Category: Politics and Regulation

Screenshot showing two news articles: One from The New York Times titled "Inside the Collapse of the F.D.A." with an orange illustration, and another from STAT titled "Inside the staff exodus and tanking morale that threaten Makary's FDA" with a man speaking at a podium.

Go Ahead, Make the Case That Science, Free Speech, and the FDA Are Thriving Under Drs. Marty Makary and Vinay Prasad

Unlike Drs. Adam Cifu and John Mandrola, I do not constantly boast of my "nuance" or claim to be a master of "clinical appraisal." They have so much to teach me.

/ July 10, 2025
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tucker Carlson

After ACIP: Where Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will likely go from here in his quest to eliminate vaccines

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was on The Tucker Carlson Show last week. It got me to thinking: What's next in RFK Jr.'s crusade against vaccines after he turned ACIP into an antivax committee?

/ July 7, 2025
Two clear bottles with red caps, filled with raw cow milk, sit side by side on a countertop against a white tile backsplash. Each bottle is labeled “RAW COW MILK FOR CATS & DOGS.”.

Dr. Vinay Prasad: Bodily Autonomy Applies to Raw Milk, Not Vaccines

This is what it looks like when disinformation doctors pretend to value data and science to further their true objective, MAHA politics.

/ July 4, 2025
A person wearing a blue long-sleeve shirt checks a white smartwatch on their wrist, displaying a colorful screen with time and fitness activity data.

Wearables and Wellness Populism: How Smart Watches Got MAHA’d

Fifteen years ago, then-contributor Peter Lipson wrote a short post on this blog that I’ve reflected on many times since. Titled Your Disease, Your Fault, Peter described a central theme that runs through nearly every variant of alternative medicine: That illness is preventable, and therefore, your fault. According to this worldview, disease isn’t a product of biology, inequity, or chance. It is...

/ July 3, 2025
A laboratory fume hood heavily damaged by fire, with charred equipment, melted glassware, and black soot covering the surfaces; burn marks and debris are visible throughout the scene.

Big Trouble in Little Pharma

The Excruciating Inspection of David Geier’s DAP Pharmaceuticals

/ July 1, 2025
Clown Car

RFK Jr.’s reconstituted vaccine committee meets for the first time, and I can’t help but think of clowns…antivax clowns

Last week, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s reconstituted Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) met for the first time. The proceedings reminded me, more than anything else, of an antivax clown car.

/ June 30, 2025
Several gold bars are stacked, but one bar is cut open to reveal a gray, rough interior, indicating that it is not solid gold.
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