@antigenic-drift
Infectious disease epidemiologist with a focus on influenza, COVID-19, and other respiratory pathogens. Interested in viral evolution, social commentary, politics, anthropology, science fiction. All opinions are my own. #GetVaccinated #EpiSky
“Viruses and bacteria that were under control are being set free on our most vulnerable…It won’t work and can’t end well”.
Way to go @jimalwine.bsky.social, representing @defendpublichealth.bsky.social.
A probability matrix is not conscious. For fucks sake.
SARS-CoV-2 is not “airborne HIV” and I will not permit this narrative on my feed.
It’s an irresponsible and harmful claim made by people who understand nothing about viruses.
<you, smart> the virus must be perfectly adapted to cause a pandemic
<evolution, dumb> eh, good enough
"While the CDC website lists 12 active workgroups ...an HHS spokesperson did not directly answer questions from MedPage Today about whether those workgroups remain active or have meetings scheduled."
More about ACIP here #MedSky via @medpagetoday.com.
www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdi...
"Viruses don’t take vacations. The longest government shutdown ever puts everyone’s health at greater risk because the data and reports that are essential for monitoring the spread of diseases haven’t been updated for weeks." — me in @huffpost.com
I am so tired of hearing the opinions on the origins of COVID-19 from people who have literally no germane expertise to opine on it. The authors claim not to have a strong opinion. Fine, but it’s clear that they favor lab leak over spillover and their focus on lab leakers as the real victims…
The real generational divide is people who refuse to watch a video if it could be an article versus people who refuse to read an article if it could be a video
It does however seem like the house and Senate are not going to go along with Trump's budget and reorg plans for CDC
EXCLUSIVE: A summary of possible CDC funding based on the President’s Budget, the House markup, and the Senate markup.
Red: programs Trump wants entirely slashed.
Yellow: programs Trump requested substantial cuts.
Blue: flat or increased funding.
What does all this mean? 🧵
#BREAKING: Judge Breyer has held that the Trump admin. *violated* the Posse Comitatus Act in its military deployments in and around Los Angeles, and has enjoined further use of those troops for law enforcement tasks. The order is stayed through 12 PDT on 9/12:
georgetown.app.box.com/file/1973361...
Eugenics plays prominently in the rhetoric being generated and is derivative of a legacy that good medicine and science should continue to shun. The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud. I am resigning because of the cowardice of a leader that cannot admit that HIS and his minions' words over decades created an environment where violence like this can occur. I reject his and his colleagues
When a top CDC scientist resigns citing eugenicist rhetoric from federal health agencies, everyone should absolutely be paying attention.
Screenshot of NYT article “A study published in the Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology found that after just three months of using an A.I. tool designed to help spot precancerous growths during colonoscopies, doctors were significantly worse at finding the growths on their own. This is the first evidence that relying on A.I. tools might erode a doctor's ability to perform fundamental skills without the technology, a phenomenon known as "deskilling."”
There are no shortcuts in this life. Destroy all the robots.
Now we have a name for an increasingly common phenomenon for people who rely on AI: “deskilling”
Massive walkout underway at CDC.
RFK jr. must resign so that we can be safe.
There is a massive walk out at the CDC by staff unfolding right now. It is NECESSARY. I stand in solidarity with my CDC colleagues. standing up for science and public health. It is a moral imperative.
IDSA calls on insurers to cover COVID vaccines consistent with medical recommendations and evidence, and urges Congress to conduct strong oversight of the Administration’s decision restricting Americans’ freedom to choose vaccination.
Our statement: https://bit.ly/3JBFPb6
No, you're not ineligible for the vaccine. Let me introduce you to the concept of lying.
That COVID spike relative to other countries is especially insane. We produced the most effective vaccines in massive numbers and then let ourselves get into a ridiculous fight about whether to use them
After hearing stories of breast cancer surviviors panicked by recent headlines, I decided to revisit my take on the recent “COVID rekindling dormant cancer” paper. After reflection, I was too generous in calling the human results even “suggestive.”
jenndowd.substack.com/p/covid-and-...
The administration is taking money from research and public health that protects Americans, and instead is spending it on using the military to enact violence against Americans and suppress our Constitutional rights.
If the former doesn’t bother you, the latter sure as hell should.
Commentary: Study finds removing school mask mandates contributed to 22,000 U.S. COVID deaths in a year www.latimes.com/business/sto...
As another professor of Holocaust and genocide studies, Raz Segal, put it: “Can I name someone whose work I respect who doesn’t think it’s genocide? No.
BREAKING: In a serious blow to US pandemic flu preparedness, HHS has cancelled a contract with Moderna to test and license prototype vaccines for #H5N1 #birdflu and other potential pandemic viruses.
In a pandemic, mRNA is the fastest way to vaccine doses. www.statnews.com/2025/05/28/m...
Aside from the fact that anyone can get seriously ill from COVID, a key point they are deliberately hiding when removing access is that COVID vaccines reduce transmission. People choose to get vaccinated to protect other people. It is wrong and harmful to take that choice away.
the big lesson i've learned since the virus emerged is that economists are typically dumb as shit about epidemiology and public health.
This is a great thread response to HIV/AIDS denialism (which our Health Secretary also engages in) in 2025 that is somehow being used to bolster the baseless “lab leak” theory.
If you don’t “believe” HIV is the cause of AIDS you are a) stupid, b) a liar, or c) a very stupid liar.
Floored that the New Yorker would ever publish such an undeserving paean. Thanks @gregggonsalves.bsky.social for discussing it. RFK Jr as a persecuted heretic is overt propaganda. Invoking a revisionist history of the pandemic and HIV/AIDS denial in pursuit of that is all the more disgraceful.
The FDA’s Marty Makary and Vinay Prasad think children shouldn’t be protected from this: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Some of the CDC's main channels for communicating urgent health information to the public have gone silent.
“We shouldn’t make vaccine recommendations based on the opinion polls”.
Indeed.
www.statnews.com/2025/05/20/f...