Category: Politics and Regulation

So it begins

RFK Jr.’s remade ACIP meets: And so it begins (in earnest)…the dismantling of US federal vaccine infrastructure

The newly reconstituted CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will meet this week. Packed with antivaxxers, the antivax-adjacent, and the unqualified, ACIP will begin the dismantling of the US federal vaccine infrastructure.

/ June 23, 2025
A streetlamp glows at night, illuminating swirling trails made by flying insects, which create intricate patterns against the dark sky. A leafy tree is visible on the left edge of the image.

Infection Control/Infection Prevention

Summertime. And the living is easy. Janice Joplin has to be the best singer. Ever. There may be those in the comments who disagree, but remember, within the context of the blog, what I write is canon. Which is not the same as being true. Canon. Any-who. I spend summer on the front porch and rarely venture inside. Outside has had the...

/ June 17, 2025
Extinction-level event. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

RFK Jr.’s vaccine committee bloodbath: I hope you’re all up-to-date on your vaccines…

...because the CDC schedule is about to start shedding vaccines the way antivax newly appointed ACIP members think people vaccinated against COVID-19 shed spike protein. Ground zero for RFK Jr.'s extinction-level event with respect to public health is vaccines and the committee that recommends them for the CDC schedule.

/ June 16, 2025
Two men in white shirts and patterned ties sit side by side against a plain black background, looking toward the camera.

The Long Med Con: The Self-Styled Expertise and Expansive Invoices of Mark & David Geier

All it takes is a coming-of-age consultancy and you, too, can morph from an average teenage Joe or Josephine to an instant "vaccine expert"

/ June 12, 2025
A man in a suit speaks at a podium with the U.S. presidential seal, gesturing with his hands, while another man in a suit stands behind him, listening attentively.

RFK Jr. Sacks Entire CDC Vaccine Committee

I’m sure you are as sick of reading about RFK Jr. as we are of writing about him, but this is the world we live in. We cannot let outrage fatigue cause us to take our eye off the ball. If nothing else, SBM needs to chronicle every anti-science move that this administration makes. As most people, and certainly most readers here,...

/ June 11, 2025
Mehmet Oz, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Marty Makary, Jay Bhattacharya, Vinay Prasad

Marty Makary and Vinay Prasad embrace a “more fluid concept of evidence” at the FDA

Last Thursday during a roundtable on stem cell therapies, new FDA Commissioner Marty Makary referred to EBM levels of evidence as an artificial and dogmatic construct. Apparently Dr. David Katz's "more fluid concept of evidence" now reigns at the FDA—selectively.

/ June 9, 2025
Two hands are raised above the surface of a body of water, suggesting a person is struggling or in distress, possibly drowning, with a clear blue sky and calm water in the background.
A man wearing glasses and a suit, identified as Dr. Mark Geier, speaks into a microphone at a hearing. The C-SPAN2 logo appears on-screen, with “Geier” and “Genetic Consultants of Maryland” displayed. Several people sit in the background.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The MAHA Report: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (mostly the bad and ugly)

President Donald Trump and HHS Secretary's MAHA report has landed. It's a mix of the good (a little), but mostly the bad and the ugly (a lot).

/ May 26, 2025
James Lyons-Weiler

Attacking vaccines through the misunderstanding of medical ethics

Since becoming HHS Secretary, RFK Jr. has been deceptively weaponizing principles of evidence-based medicine against vaccines. Will weaponizing research ethics be next? It might if the ideas of one of his advisors, James Lyons-Weiler, are any indication.

/ May 19, 2025