I have a public health joke, but funding for it wasn’t sustained.

given rising global populism — and tendency to demonize people with little power in society — worth reflecting that the hero in Australia's mass shooting was a Syrian refugee, and the key witness in the Brown University shooting was a homeless man

Despite the focus on Making America Healthy, health agencies overseen by RFK Jr are retreating from their anti-smoking warnings, Darius reports.

CDC is not a Democratic or Republican agency. It's an American agency. One in three employees have been lost in recent months. This is dismantling of our health protections, not reform.

In March 2024 RFK said [Trump] “fails to recognize how ineffective his warp speed vaccine is.” In October 2025 President Trump got his Covid-19 booster. Either RFK now feels VERY differently, or Trump is ignoring RFK’s health advice. Hard to overstate how big this disconnect is.

“Disease detectives,” high-ranking scientists, the entire Washington office and the staff of a weekly public health journal were among the CDC workers who learned late Friday that they would lose their jobs. https://t.co/ZnMGkKhLpl

I don’t know who needs to hear this but the CDC is being eviscerated right now. America is not going to have any kind of outbreak response capacity after tonight. Americans’ health data is no longer secure. Say goodbye to federal public health in any capacity.

NEW: @CDCgov hit hard by massive firings that several staff describe to me as a “bloodbath.” Among those RIFd: —leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases; —leadership of global health center —leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Dozens of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

it’s been ~2 weeks since federal vaccine advisers met to recommend that everyone 6 months+ get an updated Covid shot after discussing risks with their doc but RFK Jr. has yet to sign off, meaning shots for low-income kids haven’t shipped yet. w/ @AnilOza16

#OperationWarpSpeed saved millions of lives. This built on a historic public health agenda combating opioids, HIV, and youth obesity. We cannot cancel the importance of these initiatives for American innovation and national security.

I have a message to the staff at CDC who have dedicated their careers to protecting Americans from health threats of all kinds: Thank you. Your courage and dedication have improved or saved the lives of people who may not even know it. We’re with you.

Update — hearing that the White House has formally fired Monarez, per two admin sources. Monarez's lawyers said earlier tonight she had neither resigned nor been fired

Public health is under assault. The purge of CDC leadership, people with decades of experience guiding the nation’s response to health threats, dismantles the very programs and direction that keep Americans safe from infectious diseases, chronic illness, injuries, and violence.

There is a whosale destruction of leadership at the CDC. The newly confirmed Director is out Most of the top leaders who run key centers have resigned en masse Total implosion All because of @SecKennedy leadership What a complete disaster

My heart goes out to the family, friends, and colleagues of police officer David Rose, killed in Friday’s shooting outside CDC’s Roybal Campus in Atlanta, and to everyone at CDC. At least four CDC buildings were hit by gunfire; no CDC staff or children in the agency’s daycare

A colleague of mine, an ID physician, dropped by today to say goodbye. He is leaving medicine. I asked him, half jokingly, 'you don't want to help people anymore?'. His answer was serious: 'I learned during the pandemic that people don't want to be helped.'

1. The pediatric death toll from #flu for 2024-25 continues to climb, with #CDC informed of 5 more deaths last week. That brings the season's total so far to 266, which is only 22 fewer than during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic! Of kids eligible for vax & for whom vax status is known,

You’ll never know their names. The man who didn’t die from a stroke. The little girl who didn’t lose her life to measles. But they’re here—because of public health. Because someone fought for clean air, safe vaccines, access to care. Every year, I looked at the data and asked:

Your grandmother stood in line for the polio vaccine. Your parents watched smallpox disappear from the world. That wasn’t luck. That was public health in action—community, science, and courage working together. When we celebrate progress, we’re not looking back—we’re fueling

BREAKING: NOAA is proposing to eliminate most federal hurricane/tornado research in sweeping 2026 budget cuts. This includes the elimination of the National Severe Storms Laboratory and the Hurricane Research Division — curtailing forecast improvements for hurricane- and