Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 14h

Fact remains hundreds of #CDC staff doing critical work lost their jobs this weekend in the administration’s ongoing destruction of what was the world’s premier public health agency.

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 15h

Case in point: staff of Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report, #CDC's critical information tool. Most MMWR staff were informed Friday they'd been RIF'd, leaving it unclear what the future of the publication would be. It appears these firings have been rescinded.
www.statnews.com/2025/10/11/c...

Deep cuts made to CDC's flagship MMWR publication reversed hours later

Deep cuts made to CDC's flagship MMWR publication have been reversed hours later.

www.statnews.com

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 15h

100s of #CDC employees were notified Friday they were being fired — RIF'd. The firings cross multiple parts of the agency, endangering its core mission of keeping Americans safe.
Saturday, some were informed they were RIF'd in error.
Hard to imagine how this happens www.statnews.com/2025/10/11/c...

CDC battered by government shutdown firings, while some are rescinded

The White House’s mass firing of CDC staff on Friday has decimated offices related to injury prevention, respiratory disease surveillance, and chronic disease, according to four people familiar with t...

www.statnews.com

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 9d

So tragic: Alberta baby born with congenital #measles (mother contracted measles late in pregnancy) died shortly after birth.
The province, which has had a massive measles outbreak this year, says this is the 7th case of congenital measles in 2025. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Premature baby dies of measles in Alberta outbreak's 1st death | CBC News

Alberta is reporting its first measles death since outbreaks of the highly contagious illness began in March. The province says a baby, who was born prematurely after the mother became sick, died shor...

www.cbc.ca

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 9d

Leucovorin may have a role in treatment of some people with #autism. But one of the researchers who studied it warns it's not a silver bullet. @rosebroderick.bsky.social reports. www.statnews.com/2025/10/01/l...

Leucovorin has a place in autism treatment, researcher says, but he tamps down parents’ expectations

STAT spoke with Robert Hendren, a retired UCSF researcher who conducted a small study of leucovorin in children with autism in 2020.

www.statnews.com

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 19d

"I’m not a doctor," President Trump said yesterday. That acknowledged lack of medical credentials did not stop him from offering medical opinions on risk factors for autism that the preponderance of the scientific evidence does not support. www.statnews.com/2025/09/22/t...

Trump, questioning vaccine safety, pushes major changes to how kids get shots

At a White House event, Trump linked vaccines to autism and urged major changes in how kids get their shots.

www.statnews.com

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 19d

The brilliant @juliabelluz.bsky.social & @kevinh-phd.bsky.social have a new book out today on nutritional science. Food Intelligence explores how today’s food environment drives what & how we eat — and the impacts on our health. Can't wait to read it.
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/671334...

Food Intelligence by Julia Belluz, Kevin Hall, PhD: 9780593332306 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books

“Food Intelligence dispels many popular myths we have about weight loss and breaks down the real drivers of the obesity crisis based on decades of research. I really hope everyone gets a chance to...

www.penguinrandomhouse.com

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 25d

Belatedly: #USDA announced that Nebraska has joined the states that have detected #H5N1 #birdflu in dairy cattle. Since H5 was first detected in cows in the US in spring 2024, 1,080 herds in 18 states have tested positive for the virus. www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-...

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 26d

Broad access to vaccines of all sorts is in jeopardy, former CDC director Rochelle Walensky warns in an Op Ed in @statnews.com. www.statnews.com/2025/09/16/r...

I’m a former CDC director. I’m deeply concerned about the future of vaccines in the U.S.

“I am deeply saddened for the agency I was honored to lead, for colleagues put in harm’s way, and for the quiet heroism of public health workers who are derided for political gain,” Rochelle Walensky ...

www.statnews.com

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 26d

#USDA announcement that Nebraska joins the states that have reported #H5N1 #birdflu in dairy cows says this is the 17th state. As @thijskuiken.bsky.social notes, it is the 18th.

Thijs Kuiken @thijskuiken.bsky.social · 26d

Highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 detected in dairy cows in Nebraska: first time in this state. Total now comes to 1,080 dairy farms infected in 18 states of the USA since March 2024. See map (not yet updated with Nebraska case) for overview.

www.aphis.usda.gov/news/agency-...

Number of confirmed cases in dairy cow farms by state, from March 2024 to 2 September 2025. Source: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-detections/hpai-confirmed-cases-livestock

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 27d

Former surgeon general Jerome Adams pulls no punches in his assessment of health secretary Kennedy and the risk he poses to vaccine policy. www.statnews.com/2025/09/15/j...

Why Trump’s former surgeon general wants Kennedy removed: ‘An absolute failure of leadership’

Jerome Adams on RFK Jr.: "An absolute failure of leadership."

www.statnews.com

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Reposted by Helen Branswell 🇨🇦

Jason L. Schwartz @jasonlschwartz.bsky.social · 27d

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 28d

Rollout of #Ebola vaccine has begun in DRC in response to the country’s most recent zairevirus outbreak. It is still thrilling to know a vaccine for this scourge has been licensed and can be rapidly deployed.
Vaccines save lives. www.afro.who.int/countries/de...

Ebola vaccination begins in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Bulape, Democratic Republic of the Congo—Vaccination of frontline health workers and contacts of people infected with Ebola virus disease has begun in Bulape health zone in the Democratic Republic of ...

www.afro.who.int

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · Sep 11

Sometimes, but not always. Babies and toddlers can also be infected in daycares and other settings; the source isn’t always clear. What is clear: the risk of being chronically infected with hep B, & developing serious health consequences, is substantially higher when one is infected early in life.

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · Sep 11

If you read 1 thing today, please make it this: my so-talented colleague @ericboodman.bsky.social explains why babies in the US are vaccinated at birth against hep B — and what the human costs of changing that policy would be. www.statnews.com/2025/09/11/n...

Dropping hepatitis B shots for newborns would ignore history and endanger children, scientists warn

People who study, treat, or have hepatitis B say ending routine vaccination at birth - as some vaccine critics want - could lead to a resurgence of the virus.

www.statnews.com

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · Sep 2

The history of the #Covid19 #pandemic is being furiously rewritten, especially (though not solely) re: the safety and efficacy of the vaccines.
But there is an evidentiary record and this is a hugely helpful compilation of it. Read and bookmark.

BK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · Sep 1

This 🧵 is long so please bear with me. It is compiles evidence in a historical timeline on how effective #COVIDVaccines are. When a pandemic ends we quickly and easily forget the tools that got us out of it. So here is my labour day gift to you prompted by this headline.

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · Aug 31

#CDC was alerted to 3 more #flu deaths in kids, bringing the total for the 2024-25 season (so far) to 278 — only 10 fewer than during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. About 90% of those kids weren't vaccinated against flu. So tragic.
Kids should be vaccinated against flu.
www.cdc.gov/fluview/surv...

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Reposted by Helen Branswell 🇨🇦

Pearl Freier @pearlf.bsky.social · Aug 26

Health Canada has approved Moderna’s newly updated Covid vaccine — and for the first time, the vaccines will be manufactured in Canada. globalnews.ca/news/1134908... #medsky

Moderna’s latest COVID-19 vaccine is both approved and ‘made in Canada’ - National | Globalnews.ca

An update to Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine that targets the newest variants and is made entirely within Canada's borders was just approved by Health Canada.

globalnews.ca

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · Aug 23

The number of kids who died from flu in the 2024-25 season is still rising. #CDC was informed of another 5 deaths, bringing the season total to 275 so far. Deaths occurred in Jan & May.
The only time more peds deaths from flu were reported was in the 2009 pandemic. www.cdc.gov/fluview/surv...

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · Aug 18

Revered former #CDC dictator Bill Foege to those in public health whose resolve & faith in their mission has been shaken by current events, including the deadly attack on CDC HQ: “Do not back down. We will live through this drought of values, principles, and facts” www.statnews.com/2025/08/18/r...

Former CDC Director William Foege: How public health can fight back in a time of dangerous nonsense

“Kennedy would be less hazardous if he decided to do cardiac surgery. Then he would kill people only one at a time,” writes former CDC Director William Foege.

www.statnews.com

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · Aug 15

This point isnt being made enough. Last week’s attack on the #CDC could have been a slaughter.
www.statnews.com/2025/08/15/c...

The CDC shooting was public health’s Jan. 6

“In RFK Jr.’s America, it will never be safe to practice public health or medicine," write an epidemiologist and a former CDC staffer.

www.statnews.com

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · Aug 15

#CDC has been advised of another 3 children who died from #flu in the 2024-25 season, bringing the confirmed pediatric death toll to 270. This number could rise further; pediatric deaths are often reported months later.
Most weren't vaccinated.
This is beyond tragic.
www.cdc.gov/fluview/surv...

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · Aug 15

"The final steps in approving research grants, previously routine and rapid after scientific review panels signed off, has become a bottleneck." @aniloza.bsky.social, @mmolteni.bsky.social & @angusrohan.bsky.social on the politicization of #NIH. www.statnews.com/2025/08/15/i...

Layers of political oversight have ‘put sand in the gears’ of NIH grant funding

Last November, in the days following Donald Trump’s election, leaders at the National Institutes of Health began discussing how to prepare for the coming

www.statnews.com

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · Aug 13

The "data" package Secretary Kennedy used to bolster his argument for discontinuing #BARDA funding for #mRNA research doesn't support his argument. @jakescottmd.bsky.social lays it out in a must read for @statnews.com. www.statnews.com/2025/08/13/r...

Kennedy's case against mRNA vaccines collapses under his own evidence

“This isn't scientific disagreement. It's either staggering incompetence or willful misrepresentation,” writes infectious disease physician Jake Scott.

www.statnews.com

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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · Aug 12

#NIH director Jay Bhattacharya doubles down on his assertion that the US is moving away from mRNA vaccine research because the public does not trust these vaccines.
Distrust of mRNA is not universal; where it exists, the flames have been very actively fanned. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Opinion | Jay Bhattacharya: Why the NIH is pivoting away from mRNA vaccines

As a vaccine for broad public use, mRNA technology has failed to earn the public’s trust.

www.washingtonpost.com

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