Tag: Donald Trump

Two panels show how PD-L1 on tumor cells binds to PD-1 on T cells to block immune response, and how anti-PD-L1 or anti-PD-1 drugs block this interaction, allowing T cells to kill tumor cells.

The opposite of “turbo cancer”: COVID-19 vaccines sensitize cancer to immunotherapy

A new preliminary study published in Nature suggests that COVID-19 vaccines might actually boost the immune system to make immunotherapy more effective. If confirmed in followup studies, this result suggests that the vaccines do the opposite of causing "turbo cancer."

/ October 27, 2025
Aluminum hydroxide

RFK Jr. is definitely coming for your vaccines, part 4: Aluminum edition (or: Everything old is new again…again)

Last week, news stories reported that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had convened an "aluminum working group." Among the "scientists" there are antivax scientists about whom I've been writing for over a decade. Everything old antivax is new again.

/ October 13, 2025
Robin toppled. (Vinay Prasad.)

EBM “Boy Wonder” Vinay Prasad is toppled

Evidence-based medicine "Boy Wonder" Dr. Vinay Prasad was fired as CBER Director after less than three months on the job. What can the kerfuffle surrounding his ouster tell us about the FDA and doctors who enabled Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.?

/ August 4, 2025
Vinay Prasad, MD, MPH

COVID-19 contrarian Dr. Vinay Prasad meets real world responsibility

Dr. Vinay Prasad parlayed his COVID-19 contrarianism into a high-ranking position in the FDA. Now he's facing real world responsibility, and knives are out for him. Can he survive?

/ July 28, 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
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
A man wearing a green cap with the words “MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN” adjusts the brim while standing outdoors, with blurred trees and grass in the background.

MAHA and “soft eugenics” revisited: The “autism tsunami,” Dr. Oz, and your “patriotic duty” to stay healthy

Two weeks ago, I referred to the "soft eugenics" of RFK Jr. and MAHA. This week, he and Dr. Oz provide new examples, one about autism, the other about public health.

/ April 21, 2025
Extinction-level event. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

How bad is it? RFK Jr.’s extinction-level threat to science-based federal health policy and public health is here

Five months ago, I called RFK Jr. an "extinction-level" threat to US biomedical science and public health. That extinction is under way.

/ April 14, 2025
Trofim Lysenko

“Make America Healthy Again”: The new Lysenkoism

Trofim Lysenko was a Soviet scientist whose dogmatic science denialism led to mass famine when his ideas were applied to agriculture. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a lot like Lysenko in his science denial. Will his results be as disastrous?

/ March 31, 2025
informed consent vs. misinformed refusal

Misinformed refusal: What antivaxxers are really promoting when they invoke “informed consent”

Our new Secretary of Health and Human Services wants to change CDC messaging about vaccines to emphasize "informed consent." What he really means is misinformed refusal.

/ March 10, 2025