mental health info by age group is 18-29: 28%, 50+: 8%. Source: KFF Tracking Poll on Health Information and Trust (Feb. 24-Mar. 2, 2026).
New KFF polling shows 1 in 3 adults say they’ve used AI chatbots in the past year for health information.
See more findings about AI use for health information: https://on.kff.org/4lMR4wq
"What do you think of U.S. foreign policy?"
"I think it would be a good idea."
Squeezed by data centers' relentless demand for electricity, a Nevada energy company just said it's going to stop supplying energy to Tahoe. The city has a year to figure out how to meet 75% of its energy needs without it.
“An experimental vaccine from Pfizer and Valneva reduced the risk of developing Lyme disease by more than 70%… However, the companies said, under the pre-specified main goal of the study this benefit should have a 95% confidence interval [lower bound] of at least 20%… That figure was 15.8%.”
Pfizer & Valneva just reported ~73% efficacy from their phase 3 VALOR trial. The vaccine works. The trial ran into a statistical power problem fewer Lyme cases than expected, leaving the confidence interval too wide to clear the primary endpoint threshold.
www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/pfiz...
The CDC's panel of vaccine advisers could be down to a handful of people, or disbanded, amid a legal battle. ACIP members in limbo spoke out last night. w/ @jechristensen23.bsky.social @megtirrell.bsky.social
www.cnn.com/2026/03/19/h...
“The lawsuit seeks to reinstate the endangerment finding, forcing the Trump administration to retain the government’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas pollution…
The suit also seeks to reverse a related E.P.A. move that repealed limits on greenhouse gases produced by motor vehicles.”
