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Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD Profile picture
Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD
@PeterHotez
Vaccine Scientist-Author-Combat Antiscience @bcmhouston Professor Pediatrics Molecular Virology, @bcm_tropmed Dean, @TexasChildrens Chair in Tropical Pediatrics
114 subscribers
Dec 29 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
H5N1 not a reason to be terrified. We know a lot about zoonotic flu, have been preparing for it 20 yrs (unlike when COVID began), + we have candidate vaccines, antivirals, diagnostics

Only 3 things can negate this:

policy failures
pandemic denialism
antiscience disinformation It was actually the leadership of the W Bush Admin that prioritized a national response to zoonotic flu in 2000s, recruited my mentors, like DA Henderson, Maj Gen Phil Russell, Stewart Simonson, WI Gov. Tommy Thompson, Mike Osterholm, Bruce Gellin, Peggy Hamburg, to name some
Nov 10 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Another reminder: in U.S. we must now expect a regular cadence of pandemic threats: SARS in 2002, SARS-2/Covid in 2019, likely SARS-3; avian flu; Nipah; Ebola 2014, 2019; Zika 2016, soon dengue, YF. So we can’t screw around, the Trump Admin needs serious players for CDC, FDA, NIH The Trump Administration and the Republican-led Congress must take this seriously. If we’re going to have a chance vs this onslaught of pandemic threats - and they are coming - we cannot waste time with ideologues, lightweights, propagandists, and antivaccine activists
Sep 24 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
1/n I’m concerned: the health disinformation empire has begun accelerating with this new RFK Jr GOP partnership, also worried about the muted/invisible response from our U.S. HHS agencies, health professional societies/academic health centers. Troubling pics in this thread… Image 2/n …and this Image
Sep 21 • 20 tweets • 6 min read
1/n Tomorrow or soon, I will do a Tweet X thread on how the antivaccine, health & wellness, nutrition supplements industries joined forces with far right American politics to generate “crisis of chronic illness” propaganda. It’s an interesting story 25+ years in the making 2/n This is a slide from a PowerPoint I made years ago, looking at how the antivaccine movement has evolved (or devolved), it ends with "Chronic illness", which is really a desperation measure from the antivaccine movement after the scientific community debunked everything else Image
Sep 17 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
1/n Pediatricians 'exhausted' as vaccinations drop in DeSantis' Florida.

As I sometimes say, this situation was both predicted and predictable. My papers attached. I’m so concerned about our fragile vaccine ecosystem both in U.S. and globally tallahassee.com/story/news/loc… 2/n my 2022 article in @Nature @NatRevImmunol nature.com/articles/s4157…
Sep 5 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
1/n Texas has an economy/population roughly the size of Canada. However there were 50,000 Covid deaths in Canada vs 100,000 in Texas. The reason: widespread COVID vaccine refusal in TX, 40,000-50,000 victims of a national/political health disinformation campaign. Paper attached 2/n I call this “The Great Texas COVID Tragedy” here’s my article in @PLOS @PLOSGPH written 2 years ago journals.plos.org/globalpubliche…
Aug 25 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
My goodness what’s happening at @Stanford? This is awful, a full on anti-science agenda (and revisionist history), tone deaf to how this kind of rhetoric contributed to the deaths of thousands of Americans during the pandemic by convincing them to shun vaccines or minimize Covid The program indicates the new Stanford President will headline the symposium. While I’m all for free speech, this type of anti-science aggression doesn’t have to be promoted by the Stanford leadership, given the chilling message it sends to the serious science faculty/students
Aug 25 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
1/n But…this simply not true, my book Vaccines Did Not Cause Autism @JHUPress has 20+ pages of scientific references like the one I attached to this tweet. In fact all of my books are carefully referenced, and at Johns Hopkins University Press, also peer-reviewed. 2/n here’s a picture of one of the 20+ pages of scientific references in the book. Image
Aug 12 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
Sadly we’ve learned how the 1.2 million Covid deaths in U.S. overwhelmingly among the unvaccinated = just a start. It’s also heart attacks/strokes from the virus/long Covid/dementia preventable by vaccines. Our low-cost vaccine from @TexasChildrens 100 million doses administered Some papers attached on how COVID vaccines saved 3 million American lives commonwealthfund.org/blog/2022/two-…
Jun 8 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
I see Gov Cuomo getting beat up for his Covid response, I don’t have the inside baseball but watching this in 2020 I felt the big failing: CDC/Trump WH so fixated on travel restrictions from China they missed entry of SARS-2 from S Europe into NY going undetected for 4-6 wks Pandemics by design make elected officials look bad. I’m sure Gov Cuomo made mistakes as did every Gov in America. But for me, the head scratcher: how our public health infrastructure allowed COVID to come into America from Italy/Spain from genomic sequencing and go unannounced
Jun 3 • 11 tweets • 3 min read
At some point mainstream media must accept we have a half-dozen articles in the world’s best scientific journals on the natural origins/zoonotic spillover of SARS-2 that emerged just like SARS, whereas 0 papers on GoF/lab leak bc it never happened:

21st Century Piltdown Man Image en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piltdown_…
May 25 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
1/n No, but it is anti-science to run a committee comprised of House members who led a health disinformation campaign against mRNA vaccines in 2021-22, which led to the unnecessary deaths of 200,000 Americans 2/n and it is anti-science for a committee charged to investigate Covid yet failed to investigate the role of 2 U.S. Senators and several House Freedom Caucus members, together with Fox News and several podcasters that created a predatory campaign that led to needless deaths
May 18 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
1/n You are correct @Maroxad this is one of the tactics the anti-science extremists use to relabel science as “Communism” or dehumanize American scientists as “Communists”. It’s a bit of a throwback to the McCarthy era in the hope that it worked back then, maybe now. The irony… 2/n The irony (and as I highlighted in my @PLOSBiology article) the approach the anti-science ringleaders, including 2 U.S. Senators and several House members from the freedom caucus, employ is right out of the Stalinist playbook. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/ar…
May 14 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
1/n Cy-Fair ISD board votes to remove chapters teaching vaccines from textbooks.

My view: the reason we need to care about this is because antivaccine activism has become a deadly force here in Texas. My estimate: 40,000 needless deaths in 2021-22.

houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t… 2/n here’s my paper in @PLOS @PLOSGPH detailing the 40,000 excess deaths in Texas from antivaccine anti-science activism journals.plos.org/globalpubliche…
May 10 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
1/n In my public remarks, writings, and meetings with leaders in global public health my message is the same: a politically motivated/predatory antivaccine movement that first accelerated during Covid in the U.S. has globalized and will spill over to all childhood immunizations 2/n I sounded this alarm in 2022 in @nature @NatRevImmunol @NaturePortfolio nature.com/articles/s4157…
May 8 • 13 tweets • 3 min read
1/n This is dangerous anti-science disinformation pure and simple.

Ivermectin does nothing to help people with Covid, same with hydroxychloroquine.

Covid vaccines saved 3 million American lives, 200,000 Americans died bc they refused vaccines. 2/n detailed in my 2023 book, The Deadly Rise of Anti-science amazon.com/Deadly-Rise-An…
May 3 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
I don’t understand what NY Times is trying to do today, I mean I get the part below, but why that headline? And why bury the overwhelming benefits of Covid immunizations? Why say “for most people” the benefits outweighs the risks. Say it as it is >99.9% Image And you point out how 200,000 Americans needlessly perished because they refused Covid vaccines from a predatory and political vaccine campaign amazon.com/Deadly-Rise-An…
May 1 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
1/n Actually quite the opposite: As of the end of 2022, Covid vaccinations saved between 14.4 million and 19.8 million lives globally. Article attached. Watch out for health disinformation from those conspiracy podcasters, they have a different agenda…
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jp…
2/n onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jp…
Apr 29 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
1/n This is antivaccine conspiracy nonsense. The facts + supporting documents:

1. Covid 19 the virus = a thromboembolic virus and cause of coronary heart disease

2. Staying up to date with your Covid vaccinations/boosters = an important way to protect your heart health. 2/n from @NaturePortfolio nature.com/articles/s4416…
Apr 26 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
1/n update on Covid in U.S. first some good news, latest from CDC shows we’re now at about our lowest levels of new COVID hospitalizations since the beginning of the pandemic… Image 2/n also Covid wastewater numbers looking pretty good, so as I said a few weeks ago, it looks like we might a low Covid spring or at least May. Good for HS or college graduations Image
Apr 23 • 14 tweets • 4 min read
1/n I’m seeing on social media and popular podcasts, awful nonsense and false claims about Covid immunizations in pregnancy causing autism in newborns. This is dangerous health disinformation at multiple levels. Here is the real story. 2/n First the adverse health impact of Covid on both pregnant mother and new baby is undisputed, it’s devastating for both, especially high maternal morbidity and mortality
journals.plos.org/plosone/articl…
Image