Immunologist and Microbiologist | Biomedical Scientist | Founder, ImmunoLogic | Executive Director, American Lyme Disease Foundation | Science Communicator
2 subscribers
Sep 21 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
Weird some scicomm ppl gave the “Tylenol in pregnancy & autism” review some weight.
They don’t know the lead author, Baccarelli, had the exact claims thrown out of federal court for having ZERO scientific merit when he was a paid “expert” in lawsuits against Tylenol makers.
1/
He repackaged it for journal publication to give it the appearance of legitimacy.
Even though the strongest studies— between siblings—showed no relationship between autism & Tylenol use in pregnancy.
He cherry-picked studies & gave parent memory more weight than hard data.
2/
Sep 7 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
RFK Jr’s HHS endorsed personal belief vaccine exemptions. We’ve been here before:
2015, California.
School vaccine “requirements” let parents opt out for any personal belief. In some counties, kindergarten MMR rates dropped to 50%.
A measles outbreak starts at Disneyland.
1/
~300 hundred measles cases spread across 7 states, Mexico, & Canada. 20% required hospitalization.
Nearly all were among unvaccinated people. 76% stated they didn’t get vaccinated because of “personal beliefs.”
2/
Sep 4 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Any Senators here?
I’m a biomedical scientist with immunology, cancer, infectious disease expertise.
RFK Jr lied to you in his confirmation hearings. Repeatedly. Provably.
He’s lied to EVERYONE for 30+ years. Repeatedly. Provably.
He WILL lie today. Repeatedly. Provably.
1/
Stop thinking he will be truthful. He won’t.
He is a threat to public health & scientific progress. He’s demonized innovation for:
Food safety
Food stability
Farming
Infectious diseases
Cancer
Genetic disorders
Dental health
Public & population health
The environment
2/
Sep 3 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Florida’s decision to erase school vaccine requirements will cause preventable illness and death.
Not just for kids in Florida.
For whole communities. Of all ages.
Across the country.
Because pathogens don’t follow state lines.
1/
We HAVE data before school vaccine requirements existed. People got sick, spread illness, & died. That’s WHY they were implemented.
We are rolling back DECADES of progress & improved health because wellness influencers have co-opted government.
That’s not hyperbole.
Aug 31 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
RFK Jr cut half a billion dollars in research funding for mRNA vaccines.
He & Marty Makary claim mRNA vaccines are “risky” so they’ll shift to “traditional, older” vaccine tech that’s “safer.”
We used to immunize people by blowing powdered smallpox scabs up their noses.
1/
THAT — variolation — had a mortality rate of 3%.
Better than the 30% smallpox itself had, but can you IMAGINE if any vaccine today had that risk?
Yet RFK Jr. wants to pretend scientific progress is bad.
2/
Aug 23 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Sterilizing immunity: the latest anti-vaccine rallying cry. A real thing co-opted by anti-vaxxers to undermine vaccines.
By anti-vax logic, if a vaccine doesn’t block all infections, it’s a “failure.”
MOST vaccines don’t elicit sterilizing immunity. No one pretends they do.
1/
This isn’t just immunologically wrong; it’s a tactic to erode trust in vaccines & harm public health.
Vaccines life-saving developments of modern medicine, not magical forcefields.
This all-or-nothing attitude doesn’t exist for anything else, so why does it for vaccines?
2/
Aug 5 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
A study concludes: more colorectal cancer diagnoses in adults 45-49 is a result of…screening age being lowered to 45 in 2021.
😐 ⬅️ my surprised face.
I wrote about this exact thing when media outlets were fear-mongering about “skyrocketing cancer rates” among adults <50.
1/
Maybe media outlets can stop publishing clickbait & instead, consult with appropriate experts, and provide ACCURATE and NUANCED information?
🧂Table salt doesn’t explode when you add it to soup.
💉Saline solution doesn’t explode when injected into your veins.
🥤Your organs don’t explode when you drink Nuun, Tailwind, Gatorade, or other electrolyte drinks.
Everyone agrees on these, right?
These aren’t debated.
1/
SODIUM explodes in water.
Or water solutions
Why?
SODIUM CHLORIDE (table salt)
is NOT sodium, a metal element.
A chemistry fundamental:
A compound is NOT the sum of its parts.
You accept this re sodium chloride & sodium. Otherwise you’d claim table salt explodes in water.
2/
Jul 26 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
RFK Jr & his HHS has declared thimerosal dangerous. It’s not.
The result? US will no longer recommend vaccines with thimerosal (a safe preservative).
This lie, now policy, will ripple around the world, destroying vaccine trust, access, & uptake.
A thread ⬇️
1/
Thimerosal is used in the US in a small % of flu vaccines as a SAFE preservative that prevents contamination.
The bigger issue?
His legitimization of lies will impact vaccines used globally. It will erode trust, reduce vaccine rates, & allow preventable illness to spread.
2/
Jun 27 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
There’s a statewide recall of raw milk here in PA because it’s contaminated with Campylobacter jejuni.
Campylobacteriosis cases are linked to Meadow View Jerseys Dairy milk.
If only there was a way to avoid illness like that…
1/
I never thought I’d live in a world where people were opposed to heating milk to 165F for 15 seconds to kill disease-causing microbes because some podcast bro told them so…yet here we are.
Poor Louis.
He must be rolling in his grave.
2/
Jun 11 • 22 tweets • 4 min read
RFK Jr. has built a multi-million dollar empire manufacturing vaccine distrust.
His organization, Children's Health Defense, raked in over $16 million in 2021 alone—money made by terrifying parents, undermining public health, & selling false solutions.
1/
This isn't advocacy; it's his business model.
Every vaccine controversy he fabricates, every conspiracy he spreads, every scientific institution he attacks brings in donations, book sales, legal fees, speaking fees, & wellness partnerships.
2/
May 5 • 13 tweets • 2 min read
FDA-approved vaccines had randomized, placebo-controlled trials.
A thread🧵
1/
Development & testing of ANY new regulated medicine involves placebo-controlled clinical trials.
That’s true for vaccines.
Cancer medicines. Bronchodilators. Analgesics. Antibiotics. Diuretics. Immunomodulators.
Small molecules. Biologics.
All of them.
2/
Apr 23 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
Banning synthetic food dyes won’t improve health—it may worsen it.
FOOD DYES AREN’T THE ISSUE.
1️⃣ they’re safe at ingested levels.
2️⃣ they’re not banned in other countries.
3️⃣ they’ll be replaced with other dyes that aren’t safer, as stable, or as studied.
1/
4️⃣ the process to replace them and the replacements will increase food costs.
5️⃣ it’s NOT addressing issues ACTUALLY related to diet & health: food equity, food deserts, healthcare access, wage inequality.
2/
Apr 20 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
An Easter thought:
Those who shout the loudest about being “good Christians” are often the ones acting in complete opposition to what Jesus lived and died for.
That’s especially true when it comes to science and public health.
A thread🧵
1/
Jesus healed the sick, fed the poor, supported the marginalized.
Modern “Christians” deny healthcare for all, refuse vaccines, reject science, hoard resources, & spread disinformation.
2/
Apr 18 • 18 tweets • 3 min read
Autism is not a disease.
Autism is not an epidemic.
Autism is a multifactorial genetic-based neurological condition.
And it’s not caused by vaccines or nebulous “environmental toxins.”
A thread 👇🏻
1/
Prevalence has increased GLOBALLY as a result of better recognition, diagnosing criteria, and awareness.
RFK Jr. has made millions of dollars spreading ableist lies for decades. His recent comments and power within HHS underscore how dangerous he is to humanity.
2/
Apr 2 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
EVERYONE wants safe & healthy foods.
That’s why scientists do extensive research & development in food production & safety: farming, preservation, formulation.
It ISN’T done by wellness influencers & anti-science orgs like Moms Across America & Environmental Working Group.
1/
RFK Jr’s dismantling of the FDA yesterday will make foods LESS safe, LESS healthy, and LESS monitored.
MAHA and RFK Jr want the OPPOSITE of health and safety.
Red dye 3 — or other regulated food dyes (that aren’t banned in other countries, FYI) — isn’t harming health.
2/
Apr 1 • 16 tweets • 3 min read
The CDC has literally been gutted today.
There’s no need for “April Fools” when reality is a nightmare for every human on this planet.
Thousand of scientists fired.
Entire departments erased.
1/
No more occupational health research.
No more HIV research. Or tuberculosis. Or sexually transmitted infections.
No environmental health & science research.
No chronic disease research & prevention.
CRUELTY is the point.
This won’t make anyone healthier.
It will do the opposite.
Mar 24 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
Have you heard:
“measles mortality was already declining before vaccines because of nutrition and hygiene, therefore vaccines aren’t effective?”
It’s spread by RFK Jr., Children’s Health Defense, Physicians for Informed Consent, & others to undermine vaccines.
A thread:
1/
Measles is fatal when pneumonia, diarrhea, dehydration, & encephalitis develop.
We have decades of data and millions of data points that to show this.
This lie insults people with autism too — as if it’s an “adverse effect” of medicine.
Some of the data:
A cohort study of 467,450 children born in Denmark b/w 1990 & 1996 analyzed the association between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism.
NO increased risk of autism or autism spectrum disorders among vaccinated children versus unvaccinated children.
2/
Mar 2 • 16 tweets • 4 min read
mRNA vaccines, COVID-19 or otherwise, are not gene therapy.
Misconceptions & misinformation have eroded progress in science innovation.
2 main reasons for misunderstanding:
1) legitimate misunderstanding of nuanced science 2) intentional spread of falsehoods
1/
A gene is a segment of a DNA molecule with multiple regions: a promoter, exons (the bits that dictate amino acid sequence in a protein), introns, & terminator regions.
mRNA is a short-lived intermediate of exon segments of DNA — it is a TRANSCRIPT of a piece of the gene.
2/
Feb 26 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
An unvaccinated child died of measles in the Texas outbreak.
Measles kills 1 in every 1,000 people in developed nations, more where healthcare is scarce.
The measles vaccine has never caused a death. It ALSO prevents deaths from measles.
Anti-vaccine lies kill children.
1/
This is the first measles death in the US in a decade, because we had the disease under control through vaccinations.
People like RFK Jr who have spread lies for DECADES—yes he has been anti-vaccine since 1999–have systematically erased our health protections.
2/
