Hannah Mestel, MPH, MBA

If you work on #Health #Wellness content creation and you are interested in participating in our pilot, check this out!

#Health #Wellness #Creators: We built Akari, an AI tool so you can create accurate content faster. We're launching a PAID pilot in Feb w/ The Jed Foundation
Incubated at @harvard.edu . Led by ex-Google/YouTube folks.
Apply by Jan 24th at tryakari.com 🎉

How New Trump Multiyear Policy Makes NIH Grants Even Harder To Get The new Trump administration multiyear funding policy for NIH grants has dropped National Cancer Institute grant funding rates from one in 10 applicants to one in 25.

www.forbes.com/sites/brucel...

Couldn’t agree more.
The spread of misinformation and disinformation tops the WEF’s list of global risks.

www.weforum.org/publications...

The majority of your exposure to *outdoor* air pollution can happen *indoors*. Insufficient guidance during wildfire to just say "go indoors"; need to pair that with message about filtration (MERV13 in central systems; supplement with portable air cleaner/air purifier with HEPA filters)

The Cost of Failed Science Communication: Lessons from Los Angeles Expertise Without Connection Leaves Us Talking to Ourselves

Interesting and important read from @unbiasedscipod.bsky.social and @matthewfacciani.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/theunbia...

The dangers of keeping epidemiology the “hidden science” Caitlin Rivers wants to tell the story of epidemiology and the public health heroes who keep the world safe and healthy.

Epidemiology is often invisible but vital to public health. This article sheds light on why it deserves more recognition. #Epidemiology #PublicHealth

bigthink.com/health/the-d...

Is bothsidesism killing us? (And why scientific consensus matters) - Healthy Debate Our information ecosystem has become a massive false-balance machine. We need to correct bothsideism and misinformation.

I wrote this in 2023.

WAY more relevant today.

Is bothsidesism killing us? (And why scientific consensus matters) healthydebate.ca/2023/08/topi...

Our information ecosystem has become a massive false-balance machine.

In coming years, journalists MUST do a better job. Please! 🙏

Whooping cough cases skyrocket in Michigan, as vaccinations decline | Bridge Michigan A potentially deadly disease in infants, whooping cough — pertussis — has exploded in Michigan this year, in part because of decreased vaccination rates.

Vaccine exemptions in Michigan have nearly doubled since 2020, increasing from 3.2% to 6.2% in 2023.

Cases of whooping cough in Michigan are currently higher than they’ve been for 20 years.

This is what happens when vaccine misinformation flourishes.

www.bridgemi.com/michigan-hea...

Statement of the Thirty-ninth Meeting of the Polio IHR Emergency Committee The thirty-ninth meeting of the Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) on the international spread of poliovirus was convened by the WHO Director-General on 20 Mar...

With recent talk about #polio, let’s not forget: it was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) in 2014 & remains one.

Imagine the consequences if we stop using the #polio #vaccine.

See the August statement from the IHR Emergency Committee
www.who.int/news/item/13...

Wow. I bow down to this clear, engaging explanation. 🧪🛟🩺♾️

WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing – 10 December 2024

❌ "during the pandemic" — please don't use it.

Here's the WHO chief, today:

"We cannot talk about COVID in the past tense. It’s still with us ... The world might want to forget about COVID-19, but we cannot afford to."

✅ "during the pandemic's emergency phase"

www.who.int/director-gen...

2/4

One size doesn’t fit all: Best time for COVID-19 booster depends on where you live, infection history A one-size-fits-all approach for scheduling COVID-19 booster shots may not be the most effective, according to a new study by researchers at the Yale School of

Let’s stop using absolute certainty in our communication when nuance is worth it:

“The findings highlight the importance of tailoring vaccination campaigns to local COVID-19 trends and personal infection histories for the best outcomes.”

medicine.yale.edu/news-article...

#publichealth #vaccines

Fair point!

Note to journalists: important to communicate that the stated aim of GBD was to have a massive epidemic (immediately before vaccines became available), and also somehow keep it away from older population at higher risk (which would be about 25% of UK population if take age 60 as cutoff)

Opinion | I Ran Operation Warp Speed. I’m Concerned About Bird Flu. Avian influenza might mutate to enable human-to-human transmission.

Not sure this is on the incoming administration's radar, but it ought to be. #H5N1 #birdflu in dairy cows — and poultry, and people — isn't going away. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/26/o...

We need the influencer equivalent of Stop-Drop-and-Roll to put out misinformation wildfires. @newslitproject.bsky.social has some good tools - now to get content creators to make good use of them!

Americans are not getting seasonal vaccines ahead of the holidays Experts worry that the unenthusiastic embrace of vaccines could spark outbreaks and increased hospitalizations.

Misinformation + political spin = 👇

Americans are not getting seasonal vaccines ahead of the holidays wapo.st/3OtyycQ

"...could spark outbreaks & increased hospitalizations."

"Some of the hesitancy toward vaccines can be attributed to a swarm of misinformation on social media and the internet..."

The Case Against RFK Jr. A man who asserts nonsense about vaccines and HIV should not be at the helm of Health and Human Services, writes former Harvard Medical School dean Jeffrey S. Flier.

in a 2023 interview, he said that research into the causal connection between HIV and AIDS was “phony” and “crooked.” This is scientific ignorance, not the healthy skepticism that some supporters allege. No one who asserts such nonsense should be at the helm of HHS. open.substack.com/pub/bariweis...

How does BSky deal with misinfo?

@ascottreid.bsky.social has been diving into it.

300,000 women die from cervical cancer every year.

But this is a cancer we can effectively eliminate with the HPV vaccine.

This is something very few people know about.

Article from my colleague @scientificdiscovery.dev: ourworldindata.org/hpv-vaccinat...

Five Ways R.F.K. Jr. Could Undermine Lifesaving Childhood Vaccines If he is confirmed as H.H.S. secretary, the longtime vaccine critic would be in a position to change the government’s immunization recommendations and delay the development of new vaccines.

“One result might be lower vaccination rates — and worse public health outcomes — in red states than in blue…similar to the pattern that played out w/the Covid-19 💉 .”

Ppl disproportionately died in red states. Is that going to happen to kids? Senate must vote No.

www.nytimes.com/2024/11/19/h...

Seriously, everyone needs to know this story, and know it well.

Opinion | What R.F.K. Jr. Might Do on Vaccines As the nation’s top health official, he could discourage vaccine research and production, and dissuade Americans from getting shots.

Vaccines save lives and reduce healthcare costs. Those are facts. It is dangerous that RFK Jr., a political figure with no medical or public health training, is the choice to take the nation’s most powerful and important public health job.

www.nytimes.com/2024/11/20/o...

One of my biggest recommendations for academics who are just starting out writing for a lay audience - avoid acronyms.

AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE.

I know writing things out can be tiresome. But 99% of the world has no idea what you're talking about when you use acronyms, and that's bad.

How HHS, FDA, and CDC Can Influence U.S. Vaccine Policy | KFF This policy brief highlights areas in which HHS, FDA, and CDC have authority to shape U.S. vaccine policy with a specific focus on vaccine approvals and recommendations for the public. Ultimately, whi...

NEW: How can HHS, FDA, & CDC influence vaccine policy, use and availability? Despite limits, federal officials have significant authority in this area (though they cannot impose mandates or change local vaccination requirements). w/ @joshmich.bsky.social

www.kff.org/policy-watch...

avoiding all the stuff that doesn’t support your argument does not, in fact, make your argument stronger

Here’s another nice starter pack for those, like me, interested in misinformation/disinformation, media literacy and fact-checking …

go.bsky.app/RiLKpt

The Marketplace in your state No matter what state you live in, you can enroll in affordable, quality health coverage.

Some words that can mean Obamacare:

ACA
Affordable Care Act
Marketplace
Healthcare.gov
Exchange
HIX
Covered California
Kynect
HealthSource RI
Connector
Your Health ID
Health Link
New York State of Health
Pennie
MNSure
CoverME
Medicaid/Cal (in expansion states)

www.healthcare.gov/marketplace-...