Even before RFK Jr. upended the childhood vaccine schedule, Hep B vaccine uptake was on the decline. I talked with Vox about how we got here, and why declining vaccine uptake is so dangerous for public health.

Pediatrics published the Vaccine Integrity Project’s hepatitis B birth dose vaccine evidence review online. The review looked at: 400+ studies/reports, 40 years of data—and the conclusion was unmistakable.
There is no evidence supporting a delay in the hepatitis B birth dose.
tinyurl.com/4kbsm49f

A ‘shadow CDC’ is scrambling to fill gaps in public health data Dozens of routinely updated CDC databases have gone quiet. Here’s what states and medical societies are doing to preserve U.S. public health

“We tend to assume that federal government data is solid. It’s reliable; it’s consistent...We weren’t seeing that here.” 🧪 🛟 www.scientificamerican.com/article/stat...

Chart shows life expectancy (3-year rolling average) from the pre-pandemic year 2019 through 2024. The SK govt declared COVID over in Feb 2022. But the chart shows Saskatchewan’s worst year for life expectancy was actually the next year, 2023. Saskatchewan started the pandemic with the 3rd lowest life expectancy among the provinces, ahead of Newfoundland & Manitoba, but by 2024 was second lowest, ahead only of Manitoba.

How are we in Saskatchewan doing with life expectancy through COVID? Pretty awful, actually.
New Statistics Canada report shows SK life expectancy is 2nd lowest of 🇨🇦’s provinces in 2024, down from 3rd lowest in last year before the pandemic.
What’s worse is… 1/ (see also alt text)

Ottawa Public Health, in collaboration with McMaster University, is conducting a research study to determine whether a group cognitive behavioural therapy intervention is helpful for fathers and fathers-to-be who have been feeling depressed, sad, anxious, worried, angry or overwhelmed.

2025 PH Postings

Updated thread with US/Canada job postings in Public Health that might be relevant for folks with research backgrounds

First, an actively updated spreadsheet from the folks at Public Health Hiring Help: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

150+ additions in September

#medsky #publichealth #AcademicSky

Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) - December 4, 2025 - Day 1 of 2 YouTube video by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

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...

Vaccinations to prevent cervical cancer have plummeted in Britain Blame declining confidence, a lack of convenience and rising complacency

This is terrible

Vaccinations to prevent cervical cancer have plummeted in Britain

www.economist.com/britain/2025...

COVID-19 oral history archives offer roadmap for equitable public health solutions - CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy A new study highlights a transformative resource for public health: the unprecedented wave of COVID-19 oral history archives collected since the start of the pandemic. Authors Associate Professor…

🗣️📖COVID-19 oral history archives capture lived experiences of the pandemic. A new study by #CUNYSPH’s Emma Tsui, J. Robin Moon, Riki H.S. Eijima & colleagues shows how these archives can guide more equitable public health solutions.
🔗 cunysph.me/4mbpec1

Poverty and death in the wealthiest of nations The USA is a rich nation in poor health. Until about 1980, the mortality rate differed little from other high-income nations; by 2019, it was 24% higher than peer nations.1 What happened in the interi...

Poverty and death in the wealthiest of nations - The Lancet Public Health www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

The effects of orphanhood and lack of parental care on child vaccination: analyses of 189 cross-sectional UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys from 82 countries, 2005–2022 To better support children at risk and uphold their rights, vaccination programmes should prioritise service delivery to orphans and children lacking parental care.

The effects of orphanhood and lack of parental care on child vaccination: analyses of 189 cross-sectional UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys from 82 countries, 2005–2022 - eClinicalMedicine www.thelancet.com/journals/ecl...

An open letter to the American public on respiratory virus vaccines Read an open letter to the general public from the AMA and medical societies reaffirming support for vaccination to protect against flu, COVID-19, and RSV.

This is unprecedented. The AMA and other medical professional societies speak as one on respiratory virus vaccines and in their own way, say the Trump Administration cannot be trusted with your health. www.ama-assn.org/delivering-c...

Hundreds of NIH grant terminations are 'void and illegal,' federal judge rules A federal judge ruled that some of the grant terminations by the National Institutes of Health on DEI grounds are “void and illegal.”

In a major victory for public health — led by APHA — a federal judge has ruled that some of the NIH grant terminations by the Trump administration are "void and illegal." www.statnews.com/2025/06/16/n...

Public health suffers when those in power dismiss knowledge “Knowledge is power”—or at least it was when Sir Francis Bacon coined this phrase in the 16th century. In today’s world, we frequently encounter a different variant of this philosophy, perhaps best de...

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Projected Outcomes of Removing Fluoride From US Public Water Systems This cost-effectiveness analysis evaluates a large sample of US children to determine the associations of fluoridation cessation with oral health and national dental care costs.

If the US stops fluoridating water, in 5 yrs American children would suffer an additional 25.4 million cavities, with an added cost of $9.8B, and loss of 2.9 million quality-adjusted life years, disproportionately borne by children currently on public health insurance or who lack insurance entirely.

Health inequities are shortening lives by decades A global report published by WHO highlights that the underlying causes of ill health often stem from factors beyond the health sector, such as lack of quality housing, education and job opportunities.

www.who.int/news/item/06...

RFK Jr proposing self monitoring as an essential step before getting to use a GLP-1 medications, particularly emphasizing CGMs - which have zero data that they produce effective long-term weight loss let alone reduce chronic disease events like heart attacks. 😵‍💫

thehill.com/policy/healt...

Two New Studies Provide Broadest Evidence to Date of Unequal Impacts of Abortion Bans | Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Researchers estimate 22,180 more live births and 478 more infant deaths than expected across 14 states, including Texas, that banned abortion between September 2021 and August 2022.

"These findings suggest that restrictive abortion policies may be reversing decades of progress in reducing infant deaths in the U.S.,” says Alison Gemmill, associate professor in @hopkinspfrh.bsky.social and the infant-death study’s co-lead author.

To our American friends who may now be struggling to find health information on US websites: Please check out the Public Health Agency of Canada's website for helpful resources, updated dashboards & practical health tips.

🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦

canada.ca/en/public-he...

Epi Explained: Understanding Biases and Errors in Epidemiology - ALT: An oil painting of a horse carried hearse, with several mourners including a little girl behind it, with a snowy, muddy land.

🧪 🛟 In this Epi Explained: Bias & Error in Research. Bias skews results systematically, while random error occurs by chance. Learn the differences between common understanding and domain specific meanings of Bias and Error. Link: https://buff.ly/3OaYslp #EpiSky #MedSky #EduSky #Bias #Errors

Ten Americas: a systematic analysis of life expectancy disparities in the USA Our analysis confirms the continued existence of different Americas within the USA. One's life expectancy varies dramatically depending on where one lives, the economic conditions in that location, and one's racial and ethnic identity. This gulf was large at the beginning of the century, only grew larger over the first two decades, and was dramatically exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. These results underscore the vital need to reduce the massive inequity in longevity in the USA, as well as the benefits of detailed analyses of the interacting drivers of health disparities to fully understand the nature of the problem.

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...