Biss’ “On Immunity” — my spring break ‘gift’ for my undergrads in my social history of vaccination course. A decade old now, but still holds up as a really thoughtful reflection on vaccine hesitancy as experienced by parents just trying to navigate this topic amid so much noise and anxiety.
More “reining in of HHS”, as has been reported? Interesting…
Appears I was a bit more fired up than usual in my analysis here.
Jason L. Schwartz
Jason L. Schwartz
Jason L. Schwartz
So much for my “Schwartz vaccines” Google alert.
Provided a few thoughts for this look at the RFK-led HHS at the 1-year mark.
www.cnn.com/2026/02/13/h...
Trying to imagine my reaction if someone had told me 18 months ago that this would be a slide I’d be showing in class today.
Abraham, who was sworn in as principal deputy director of CDC Dec. 15, has stepped down effective immediately. CDC says he "chose to step down to address unforeseen family obligations" www.cnn.com/2026/02/23/h...
I expect next week’s ACIP meeting to be canceled/rescheduled soon. FACA requires a notice in the Federal Register at least 15 days out (barring an emergency), which didn’t happen. And the public comment/docket process—typically set up weeks ahead—still points to last December’s meeting.
Issue is not w/ “shared decision-making” in its common usage in medicine—a very good thing!—but rather its specialized meaning in the context of types of vaccine guidance. A shrug rather than an endorsement. That would be clearer if it still went by one of its older names: “permissive use statement”
Jason L. Schwartz
Spoke with @marketplace.org today about the very uncertain future of vaccine R&D. www.marketplace.org/story/2026/0...
Jason L. Schwartz
Jason L. Schwartz
Dr. Ralph Abraham has stepped down as principal deputy director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency said Monday.
All childhood vaccine recommendations are being reconsidered by ACIP, according to chair Kirk Milhoan, who slammed vaccination requirements for attending school and said vaccines should be taken on the advice of an individual’s doctor. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Under the Trump administration, the government has rescinded research funding, changed vaccine recommendations, and refused to review Moderna’s new mRNA flu vaccine. That could set vaccine research an...
Trump confirms the Washington Post's scoop about the new CDC leadership team.
Melody Schreiber
Meg Tirrell
Dan Diamond
Confirmed www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
I think you should always listen to Peter Sandman, even if you don't agree. "Shared decision-making on vaccines is not the enemy," one of the great experts on medical decision-making writes in STAT. www.statnews.com/2026/01/26/s...
“In its urge to say what Kennedy gets wrong, the public health and medical community is actively resisting something he gets right.”
NEWS - Erica Schwartz, former deputy US surgeon general, is favored candidate to lead CDC
former Walmart exec Sean Slovenski favored as a top deputy
still pending Trump's approval
w @lenasun.bsky.social
Schwartz would be Trump’s third nominee to lead the CDC. She left government in 2021, after the Biden administration passed her over for acting U.S. surgeon general.
