How Vaccines Work 🧬🧫🧪🔬💉🥽

Flu season typically starts in October or November. But it looks like the flu started to pick up in September this year. n.pr/4j4JGxa

An early flu season means it might be time to think about a flu shot

Flu season typically starts in October or November. But it looks like the flu started to pick up in September this year.

n.pr

You know when you read a book and can’t stop thinking about it, even after a lot of time has elapsed? Like, for whatever reason, it just has an extra helping of staying power? For me rn, that book is Strange Animals by @jarodkanderson.bsky.social. Read it in July and it’s still regularly on my mind.

"After measles swept through her household, the young woman wanted to get vaccinated. Her doctor said she couldn't because she had leukemia and the treatments had weakened her immune system" @bachynski.bsky.social

A 20-year-old Amish woman with leukemia got measles and died in Pa.’s largest outbreak in three decades

After measles swept through her household, the young woman wanted to get vaccinated. Her doctor said she couldn't because she had leukemia and the treatments had weakened her immune system.

inquirer.com

The CDC wants to redesign its annual health survey. Their proposed changes would make people with intellectual and developmental disabilities "invisible." www.statnews.com/2026/10/01/c...

As CDC redesigns annual health survey, it removes questions about disabilities

Proposed changes to the federal government’s health survey would undercount Americans with disabilities, advocates say.

statnews.com

Not enough people take seriously "funding delays"/"bureaucratic nonsense can kill people" but here it is right here. If I was mad when a patient died because it took a few extra months for lawyers to try to look for a legal basis for an international data transfer, I'm incandescent, now.

NIH funding cuts delayed a promising childhood brain cancer trial. Patients lost time they didn't have

A delayed clinical trial underscores the stakes of federal research funding cuts for children with DIPG, a deadly brain tumor with few treatment options.

cnbc.com

Omigod, this is the most heartwarming story possible! Backpack (bear 89) is the son of the 2019 winner of Fat Bear Week, Holly (bear 435). In 2007, he injured his foot & a practice of riding on momma's Holly's back had a new meaning: he was mobility-restricted while it healed. So Holly moved him.

Alaska Public Media@alaskapublic.org · 2w ago

Meet Backpack, your 2026 Fat Bear Week champion. Backpack is 20 years old, weighs about 1,000 pounds and got his nickname because, as a cub, he loved riding on his mom's back across the Brooks River.

Yesterday I had to save Púca from picking a fight with a wasp. Today I had to stop him from chewing on a power cord. He has zero regrets.

Send Stephen Miller to The Hague.

Apparently Merck is no longer supplying Recarbrio. “In an unexpected move, Merck discontinued an important antibiotic from the U.S. market earlier this month, underscoring concerns about the commitment large pharmaceutical companies are willing to make to a field that is crucial to public health”

Merck discontinues a crucial antibiotic despite concerns over superbug resistance

Merck discontinued Recarbio, an important antibiotic in the U.S., despite concerns over resistance to superbugs.

statnews.com

This is what Trump, Vought and RFK Jr have done. It imperils us all. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/26/h...

‘Zombified’ C.D.C., Hobbled by Cuts, Struggles to Fulfill Scientific Mission (Gift Article)

The agency has lost its independence and nearly a third of its staff, as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and associates have tightened control.

nytimes.com

A joyous fat bear week to all 🐻

ANOTHER death in ICE detention which appears likely to be the result of medical neglect. A diabetic who told his family members he wasn't receiving regular insulin shots OR getting diabetic-appropriate meals just died in custody. The U.S. prison-ICE detention-industrial complex kills.

The Associated Press@apnews.com · 3w ago

A 36-year-old Costa Rican man whose family says he complained of not receiving proper care for his diabetes is the third detainee in less than six months to die at a U.S.

Lilly pledged to make insulin available at $25/vial for uninsured but it introduced restrictions based on geography and needs, and insulins that are subject to these voluntary price caps are often out of stock at the pharmacy when people go to fill a prescription. via @dylanlscott.bsky.social

A shocking number of Americans are still rationing insulin

Insulin still doesn’t cost $35. Here’s what it will take to make it truly affordable.

vox.com

Really important @commonwealthfund.org analysis of medical debt, with which 1 in 3 Americans struggles and which is only going to worsen with increasing marketplace plan premiums and increasing ESI premiums too, such that people will enroll in worse plans. www.commonwealthfund.org/publications...

How Medical Bills and Debt Impact Americans with Private Insurance

Americans with private insurance are often frustrated in attempts to get and pay for care through their health plan, leaving them with bills they didn’t expect.

commonwealthfund.org

A health secretary peddling “vaccine injury” nonsense amid a sharp rise in measles cases while sharing the stage with a polio vaccine denier is a GREAT look for the GOP heading into the midterms. “Give us another chance. We will **definitely** kill you!”

today the US Sec of Health and Human Services said “chemtrails” on front of a crowd that immediately applauded him for it, in case you were wondering where we’re at right now

I remember when polio put my friends into iron lungs. We lined up at school to get vaccinated. We eradicated the disease. We protected the common good and saved lives. Now, two MORE unvaccinated people have died from measles. What RFK Jr. is doing to public health in America is a disgrace.

how about some good news: new cat just dropped!!!!

Today, with backing from the ACLU, Kelton and twelve other named researchers filed a class action suit against the NIH under director Jay Bhattacharya for censoring their research and violating their First Amendment rights.

Researchers Challenge NIH Screening of Grants for Disfavored Viewpoints | American Civil Liberties Union

Class action lawsuit seeks to stop censorship and termination of federally funded scientific research

aclu.org

BREAKING: We're suing Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and the National Institutes of Health Director for their ideologically-driven termination and censorship of biomedical research grants. Targeting views the government disagrees with for not aligning with a political agenda is unconstitutional.

The measles/mumps/rubella vaccine is incredibly safe. There is zero evidence linking it to autism or other medical conditions. But one in five kids with measles ends up hospitalized.

CIDRAP@cidrap.bsky.social · 4w ago

New polls highlight tumbling trust in measles vaccine safety, advice from doctors In total, 76% of Americans said they trusted the measles vaccine for kids, down from 84% six years ago. Read more: https://bit.ly/4yEXP8W

4 deaths from measles. This is tragic and 100% avoidable. It is completely within human’s capacity to have eliminated measles from the earth. But- anti-vaxxers and misinformation exist 🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️ www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

Fourth person dies of measles-associated illness in US

All deaths occurred in Pennsylvania, in worst year since 1992 for one of the most contagious diseases

theguardian.com

And now a 40-year-old woman has died.

Jefferson County officials confirm first measles-related death

The Jefferson County coroner has confirmed the county's first measles-related death.

wtae.com

@GottaLaff@gottalaff.bsky.social · last mo.

Clear now, RFK Jr? “The child contracted measles, and measles caused the death of the child”

On this day in 1916, British children's author Roald Dahl was born. He is remembered for writing classics like Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and The BFG. Due to a profound personal loss, he was also an advocate for the measles vaccine.

This letter to the editor aligns with an article I have under review on the ways that election laws steering people to in-person Election Day voting operate as a key determinant of health because they widen the health divide in participation & health policy representation. www.ms.now/letter-to-th...

Opinion | Why mail-in voting matters to Americans like me

A reader responds to MS NOW’s coverage of the Trump administration’s legal battles over mail-in ballots.

ms.now

Thousands of immigrants did the hard, dirty work of clearing rubble and toxic dust and debris from Ground Zero. Many were undocumented laborers sent to work every day with no special PPE, and got cancer as a result. Now some of those same people are living in fear of ICE. www.npr.org/2026/09/11/n...

They cleaned up ground zero. Now many are hiding from ICE

After 9/11, thousands of rescue and cleanup crews went to work at ground zero. They were exposed to toxic debris and experienced psychological trauma. Today, many say they live in fear of deportation.

npr.org

maybe I'm biased (by teaching climatology last semester) but it's so weird seeing people arguing about the dangers of AI in a "robots kill you, singularity!" sci-fi sense, some sort of future possible danger and not this immediate threat to our livable planet

Jeff Sharlet@jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 2mo ago

"By the end of 2030," reports NYT, the amount of energy used by data centers"is expected to quadruple, eclipsing the power used by all countries in South America and Africa combined." This is extinctionism.

NEW: Our analysis found that from 2020 to 2025, the rate of deaths involving ectopic pregnancies nearly doubled compared with the previous six-year period. The uptick was steeper in states with abortion bans.

Ectopic Pregnancy Deaths Have Nearly Doubled. It’s Worse in States With Abortion Bans.

With prompt and appropriate medical care, experts say, people shouldn’t die from an ectopic pregnancy. Women in Texas and Oklahoma have sued over delays in care, which, coupled with our new analysis, ...

propublica.org

Measles Cases in the US Reach Highest Number in More Than 3 Decades jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Measles Cases in the US Reach Highest Number in More Than 3 Decades

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that 2026 measles cases reached 2465 as of August 6, the highest reported number since 1991.

jamanetwork.com