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Kristian G. Andersen

@kgandersen.bsky.social

Infectious diseases & genomics. Immunologist in (voluntary) exile. Minimal sarcasm. Fierce HOA (Hater of Acronyms). Personal account - opinions expressed are my own and not those of my employer.

2581 Posts17073 Follower238 Folgt
Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH@gavinyamey.bsky.social · yesterday

Holy shit FOUR members of the ethics committee in Denmark that gave the green light to allow the widely-condemned RFK Jr-funded trial to proceed in Guinea-Bissau have now resigned in protest This quote is 🔥 Great reporting by @melodyschreiber.com www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Stig Børsen Hansen, a founding member who was one of two reviewers who presented the study to the Danish committee, resigned from the group in protest on Friday, citing major ethical issues with the study. “You are now enrolling newborns in a lottery to test a hypothesis,” Hansen said. The children who are randomly selected not to receive the birth dose of the vaccine, those who “lost the lottery”, face in their earliest days the risk of contracting hepatitis B, which can cause irreversible lifelong damage. “They contract hepatitis B in the context of being part of a research project,” Hansen said, which made their infection happen, in effect, “by design”. Three other members of the committee have also resigned in protest.
Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH@gavinyamey.bsky.social · 3d ago

RFK Jr is funding a grotesquely unethical study on newborn babies in Guinea-Bissau; ethicists, pediatricians, clinical trial experts, & infectious disease experts are calling this horrific trial The New Tuskegee. It is unethical to withhold a life saving intervention from half of newborns FFS.

Kristian G. Andersen@kgandersen.bsky.social · yesterday

Great study! 1️⃣ 686 sequences, ~13% of cases (‼️) 2️⃣ Evolutionary rate of 8.7×10-4 s/s/y (a little slow vs EBOV) 3️⃣ Doubling time: ~2 weeks 4️⃣ Timing: late February 2026 5️⃣ Slow start in in Mongbwalu, amplification in urban center(s) 6️⃣ No evidence of majority mutations linked to fitness increase 👏

Andrew Rambaut (🐏🎀)@arambaut.bsky.social · yesterday

"Temporal and Phylodynamic analyses of the 2026 Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo" - www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...

Richard Sever@richardsever.bsky.social · 2d ago

"Jacobsen’s scenario is a poor map of biological risk...stacking worst-case assumptions about pathogen transmissibility, blurring the distinction between dual-use research and weaponization, and overstating what AI changes" thebulletin.org/2026/10/anni...

Annie Jacobsen’s road from Siberia to Armageddon is paved with bad assumptions

Following recent reports of a death at a secretive Siberian disease research lab, author Annie Jacobsen has become a sought-after media interview. Some interviewers are now casting Jacobsen's new best...

thebulletin.org

Kristian G. Andersen@kgandersen.bsky.social · 2d ago

"... “We’re not funding Kristian Andersen and that virologist crew,” the [HHS] official was quoted as saying [...] Science has confirmed that Andersen’s team applied for continued CREID funding but did not get a new award." Indeed. With a specific focus on Ebola, Hantaviruses, Mpox, and Lassa.

Greg Folkers@gregfolkers.bsky.social · 2d ago

ScienceInsider: NIH revives network to study emerging diseases—but its new restrictions baffle scientists By Jon Cohen @science.org @cohenjon.bsky.social bit.ly/3VXSGKR

Alex Crits-Christoph@acritschristoph.bsky.social · 3d ago

Maybe the only real lesson from the Russian PUE case has been that authoritative sources- medias, scientists, even the WHO itself- are overly uncritical of, and influenced by, misinformation and conspiratorial thinking. there is a need for more info hygiene and empirical skepticism in biosecurity.

Zach Hensel@zachhensel.bsky.social · 3d ago

The media was all over this at the press conference today. Jennifer Rigby @reuters.com asks about it at 22:50. @mvankerkhove.bsky.social reiterated that it was based on a single media source. Was it this false story from a tabloid?

Kristian G. Andersen@kgandersen.bsky.social · 3d ago

A scientist gave a scientific talk - on scientific work he has led for 5+ years - on a scientific topic at a scientific institution. And apparently it's so newsworthy that Politico had to write about it? Talk was only possible thanks to "academic freedom", apparently 🙄. What a world we live in 😵‍💫.

Greg Folkers@gregfolkers.bsky.social · 4d ago

Politico Pulse -- Wednesday, October 7, 2026 politi.co/4j9NFIO @politico.com coverage of COVID origins lecture by @kgandersen.bsky.social at NIH

COVID ORIGINS DISCUSSION — Staffers at the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, hosted a virtual lecture Tuesday with Kristian Andersen, a professor at Scripps Research who specializes in investigating the emergence and evolution of deadly pathogens, to talk about the hypothesis that the Covid-19 virus came from an infected animal at a market in Wuhan, China. Andersen co-authored the Proximal Origins of SARS-CoV-2, published in March 2020, which said a potential lab origin of the virus wasn’t plausible. Republicans and other proponents of the lab-leak theory have accused Andersen of helping cover up the lab-leak hypothesis, since he initially believed the virus could have been engineered but later wrote a scientific paper saying it wasn’t. In 2023, Andersen told the House Oversight and Accountability Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus that further analysis showed his initial lab-leak hypothesis was wrong. NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, who rose to fame during the pandemic for questioning lockdowns and other restrictive measures, said on social media platform X on Tuesday that Andersen’s lecture was possible thanks to NIH’s commitment to academic freedom, which “was denied to many scientists during the pandemic.”
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5d ago

Trump: "With the war, it's just artificial. It's a little bit high. It's a small price to pay ... let them take out Los Angeles, let them take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay."

Kristian G. Andersen@kgandersen.bsky.social · 5d ago

Just a friendly reminder that plague is prevalent, including in the western United States (see, prairie dogs), with multiple cases annually. It is also highly treatable and, yes, lab acquired infections (incl. fatal cases) have happened over the years, including e.g., UChicago.

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Gigi Gronvall@ggronvall.bsky.social · last wk.

I enjoyed joining Sam and Philipp for Science Counterpunch! We talked biosafety, biosecurity, and why real scientific progress is essential to preparedness. Protecting people requires investing in the science and capabilities that make us all safer. Thank you for having me on!

Sam Gregson@badboyofscience.bsky.social · last wk.

The Science Counterpunch is back! 🥊 To kick off season 2, we're discuss biosecurity and biosafety with @ggronvall.bsky.social . She recently testified in congress regarding just how unprepared the US is! Check it out! @philippmarkolin.eurosky.social Link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqq5... ⚛️🧪

Amy Maxmen, PhD@amymaxmen.bsky.social · last wk.

The Ebola outbreak in Congo is now exploding in North Kivu, where 34% of Ebola patients are being treated in bare-bones health facilities instead of Ebola Treatment Units, according to @msf.org 3,982 confirmed deaths 😔 www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/ebola...

Ebola outbreak spreading like “wildfire” across North Kivu

The province is bearing an increasing share of the Ebola burden in DR Congo, while access to specialized care remains insufficient.

doctorswithoutborders.org

Kristian G. Andersen@kgandersen.bsky.social · last wk.

Norway has been an interesting case study in how far lab leak conspiracy theories can spread in the media because of just a few commentators - who are so far over their skis that they'd make Holmenkollbakken jumpy - dominating the discourse. It won't last. www.journalisten.no/nar-mainstre...

Når mainstream media fremmer konspirasjons­teorier

Jeg har lenge irritert meg over hvordan den såkalte lab leak-teorien er blitt presentert i norske medier. Teorien dreier seg om at covidpandemien stammer fra et virus som lekket fra et laboratorium i ...

journalisten.no

Kristian G. Andersen@kgandersen.bsky.social · last wk.

Counterpoint(ish..) from Gates and IMO significantly more informed from someone who has a deep(er) understanding of the models and software - and has thought hard about societal impacts. I don't agree on some of his "bioterrorism" fears, but everything else, 👍. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/o...

Opinion | Bill Gates’s Blunt Warning on A.I.

As A.I. capabilities accelerate, the technologist is shocked by the “complete lack of engagement” with the question of how to manage its risks.

nytimes.com

Kristian G. Andersen@kgandersen.bsky.social · 2w ago

This is very much worth listening to. I'll largely keep my opinions to myself, but this one spanned strong disagreement (no, we can't just let the TechBros figure it out) to strong agreement (general risk discourse) and everything in-between. Give it a listen. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/o...

Michael Hobbes@michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 2w ago

My favorite example of this is the lab leak, where LEAKED SECRET SLACK MESSAGES show scientists going "wow, this could really be a lab leak," then investigating, finding no evidence and moving on. To this day conspiracy theorists claim the chats prove the leak is real.