No one. No one. No one can ever say to me again that Jay Bhattacharya was a reasonable pick for NIH Director. He was and is an ideological zealot. This is his doing. Shame on him. Shame on Matthew Memoli, Jon Lorsch, John Powers and the rest of them at NIH.

Greg Folkers@gregfolkers.bsky.social · 17h ago

New NIAID Strategic plan Launched quietly I guess. Apologies if I missed the press release. No more discussion of emerging infectious diseases/pandemic preparedness. That's not good amid the many ongoing outbreaks/epidemics and the ones to come. NIH Jay Bhattacharya RFK bit.ly/4qYzkRa

New Yorker: The MAHA Custody Battle A father wanted to vaccinate his children. Their mother didn’t. Then the kids got sick. by Ruby Cramer @newyorker.com @rubycramer.bsky.social bit.ly/4hijxbR

The MAHA Custody Battle

A father wanted to vaccinate his children. Their mother didn’t. Then the kids got sick.

bit.ly

If you are ever feeling inclined to believe that NIH Director Bhattacharya has any core scientific beliefs, remember this... He criticized and eliminated pandemic preparedness and biodefence from the NIAID strategic plan (without any process). www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/4

The new vision from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) - Nature Medicine

Preparing for tomorrow’s threats by enhancing our ability to help patients today.

nature.com

It was a myth 25 years ago that the antivax movement was mainly a crunchy, hippie-dippy lefty movement. There was always a strong right-wing component. Unfortunately, over the last 15 years, the political center of gravity has shifted hard right, a shift that accelerated during the pandemic.

It's been a week & I keep thinking about this. Laughing like it's some gotcha that infants cannot get vaccinated against measles & are entirely dependent on community protection, which they lacked in an outbreak that took off while Bhattacharya led CDC. He also gets the vaccine schedule wrong.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last wk.

NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya defends measles on Fox News and condemns Gov. Shapiro for "playing this out over the airwaves for political purposes, just like what happened during covid. And this is why there's such deep distrust in public health."

Wow. Jay Bhattacharya botching *basic* facts about vaccines on national TV? I am unshocked. Unshocked, I tell you.

Mallory Harris, PhD@malar0ne.bsky.social · 2d ago

He says you don't get vaccine until "at least 15 months" but the 1st dose of MMR is recommended at 12-15 mos, can be administered at 6 months in certain settings (like an ongoing outbreak). This is key to get right as a health official (and former CDC head) on national news during an outbreak.

This is one of the biggest scandals of Bhattacharya’s scandal-ridden tenure at NIH so far Secretly siphoning a third of NIAID’s budget to DOD to support Hegseth’s forever wars, outside of public scrutiny or Congressional approval, is outrageous The more we find out, the worse it gets 👇👇👇

Max Kozlov@maxkozlov.bsky.social · 3d ago

Under pressure, the DOD just released the text of its secret 10-year agreement with the NIH. Here are the biggest revelations from the document 🧵

Bhattacharya claims under oath that he’s trying to increase trust in NIH. But his past actions helped create the mistrust, and his actions as NIH Director seem to have the opposite effect. 27unihted.substack.com/p/declining-...

Declining Trust in NIH: Fact Check, Part 9

Jay Bhattacharya ignores how he contributed to lowering trust in public health by spreading disinformation

27unihted.substack.com

Study on HPV-related risk perceptions in rural KY: There is an obvious role for healthcare providers in educating and raising general vaccination awareness among their young adult, rural female patient population as well as provision of factual and logistical information related to the HPV vaccine.

HPV-Related Risk Perceptions and HPV Vaccine Uptake Among a Sample of Young Rural Women

Appalachia Kentucky is recognized for increased cervical cancer incidence, morbidity and mortality and lower rates of Pap testing. Understanding the predictors of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine up...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

So they’re trying to *increase* distrust?! “We’re trying to get research that’s more Department of War-related back to Department of War,” the official said. “When the public hears that NIAID funds biodefence, they think we’re developing bioweapons, and we’re trying to get out of that business.”

Max Kozlov@maxkozlov.bsky.social · 3d ago

Under pressure, the DOD just released the text of its secret 10-year agreement with the NIH. Here are the biggest revelations from the document 🧵

At his #Lyme quackery roundtable in December 2025, RFK Jr did the same thing with AIDS that he does with measles: Falsely claim that quacks are being persecuted and that science-based medicine (measles vaccines, AZT) is killing people.

1/4 From Reuters: HHS Sec. Kennedy asked CDC Director Erica Schwartz to remove two Pennsylvania measles deaths from CDC’s tally. CDC staff had already accepted the state’s classification. Schwartz implemented Kennedy’s directive, without objection... That is deeply disturbing.

Thanks to @camanpour.bsky.social @cnnipr.bsky.social for the discussion on CDC director's decision to not post measles data- her priority needs to be on responding to the active outbreak and ensuring kids are ready to go back to school- we need to hear from her. edition.cnn.com/2026/09/01/t...

‘I did what I could to protect the science’: Former official on leaving CDC | CNN

Dr. Debra Houry resigned in protest from her job as chief medical officer. She says politics is keeping people from doing their jobs at the CDC.

edition.cnn.com

All over the world, quacks roam free. And patients have little recourse when they are cheated and harmed. Thanks to Richard for sharing his personal story 👇

Richard Wilson@fishrise.bsky.social · 6d ago

Lyme Disease: Where blind faith trumps hard data (RFK yay!). Meet Breakspear Medical, where facts are evasive & a “reckless“ struck-off dr is on the board.   fishrise.substack.com/p/quack-quac...

Updated IDSA Guidelines out now! IDSA has released updated evidence-based guidelines on COVID-19, influenza, and RSV vaccinations in the immunocompromised population. Access the guidelines: bit.ly/4qNof5u Our press release: bit.ly/4y9Saau

Update: The "medical intuitive" R.R. is Rachel Reimer aka Rachel Hyde of Rae of Hope LLC.

LymeScience@lymescience.org · 7d ago

New: California psychiatrist Jennifer Marie Brewer, MD has settled misconduct charges for mistreating 12 patients. Jennie Brewer ("Respondent") consulted "with R.R., a 'medical intuitive' who uses a photograph of a patient to advise regarding medication and mental health treatment." Excerpts:

Much to be sad and angry about in this well reported piece, but one thing it doesn't touch on is how the specific cancer in question, chronic myeloid leukemia, is one of the most incredible scientific success stories of the past few decades.

Why MAHA Rallied for a Mother Seeking Alternative Treatments for Her Son’s Cancer (Gift Article)

Dayna Mooney chose alternative remedies over the recommendations of her son’s doctors. Was that her right as a parent or a threat to his care?

nytimes.com

IDSA AND HIVMA STATEMENT ON PASSAGE OF CONTINUING RESOLUTION “The proposed rule would overhaul federal grant processes; replace peer review, scientific merit and patient needs with political alignment; and upend federal support for medical research and public health with devastating consequences.."

1/ Last week, Pennsylvania announced two measles-associated deaths, the state’s first in 35 years. Details are still slowly being released, but Pennsylvania officials and the federal government have publicly disagreed over the cause of death. That dispute has now spilled onto the CDC’s website.

New: California psychiatrist Jennifer Marie Brewer, MD has settled misconduct charges for mistreating 12 patients. Jennie Brewer ("Respondent") consulted "with R.R., a 'medical intuitive' who uses a photograph of a patient to advise regarding medication and mental health treatment." Excerpts:

Stories of #leukemia are so wrenching for me. When I was 10 my cousin died from it. As an adult, my nephew was diagnosed but survived and he's now started college. The medications matter. Glad to see someone in this family eventually got it right. #GiftArticle www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/m...

Why MAHA Rallied for a Mother Seeking Alternative Treatments for Her Son’s Cancer (Gift Article)

Dayna Mooney chose alternative remedies over the recommendations of her son’s doctors. Was that her right as a parent or a threat to his care?

nytimes.com

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s lies about measles in Samoa In 2019, RFK Jr. went to Samoa to promote antivax propaganda that fueled a measles outbreak. We now learn it was even worse than reported.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s lies about measles in Samoa

In 2019, RFK Jr. went to Samoa to promote antivax propaganda that fueled a measles outbreak. We now learn it was even worse than reported.

respectfulinsolence.com

Thank you. The sequel tells the story of how pandemic disinformation and institutional cowardice and corruption led directly to MAHA.

Sounding the Alarm about Medical Misinformation | Skeptical Inquirer

Everyone Else Is Lying to You: How Our Medical Establishment Weaponized Doubt to Spread COVID, Normalize Quackery, andUndermine Public Health. By Jonathan H ...

skepticalinquirer.org

Roland Gerritsen van der Hoop@rgh1205.bsky.social · last wk.

Read your book "We want them infected" and recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about how irresponsible a number of herd immunity proponents have been during COVID and now in the Trump Administration. It is truly astonishing the amount of lying and deceit going on in the anti-vaxx world.

Heartbreaking. In the parents own words www.theatlantic.com/health/2026/...

The Measles-Stricken Mother Who Lost Her Newborn Son

The family at the center of Pennsylvania’s measles controversy tells their story.

theatlantic.com

Send a DM if you want a copy of Dr. Hotez’s paper “On Antiscience and Antisemitism”

Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD DSc(hon)@peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social · last wk.

muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...

Starting my Sunday with an email to the NIH Director about his shocking, but sadly not surprising, comments about the measles deaths in PA on Fox News. 1/2

It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the HHS secretary sees deaths from outbreaks of diseases we had beaten or contained, such as measles and cyclosporiasis, as a form of social hygiene that kills off the weak and susceptible. #healthcare www.thebulwark.com/p/rfk-jr-tox...

RFK Jr.’s Toxic World

The HHS secretary uses fear of contamination to denigrate modern medicine and advance a project rooted in vulgar eugenics.

thebulwark.com

Disappointingly, Mayim Bialik has been waving around her neuroscience PhD while promoting rank pseudoscience (including supplements and anti-vax propaganda) for many years.

LymeScience (@LymeScience) on X

Dr. Jen Gunter's first law of the medical Internet: If the person giving you health information is also selling supplements, you cannot trust their health information. Long time anti-vaxxer Mayim Bia...

x.com

Jonathan Jarry@jonathanjarry.bsky.social · 2w ago

If you think Mayim Bialik of the Big Bang Theory is an ally to science, you haven't checked her podcast in a while. She has gone cuckoo... or maybe she always was.

One year ago today, I resigned from CDC alongside Dan Jernigan and @drdemetre.bsky.social . We walked out, but we did not walk away from public health. Today, we reflect on why we spoke up and what it will take to build a stronger CDC for the future. www.statnews.com/2026/08/28/c...

We quit the CDC last year. The problems we protested remain

How disease spreads and the risks and benefits of interventions are questions for science, not for ideology.

statnews.com

My latest: Kennedy is undermining the #measles response in Pennsylvania by suggesting recent deaths were "fabricated," and his years of lies about vaccines have made it much more difficult to end our ongoing measles outbreaks throughout the country and prevent new ones from happening.

Opinion | America beat measles once. RFK Jr. is making it harder to do so again.

The U.S. is headed for more cases, more suffering, more deaths and enormous financial costs.

ms.now