Dr. Lucky Tran

Trump administration’s embattled FDA vaccine chief ousted for the second time Vinay Prasad to leave in April after decisions involving vaccine reviews and specialty drugs for rare diseases

❗️Prasad is out (again) at the FDA

STAND UP FOR SCIENCE NATIONAL DAYof ACTION Take back our science, health, and democracy! MARCH 7TH, 2026 NEW YORK CITY, NY NEW LOCATION! City Hall Park 12:00pm - 2:00pm Visit website to register, volunteer, and donate! STAND UP SCIENCE standupforscience.net/march7

TOMORROW!

@standupforscience.bsky.social rallies in NYC, DC, and around the country.

Find a rally near you: standupforscience.net/march7

Meeting on U.S. Measles Status Is Delayed Until November

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US health officials are trying to delay a regional World Health Organization meeting that would confirm the loss of its measles elimination status until after the midterm elections in November.

This is a reckless, accountability-dodging move that puts politics over public health.

Opinion piece:

Tess Finch Lees: From the Winter Olympics to Nasa, wearing masks is back – except when it comes to our hospitals Despite mounting evidence on Covid’s harms, healthcare guidance is inadequate

“Meanwhile, when asked why she’s masking during chemo, Meg now says, “I’m training for the Olympics”.”

It’s wild that masking in sports is sometimes more normalized than masking in medical settings.

Alysa Liu celebrating figure skating gold

ICONIC

After leaving WHO, Trump officials propose more expensive replacement to duplicate it HHS proposes spending $2 billion a year to re-create systems the U.S. accessed through the WHO at a fraction of the cost, according to officials briefed on the matter.

So the White House withdrew from the WHO, only to propose spending billions to try and replicate its functions in a much more inefficient and ineffective system. Ridiculous.

White House taps Jay Bhattacharya, CDC critic, to lead agency for now The co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, which rebuked CDC’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, will oversee the nation’s leading public health agency.

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Reports that National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya will now lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on an acting basis.

Unacceptable. Bhattacharya has spent his career undermining infectious disease prevention measures and spreading health and science disinformation.

FDA reverses course and will review new mRNA flu shot, company says | CNN The US Food and Drug Administration has reversed course and will review a new mRNA flu vaccine from Moderna, the pharmaceutical company said Wednesday,

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Good news: The FDA has reversed its decision and will now review Moderna’s application for the first mRNA-based flu vaccine after initially declining to consider it last week in an attempt to undermine vaccine science and trust.

Sufs national day of action to take back our science health and democracy. Dc and nationwide on March 7th

Hope is not a plan. Direct action is.

Join us on March 7th around the nation!

www.standupforscience.net/march7

@standupforscience.bsky.social

After our original conversation, McCabe followed up with more context—an important layer we had not fully jumped into earlier. For the past two years, she has been navigating what she called “some mystery health challenges,” a swirl of symptoms that worsened last fall to the point where racing no longer felt possible. “The best guess of most of the doctors I have seen is some sort of post-viral or chronic fatigue thing,” she wrote, “possibly combined with some issues keeping my celiac and Hashimoto’s in check, but I am still not really sure what is going on to be honest.“

More background on this: One of the reasons skiers are taking precautions like masking is because some athletes have had post-viral illness or chronic fatigue.

Source: fasterskier.com/2025/12/novi...

Thanks for sharing. Good luck to her!

Damn right! Thats my cousin on the Olympic team protecting her health and the people around her!!!!

She has been open about her struggles the last 2 years with chronic fatigue, celiac, and Hashimotos and it's so great seeing her out there in a mask!

fasterskier.com/2025/12/novi...

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U.S. Olympic men’s cross-country ski team member Ben Ogden, second from left, speaks at a news conference Thursday, Feb. 5 at the competition venue in Tesero, Italy. From left, Ogden’s teammates are Zak Ketterson, JC Schoonmaker and Zanden McMullen. (Nathaniel Herz for FasterSkier)

Masked members of the U.S. women’s Olympic cross-country ski team pose for a photo Thursday, Feb. 5 after a news conference at their competition venue in Tesero, Italy. From left , Jessie Diggins, Hailey Swirbul, Sammy Smith, Julia Kern, Novie McCabe and Rosie Brennan. (Nathaniel Herz for FasterSkier)

Encouraging to see some members of the US Olympic team wearing masks to protect their health ahead of competition.

House passes bill that would criminalize protesting in a mask without a doctor's note Anti-masking laws have never been taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court and have had mixed results in lower courts.

Sadly, the push for anti-mask laws is back. The Alabama House has passed a bill that would criminalize protesting in a mask without a doctor’s note.

Chart of US measles cases by year

US measles cases this year already exceed the total for the whole of 2023 and 2024 combined, and it is only January. Yikes.

UK loses measles elimination status Decision made after outbreaks in 2024, when there were nearly 3,000 cases in England and Wales.

The UK has lost its measles elimination status, the World Health Organization has announced.

Vaccine disinformation is a worldwide pandemic that is killing us.

Pro tip: If you are attending a rally or action, wear a N95 mask & bring extras to give to others.

High quality masks can serve triple-duty: they prevent you and others from getting sick from airborne viruses, they keep your face warm in the freezing cold, & they can protect against surveillance.

SACRAMENTO – As President Trump withdraws the United States from the World Health Organization, California is stepping up under Governor Gavin Newsom — becoming the first, and currently the only, state to join WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network (GOARN), strengthening public health preparedness and rapid response coordination. During his recent trip to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Governor Newsom met with WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to discuss collaboration to detect and respond to emerging public health threats.

In response to the United States’ withdrawal from the World Health Organization, California announced that it has joined the WHO’s Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network, the first state to do so.

Over several decades, the WHO has played a huge role in bringing countries together to reduce death and disease at an unprecedented scale.

It is by no means a perfect organization, but we can only improve it by continuing to participate. Withdrawal is reckless and makes us all more vulnerable.

United States Completes WHO Withdrawal WASHINGTON —  January 22, 2026 — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of State today announced the United States’ completion of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization (WHO) due to the organization's mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms, and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states.

The United States has officially withdrawn from the World Health Organization.

This is a shameful move that puts both Americans and people all over the world at greater risk from disease outbreaks, which require international collaboration to contain.

E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution

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The EPA says that it will now ignore health benefits and lives saved, and instead only factor in business costs when making new rules on air pollution limits. This is so reckless and make us all sicker.

“I’m grateful to be part of a song that is helping girls, boys, and everyone of all ages get through hardship and accept themselves.” 😭

Mayor Mamdani Announces New Commitment to Expand Access to Public Bathrooms

This is great news for everyone, but especially for people with conditions like Crohn's and unhoused people. www.nyc.gov/mayors-offic...

With RFK Jr again further reducing access to vaccines, your regular reminder that now would be a good time to restart wearing a high quality mask regularly again for an added layer of protection from airborne diseases.