Good morning, Friends! ☀️ We took some time yesterday to recharge our minds — hope you did too. Remember: authoritarian regimes thrive by keeping people too exhausted to question. What are you curious about these days? 🔥 Drop your questions below — we’re ready to dive in! 👇
I’m not sure how to get through the week. Actually, let’s just start with the day. DHS sent an email at 730 last night saying as of Monday morning, all alternative and compressed work schedules are canceled. I’m done with this abusive relationship.
I’m so sorry. Please know so many of us are on your side and horrified by all this and want to help but don’t know how
Can the International Court of a human Rights investigate and charge Drumpf with crimes against humanity for denying any type of due process and sending people to CECOT?
The short answer is no. The US is not a signatory to the ICC. The long answer is complicated as they do hold some jurisdiction. I found this FAQ that may help explain it.
There needs to be some way the ICC can intervene in the U.S..
That’s precisely why the u.s. is not a signatory
They absolutely should be
Will we get Novavax this fall?
The administrations changes to the information on the CDC website are grossly inaccurate and incomplete. Who is the authority to go to now?
Curious about safety monitoring for food & drug - how will we know if things have been checked or are more dicey? What can we do if they stop safety testing? I'm vegan but have food allergies, so ingredients matter for me. For those eating animal products, will cooking to well done protect them?
Are covid boosters available?
Covid boosters are available and tend to be updated in the fall, at least the last couple of years. But your local pharmacy should have the current one.
They are available right now. However, with all this drama over Novavax, and mentions of going after mRNA vaccines, it's uncertain if the US will have a new variant formulation for this coming fall when the new ones typically become available.
Has research into lobular breast cancer been suspended as a result of fuckface fuckfacing? Can we sue aforementioned fuckface preemptively for the murder of these women?
When will President’s budget be released (not leaked version)?
I’m curious about the health consequences of the heat wave in Pakistan, a country where millions may not have access to air conditioning and potable water.
What's the current status of Avian Flu making the transmission to human to human?
I’m wondering if the US will have flu, COVID and pneumonia vaccines this fall. Do we have anyone left to develop these for the US public?
To my knowledge so far, the Influenza and Pneumonia vaccines haven't been affected. Recommendations for the upcoming 2025/2026 respiratory season were already addressed, so those vaccines should be in production. It's the Covid vaccines specifically that they're giving grief over. 🙄
Any over the counter meds we should have in our first aide kits that might be hard to get in the coming months?
Not what you asked but just want to throw out there that the #1 most common necessity that med kits are missing is a legitimate, UNUSED, tourniquet. Not a knock off brand, not a cute colored one, and not one that’s EVER been used for training. Bonus points if you prep your TQ for placement!
This is a great recommendation that my kit is currently lacking. You never know when the Fanta Fuhrer will get the urge to have protesters shot in the legs. Also, extra rolls of sterile gauze for wound packing, when tourniquets are not an option.
I would also suggest sterile saline drops/bottle. Great for foreign bodies in eyes and for rinsing wounds. Didn't have it once when doing first aid at a kids' camp, and it was a big problem.
who should we call to tell them we are against the national autism registry? If you have any ideas, please let me know!
At what point do we need to seriously rethink getting vaccines provided by retail chain pharmacies? In theory they have enough stock of safe tested and vetted vaccines but with this massive defunding and vaccine denial does that mean vaccines will now become untrustworthy?
What do you suggest be done about RFK intentions to create a database of people with Autism? My thoughts are that parents and those with ASD should do a class-action law suit
Are there lawsuits going on that may help PRAMS be reinstated?
Which orgs are underwriting the MAHA SuperPAC? www.maha.vote
I got my measles vaccine in 1963, its very first year. Did the vaccine mean measles couldn’t happen at all in my body? Or did it mean that if I was exposed, measles could get a tiny start and then my body could whomp it so hard that I never felt sick?
What I've read is that if you got the measles vaccine between 1963 and 1968 you should talk to your doctor about possibly getting a booster.
Glad to report that I did that very thing!
Like any disease you have antibodies to, it might attempt to replicate but antibodies would try to fight it off.
My high school understanding focused on the outcome: the vaccinated immune system wins before the disease gets noticeable. I’m trying to go deeper: measles starts to grow, my body responds, and there’s a battle. And that may have happened a dozen times or more since I got my shots?
Measles isn’t very common in the US so it’s hard to say how much you may have been exposed, if at all. You might know if you have been. For more common diseases, yes.
This is the argument that the antivax community have used for years. It's an invalid argument because even in a region where there's been very few cases, that can literally all change overnight. All it takes is a couple infected passengers at an airport, low local vax rates and you have an outbreak.
I wasn’t making an argument, I was responding to the question of whether they might have been exposed a dozen or more times. It’s increasingly likely, but in past years much less so.
In other words, can’t necessarily be certain we’ve all got a lot of protection resulting from past exposure.
I shared my 1963 date mainly to add to the possibility of exposure in the years before measles nearly vanished. I agree “a dozen” was still probably excessive as a guess.
Honestly I don’t know, can’t hurt to get a booster for those of us born before it was a 2 shot series. The vast majority of people getting sick were unvaccinated.
Yes, most were unvaccinated, but there are some few who had 1 vaccine in the series and experienced a breakthrough infection. Measles can decimate immunity to other infections by way of immune amnesia and possibly cause fatal SSPE months-years later. www.uclahealth.org/news/article...
To clarify, I got a full MMR course in 1985, based on assuming I hadn’t gotten any of them. Recently, I saw a signed statement from my preschool pediatrician, telling me I got the measles vaccine the first year it was available. So I’m sturdy unless 40 years since the last round is too long.
Measles can be transmitted for days before a person is aware they're sick. It can also hang in air indoors for up to 2hrs after an infected person has been there. With lower vaccination rates we're seeing more breakthrough infections. People need to be aware the possibility of exposure is anywhere.
This is something everyone should be aware of. The recommendation for a 2nd MMR came into effect in the late 80s. So if you were a late teen or adult at that time, you might not have gotten a 2nd dose and can request one from your health care provider, a vaccine clinic, pharmacy etc.
The first dose will be about 93% effective at preventing infection, getting a 2nd dose will bump that up to 97%. A higher rate of individuals with 2 doses, can help keep the number of breakthrough cases lower.
What about the obvious cognitive decline of the 2025 sitting President?
I, like many, take important medications for chronic diseases. It makes me nervous that I cannot stockpile them and that I may run out, for any reason. Will we be at the mercy of how well our pharmacy can spread their fingers to grab up our meds? Or might things stay ok? Thoughts/feelings? 🇨🇦💊?
Do you think a general strike demanding Trump resign is where we are headed? Can you point to a source to learn how to prepare ourselves for that?
@generalstrikeus.bsky.social Check out their website Let's start this Thursday, May 1. Take the day off and join a May Day protest in your area.
Can the judicial branch deputize people the same way congress hypothetically could?
I sure hope so.
Good morning! I'm thinking about bird flu and measles and other infectious diseases that we're not hearing as much about. Where can I find info about this? Where are the reliable sources now?
The American Medical Association has an excellent weekly update on all infectious diseases on YouTube called AMA update. I teach a global Public Health course and I try to watch this regularly to be prepared for any questions.
Also @microbetv.bsky.social have some excellent podcasts on their youtube channel. It's run by Vincent Racaniello who is a Virology Professor. Their This Week In Virology episodes typically have guests on discussing the latest information on IDs. www.youtube.com/@MicrobeTV
I don’t understand why these people are still alive.
Good morning! Bird flu- should we be more cautious during any particular time, like migrations? Have backyard flock & it’s hard keeping everyone using safe practices near coop (boot covers, change clothes & masks). Or should they move into the barn w/other animals? Or am I overreacting?
The AVMA has some good resources for backyard flock owners. This is one article that you may find helpful: www.avma.org/resources-to...
Someone asked a good question recently. In terms of the states banding together to fight (strength in numbers), is there a summary or clearinghouse of those current initiatives and activities? It helps the citizenship to know they are.
What are the consequences for representatives who will not hold Trump accountable for violating the constitution? None???
Is NCIRD going to be done or was the leaked org chart incomplete do you think?
I’m curious about FDA User Fees for human and animal drug approvals. They provide some of FDA funding. Have we lost staff who support processing these funds? #Altgov @altfda.altgov.info www.fda.gov/industry/fda...
We have lost the staff in many areas that process those and overall, we have lost the staff to complete the work required to fulfill those request.
Don’t forget firing the staff that were supposed to do the next round of negotiations, and firing contract and nonPDUFA product folks to get close to the threshold to void the contract.
Check out this article from April 7, 2025, about what could go wrong with FDA User Fees for human and animal drug approvals.🧍🏽♀️🐄 💊 💉🔬 @altfda.altgov.info #Altgov www.fdamatters.com/fdamatters/t...
This is worrisome for FDA funding💰: “…if appropriated funding for salaries and expenses at the FDA fall below the levels set in 1997, multiplied by the “adjustment factor,” then the FDA must refund the fees.” #Altgov @altfda.altgov.info www.agencyiq.com/blog/followi...
And when that happens, it’ll make the April 1 massacre look like a fender bender.
Damn. Us too.
There are independent efforts to preserve the data that Musk, RFK Jr. et al. are trying to "delete," but do you know of any state CDCs forming a "coalition of the willing?" If federalism is already being used as a weapon, maybe states should, you know, make efforts to wield it
Are they really stopping all major research on Alzheimer’s, or is any of the pushback helping?
WTAF with “that vaccine you just updated for the new variant has to go thru more trials”???
Can we stop calling Covid a #Respiratory illness? It is also #Neurological. Physicians are trained to think of Covid as mainly respiratory and downplay other symptoms. Tired of skepticism from MDs and others saying my Covid symptoms are “ #NotTypical “, inferring #hypochondria.
There are scattered reports of people having #Covid symptoms in the US by December 2019. The first official US case is Jan 20, 2020. Is there any additional information you can share on on how/when Covid-19 arrived in the US.
Was the US funding Coronavirus research in Wuhan ?