@jakescottmd.bsky.social
Infection diseases doctor | Stanford Clinical Associate Professor Focused on vaccines, data transparency, and diagnostic & antimicrobial stewardship. Committed to equity, clarity, and collaboration. https://www.bradspellberg.com/vaccine-rcts Views my own.
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@jakescottmd.bsky.social
Nine former CDC directors published a powerful op-ed about RFK Jr.‘s assault on America’s public health system. These are extraordinary public servants who made major sacrifices to protect Americans. I have tremendous respect for their courage. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
Deaths averted by vaccination since the 1970’s
6/ Public trust isn't rebuilt by rewriting the record. It's rebuilt by telling the truth and letting experts do their jobs. (P.S. It's @CDCgov, not @CDC.)
5/ "Ended misuse of the childhood immunization schedule" Misleading. CDC issues recommendations; states set school-entry requirements. Schedules ≠ mandates.
4/ "New screening technology for foreign travelers" Nope. CDC's Traveler-based Genomic Surveillance launched in 2021 and was expanded long before O'Neill took the helm. He didn't invent it.
3/ "We stopped the Texas measles outbreak" Wrong. The outbreak was declared over by Texas state health officials, who led the response on the ground. Claiming DC credit rewrites history.
2/ "CDC manipulated health data" Accusing "manipulation" without evidence is a deflection tactic, not a rebuttal. CDC's career scientists use transparent, pre-specified methods.
1/ "Public health is a noble calling," says Jim O'Neill — a former tech investor with no training in medicine or health care now running the CDC. Let's fact-check his claims.
100%. Such an important point. It's dehumanizing.
🧵 I know it's ridiculous, but when he's talking mitochondrial challenges & inflammation, he's again referring to his idea of vaccine-induced autism. Let me explain.
Link to the video: x.com/patriottakes...
RFK Jr: “If you’ve ever compared an unvaccinated kid to a vaccinated kid… you see the bright eyes, the engagement, the social interactions, the curiosity. And you compare them to the child who even had one or two vaccines, and they’re completely different.“ This man is an existential threat.
"I'm concerned about the future of CDC. I'm concerned about what it means. CDC is a critical agency. CDC is a crown jewel... And to see the CDC being dismantled, and brilliant people and good people that work at CDC leave and resign, really concerns me" #MedSky #IDSky www.npr.org/2025/08/30/n...
"Technical availability and practical accessibility are very different things. The administration replaced straightforward pharmacy access with a system requiring provider consultations, navigating insurance uncertainty and finding willing pharmacies." www.yahoo.com/news/article...
In reality, we're more restrictive than any European country because even those who meet the new restrictive criteria can't get them at major pharmacies in at least 16 states. Regulatory chaos creates real-world access problems. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/w...
“CVS, the country’s largest pharmacy chain, is currently not offering Covid vaccines in 16 states…even to people who meet newly restricted criteria from the Food and Drug Administration.” The regulatory chaos has paralyzed vaccine access. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/w...
Kennedy demands doctors get more nutrition training while 18.8 million Americans live in food deserts and insurance generally doesn’t cover dietitian visits. Classic misdirection: blame physicians for systemic failures they can’t solve. www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
More health care resistors please. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/h...
Just easier for me. Lots going on! but thanks for the reminder about alt text. I hear you.
FIRE HIM
Just posted the screenshot because Bluesky caps post length. Will add alt text next time so it’s easier to read.
Did you know that gun violence is the NUMBER ONE killer of children in the US?
www.change.org/p/rfk-jr-mus...
Instead of obsessing over food dyes, push-up contests, and ranting about kids being ‘overburdened by mitochondrial challenges,’ our leaders should be focused on stopping the mass shootings that are actually murdering our children. www.huffpost.com/entry/rfk-jr...
I had serious doubts about CDC Director Monarez’s willingness to stand up against RFK Jr.’s personal mission to destroy public health in America—I’m glad that I was wrong. If there are any adults left in the White House: we cannot let RFK Jr. burn what's left of CDC. FIRE HIM.
Fair point. I can’t make sense of the real motivation. All I know is it’s not based on evidence.
Master departure of senior CDC officials. Politically motivated firing of FEMA personnel. We have entered a dangerous period for American health and security. The United States has never been more vulnerable to a biological attack.
Public health agencies in complete chaos while actual health crises need managing. This is what happens when ideology trumps expertise. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/08...
All together now: DUMP RFK Jr.
FDA required Pfizer to study "post-vaccination syndrome" based on small, non-peer-reviewed preliminary data. My concern in today's @nytimes.com: this risks creating a diagnosis from weak evidence that becomes a catch-all label - undermining both good patient care and vaccine confidence.
The federal government is restricting access to vaccines without scientific justification. People who don’t meet narrow “qualifying conditions” will now face barriers to care. What should be widely available is being restricted for political, not medical, reasons. www.politico.com/news/2025/08...
www.fda.gov/vaccines-blo...
www.cdc.gov/vaccine-safe...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK253...
www.cochrane.org/evidence/CD0...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25898051/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24814559/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30831578/
www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/...
Vaccines do not cause autism.
ICYMI, CID #IDSky Anal cancer screening in PWH: (1) risk of anal cancer, (2) pathogenesis of anal dysplasia (3) screening tests and guideline recommendations (4) importance of prevention campaigns and risk-reduction strategies (5) future directions academic.oup.com/cid/article/...
We asked researchers across the country how federal funding changes have affected them and their labs. Their responses indicate a sense of doom and an existential crisis for science in the US: “The ship is going down and we are powerless.” Importantly, there’s still time to fix this. 1/2
"Health isn’t just for beautiful people, and healthy choices do not happen in a vacuum. Regulation, policy, science and culture work together to produce healthy choices. When they don’t — or can’t — scammy solutions fill the void."
Great evidence-based thread from Dr. Kevin Ault addressing Tdap vaccine misinformation during pregnancy 🧵
11/ Sources: Living systematic review: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... Stillbirth meta-analysis: nature.com/articles/s41... CDC effectiveness: cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes... NEJM study: nejm.org/doi/full/10....
10/ I stand with @acog.org which strongly recommends COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy. ACOG guidance: acog.org/clinical/cli...
9/ Bottom line: Data from hundreds of thousands of pregnancies worldwide show mRNA vaccination in pregnancy is safe and confers meaningful benefits: fewer stillbirths, fewer severe maternal COVID-19 cases, and substantial protection for infants.
8/ The stark reality: During 2023–2024, <5% of mothers of infants hospitalized for COVID-19 had been vaccinated during pregnancy - highlighting missed opportunities to protect babies too young to be vaccinated.
7/ For infants, maternal vaccination is protective: effectiveness against infant hospitalization is ~35% overall and ~52–54% for <3 months of age.
6/ Some analyses even show a lower stillbirth risk in vaccinated pregnancies. Vaccination also reduces severe maternal COVID-19 and related hospitalizations.
5/ What the science shows: Across multiple large cohorts and meta-analyses, COVID-19 vaccination in pregnancy is not associated with higher risks of miscarriage, preterm birth, low birthweight, or congenital anomalies.
4/ Since then we've gained much larger, more informative data: a living systematic review now includes 177 studies with >630,000 pregnant participants across 41 countries, and finds no safety signal for miscarriage, congenital anomalies, preterm birth, or other major outcomes.
3/ "But the trials didn't include pregnant people." True - pivotal trials excluded pregnancy as a standard and appropriate safety precaution used for all new medications and vaccines.
2/ MISCONCEPTION 1: "mRNA vaccines cause infertility or miscarriage" Concerns about fertility and pregnancy safety are completely understandable. Here's what large-scale evidence shows.
1/ There's a lot of conflicting information about COVID vaccines, and it can be hard to know what to believe. This will be a living thread I'll add to over time. Each post will take 1 common misconception, trace where it came from, and explain what the strongest evidence actually shows. 🧵
New York Times story with profiles of researchers whose grants were terminated. [Gift Link] www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...
I discuss in more detail here: quillette.com/2025/08/23/a...
RFK Jr. likes to wax nostalgic about how “healthy” America was in the 1960’s. He bases this on one datapoint, the prevalence of obesity. But let’s dip our toes into reality. In 1965: -42% of American adults smoked; it’s 11% now. -The infant morality rate was 24.7/1000; it’s 5.6/1000 now
Bottom line: 74k+ infants monitored post-market, no safety signals detected, 30-40% hospitalization reduction achieved. They're manufacturing controversy from 9 vs 4 seizures across thousands. Public health advances thru rigorous methodology, not statistical manipulation disguised as transparency.
They claim deaths were "hidden in footnotes," citing a Day 440 death documented in NEJM supplement as "excluded" from safety analysis. This isn't concealment, it's reporting of out-of-window events where they belong. ACIP appropriately focused on post-marketing surveillance after FDA's trial review.
They highlight trial death "imbalances"—12 deaths among 3,710 nirsevimab recipients vs 4 among 1,797 controls—claiming this pattern was hidden from ACIP. But regulators reviewed every case. Causes included prematurity & car accidents. None judged product-related.
They criticize CDC's 7-day risk window as too narrow, suggesting longer windows would reveal more effects. This misunderstands self-controlled risk intervals, where each child is their own control. Short windows detect immediate effects while avoiding false positives. CDC used validated methodology.
Their "significant" pooled result (RR 3.93, CI: 1.21-12.79) spans from barely above 1 to 13x risk. Based on 9 vs 4 seizures across 38k infants—moving 1 event between time windows can flip the result. This isn't revealing a hidden signal; it's manufacturing significance through inappropriate pooling.
They call CDC's age stratification manipulation to hide a "consolidated signal." Older infants got same-day vaccines 84% of the time; neonates only 20%. Vaccines can trigger fevers → febrile seizures. Pooling these unlike populations creates confounding, attributing vaccine effects to antibodies.
They argue CDC hid a seizure "signal" by splitting data into age groups that were both "not significant," claiming pooled data would show "RR 3.93, p=0.02." Reality: CDC monitored 38,000 infants. Neonates: 4 vs 2 seizures (p=0.148). Older infants: 5 vs 2 (p=0.078). Both non-significant w/ huge CIs.
US RSV immunizations cut infant hospitalizations ~30–40% last season. Yet ACIP member Dr. Malone and Dr. Shir-Raz published a piece claiming CDC "manipulated data analyses" and hid deaths to get these therapies approved. Their claims fall apart under scrutiny. 🧵
My new piece in @quill.bsky.social Baseless Attack on Groundbreaking RSV Therapies quillette.com/2025/08/23/a...
The @acog.org issued their guidance for COVID vaccine yesterday, and predictably there's disinformation about infertility and vaccination being posted on social media #Medsky + #ObGynSky + #ReproSky (1/5)
Dr. Jake Scott has seen how vaccine misinformation costs lives. Now he’s speaking out on CNN, determined to fight fear with facts. Read the full article here: tr.ee/cnn-jake-scott
NEW: He called Covid vaccines "the most failing medical product in the history of medical products." Now he's running a C.D.C. task force reviewing them. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/h...
"A task force formed by an influential advisory committee to review the safety of Covid vaccines will be led by a panel member who has described the shots as 'the most failing medical product in the history of medical products.'" Great work by Christina Jewett www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/h...
Thank you, Julie.
Beautiful paper from Dan Barouch & team looking at H5N1 pathogenesis in rhesus & cynomolgus macaques. Dan presented some of this work in Feb at a meeting at Scripps & the mortality data was striking. H5N1 is really pathogenic in macaques, but in species-specific ways. www.cell.com/immunity/ful...
Thank you!
Incisive piece by @katherinejwu.com on how "scientific justifiability" has become a favorite phrase for political censorship disguised as rigor. @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
Another brilliant piece by @katherinejwu.com. @theatlantic.com
open.substack.com/pub/theunbia...
Vaccine Integrity Project presents reassuring data on #vaccines for upcoming respiratory virus season The new data reveal no notable safety or effectiveness issues. www.cidrap.umn.edu/c...
Claims that vaccine recommendations are driven by profit are baseless. If doctors profited from “keeping people sick,” why would we promote vaccines that prevent illness? This rhetoric doesn’t just sow mistrust, it warps reality. Public health is about protecting the public, not profiting off it.
Grateful to be working alongside such outstanding colleagues and partners on this project.
Will do! Thank you, my friend, and thanks for everything you do!
Tomorrow I’ll be part of a live discussion on flu, COVID, and RSV vaccines, sharing results from our systematic review. We’ll focus on safety and effectiveness in pregnancy, children, and people with impaired immune systems. @cidrap.bsky.social Streaming live at 2 ET www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSuv...
Thanks to @cvdall.bsky.social and @cidrap.bsky.social for the thoughtful reporting on the vaccine safety task force revival. The key question is whether this strengthens our safety systems or further erodes vaccine confidence by relitigating settled science. www.cidrap.umn.edu/childhood-va...
Vaccines already have one of the strongest safety records in medicine. We monitor them constantly for rare problems. If safety were the goal, we’d strengthen that monitoring, not revive a task force that legitimizes vaccine skepticism and sows more doubt and mistrust. www.reuters.com/business/hea...
Rochelle Walensky's powerful new TED Talk isn't about politics or policy. It's about people and the compassion that drives her. "In our darkest moments, how we serve one another, how we treat one another, is ultimately what defines us." Highly recommended: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtkW...
Thank you, Julie!
Thanks so much!
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...
Thanks a lot, Helen.
RFK Jr’s “evidence” doesn’t support ending mRNA vaccine development. It makes the case for expanding it. Thanks to @thekibosch.bsky.social @statnews.com www.statnews.com/2025/08/13/r...
I know of someone else who’s obsessed with vaccine conspiracy theories — and now spreads them from a position of power he never should have had in the first place.
"When prevention works, the catastrophe doesn’t happen, making the prevention itself seem (retroactively) unnecessary." @jakescottmd.bsky.social quillette.com/2025/08/08/r...
Exclusive: CDC Director Susan Monarez met with its vaccine-focused center to talk about yesterday’s shooting. I listened to a recording. Scientists and officials are shaken & pointing fingers at RFK Jr. Many said his vilification and misinfo turned them into targets. www.msnbc.com/opinion/anal...
This is a sickening moment in US history.
If the shooter at Emory/CDC did in fact believe he was sick from a Covid vaccine, this violence has been stoked and incited for a very long time. www.cnn.com/us/live-news...
www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb... RFK Jr. is attacking the very science that saved millions
“A vaccine can’t block a respiratory infection. That’s never been the standard.” Appreciate this piece by @melissagoldin.bsky.social, which lays out the evidence and context clearly. @apnews.com apnews.com/article/fact...