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Jody Lanard MD Profile picture
Jody Lanard MD
@EIDGeek
former WHO senior pandemic influenza comms advisor (for better or worse) 2005. WHO & FAO risk com training/webinars 2003-2023; FedSoc member; U. of Penn Med '80
2 subscribers
May 24 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
On May 24 2024, the USDA announced that it found H5N1 bird flu particles in a muscle (a k a "beef") of a culled cow.

The announcement proudly stated: “These actions provide further confidence that the food safety system we have in place is working.” 1/4

aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poul… Regarding this Day 1 announcement that H5N1 bird flu virus particles have been found in cow muscle (i.e., beef), I recommend that interested readers read two sections from our ridiculously long 2004 article about U.S. Mad Cow Risk Communication: 2/4

psandman.com/col/madcow.htm
Image
Apr 29 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
Here is the Table of Contents for the article Olga Jonas recommended: Bird Flu, Pandemic Flu, and Poultry Markets: Playing Ostrich or Talking Turkey?

Below are 8 more animal:human-related risk comm links, to add to @olga_02138’s recommendation.

1/9 psandman.com/col/poultry.htm

Image It's a long article. I particularly recommend these 2 sections:

Clarifying the vocabulary & taking the blame


Typical language confusions


Peter & I aim for correct usage of "pandemic," "panzootic," & "epizootic." A lost cause? 2/9psandman.com/col/poultry.ht…
psandman.com/col/poultry.ht…
Dec 30, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Early on when the world went fear-of-fomites crazy, CDC's website already said transmission was probably mostly droplet, but possibly with a fomites component. They didn't push people to stop sterilizing their groceries, & they had NO IDEA if transmission was mostly droplet. 1/5 During the prolonged period that WHO aggressively stated "FACT CHECK: COVID-19 is NOT airborne," they had NO IDEA if that was true. 2/5 Image
Sep 12, 2023 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Start of ACIP meeting: the difference between talking about trust and building trust.

CDC Director Mandy Cohen: (paraphrase) we want to work on trust, transparency, comms, evidence-based, and share simple clear info, commonsense measures. 1/X @dr_demetre : "We are aware" that there's lots of interest in non-mRNA vaccines like Novovax.
Then he explained how ACIP will consider Novovax today, so that if FDA approves/authorizes Novovax, there won't be a delay (i.e. another ACIP meeting) for CDC to recommend it. 2/X
Jun 8, 2023 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
I'm delighted (so far) with the "smoke risk communication" by NYC Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan.
Here are quotes, with my notes in brackets, on his opening comments at the Mayor's June 7 presser.

Plus links to crisis comm handouts at the end. 1/9

nyc.gov/office-of-the-… Dr. Vasan: "As many of you saw, conditions outside are worsening and have worsened throughout the day, and so we're escalating our recommendations...We are recommending organizations postpone or cancel outdoor activities for this evening and tomorrow or to move them indoors." 2/9
Jan 6, 2023 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
This is Andrew Wakefield-level dishonest research.

Journal editors, the CDC, and the FDA have shown abhorrent disregard for truth in assessing and communicating data about vaping.

We need some "Inspector General-type" oversight of US vaping policy.
1/6 In recent years, an increasing percentage of Americans misperceive nicotine vaping as more dangerous than smoking, and the government is delighted about this.

But we see this as dishonestly and lethally misleading people away from harm reduction.
2/6
jamanetwork.com/journals/jaman…
Jan 4, 2023 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
COVID and mRNA vaccines are two brand new, highly prevalent conditions which increase the risk of myocarditis, especially in young males. Myocarditis is a known risk factor for sudden cardiac death during exertion. .@jgitchell
1/5 (This is on top of the already-existing but lower incidence of post-viral myocarditis. Vaccine-wise, the only previous vaccine we recall being clearly associated with myocarditis was the old smallpox vaccine.)
2/5
May 16, 2021 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
After CDC issued its new mask guidance on May 13, Peter Sandman and I brainstormed re problematic risk comm aspects of the announcement and the advice. I put our short column into 8 screenshots in this thread. 1/8

The column will be posted by tomorrow at psandman.com/col/Corona48.h… Image Continued:
“We’re not all in this together anymore”:
CDC’s unspoken adultifying message re masks and social distancing
by Peter Sandman and Jody Lanard (2/8) Image
Dec 25, 2020 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Fauci intentional dishonesty, redux:

Tony Fauci is a wonderful and remarkable man. But he has some misguided and bizarre opinions about talking honestly with the public.

File under: credibility-destroying risk comm examples. 1/3

nyti.ms/3aFtE9S Early on, Fauci exaggerated the known downsides of mask-wearing, and understated the potential but not proven benefits -- long after it was known there was a lot of asymptomatic/mildly symptomatic COVID spread. He later explained this was partly because of the PPE shortage. 2/3
Dec 11, 2020 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
Timeline re: U.S. 2009 pandemic vaccine against A/California/04/2009(H1N1)

The Obama admin had said that 120-160 million doses would be ready by October 2009, a mere six months after that pandemic began. But only 23 million were ready.

The "disaster" was overpromising. 1/4 Timeline re: U.S. 2009 pandemic vaccine against A/California/04/2009(H1N1)

GAO reported to Congress that overpromising re: vaccine availability greatly harmed "the credibility of all levels of government."

See GAO report pages 27-29 re: credibility. gao.gov/new.items/d116… 2/4
Sep 6, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
How should experts respond to this pretty far-fetched question of whether the COVID virus came from an extra-terrestrial source?

This thread is a fun risk comm lesson from 2003, when the same main author raised the same question about SARS. 1/5
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/P… On May 24, 2003, the author raised in Lancet the question of whether SARS/2003 came from the sky.

This made headlines on a slow SARS news day, two months into the outbreaks.

CNN headline: Is SARS from outer space?

So, CNN reporter Miriam Falco asked the CDC director! 2/5
Aug 26, 2020 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
If true that CDC caved to WH pressure re: testing asymptomatic contacts, I think it's time for top CDC experts to quit in protest and shout out from the rooftops.

Till now it made sense for Dr. Nancy, Dr. Anne, etc. to fight from inside.

No more. 1/4

cnn.com/2020/08/26/pol… FDA issuing an EUA for convalescent plasma was at least arguable -- although the public political pressure to do so was unconscionable, given the need for FDA to be trustworthy both in fact and in the eyes of the public. 2/4