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Reposted by Ferric Fang, MD

Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 5h

Looks from here like the goal is to create confusion, and focus public attention on a subset of the most outrageous firings — to distract from the other firings.

We shouldn’t be fooled, and should demand that all the illegal shutdown RIFs are made null and void. /end

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Ferric Fang, MD @fangferric.bsky.social · 4h

According to the Washington Post, at least some EIS officers will be reinstated

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Ferric Fang, MD @fangferric.bsky.social · 5h

No need to imagine

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Reposted by Ferric Fang, MD

Alt CDC (they/them) @altcdc.altgov.info · 6h

Many RIFed yesterday are now being unfired(?!)

Unclear if it’s evil or incompetence — but either way, calculated move. Meant to flex power.

Ha. Just shows Republicans are scared.

Dems, @schumer.senate.gov — don’t back down.
They know they’re losing the Republican shutdown shitshow.
We’re winning.

Official HHS memo showing someone RIFed yesterday is, um, no longer RIFed. wtf

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Ferric Fang, MD @fangferric.bsky.social · 6h

Well, this inspires confidence.

"At least some workers were let go by mistake. Members of the MMWR team were laid off in error because of a misclassification of job codes and would be brought back, as would anyone working on measles and the Ebola outbreak in Congo."

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Ferric Fang, MD

Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 15h

NEW: @CDCgov hit hard by massive firings that several staff describe to me as a “bloodbath.”
Among those RIFd:
—leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases;
—leadership of global health center
—leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4

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Ferric Fang, MD @fangferric.bsky.social · 8h

“One of the government labs being proximate to the origins of Lyme disease.”

FFS, is this guy ignorant. Genomic analysis indicates that the Lyme spirochete has been circulating in North America for 60,000 years (Walter et al. Nat Ecol Evol 2017).

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Reposted by Ferric Fang, MD

Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 11h

For more information about the Friday night massacre at CDC, I wrote up an analysis of who got terminated and what that means for public health.

Grateful to @saveamericamvmt.bsky.social for supporting and amplifying. We are in really terrible trouble.

rasmussenretorts.substack.com/p/the-death-...

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Ferric Fang, MD @fangferric.bsky.social · 8h

“The battle is not over, argued a fired official, who called upon Congress to use its authority to rein in the executive branch.”

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 8h

“The White House’s mass firing of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff on Friday has decimated offices related to injury prevention, respiratory disease surveillance, and chronic disease.” www.statnews.com/2025/10/11/c...

‘It’s a massacre’: CDC battered by government shutdown firings

The White House’s mass firing of CDC staff on Friday has decimated offices related to injury prevention, respiratory disease surveillance, and chronic disease, according to four people familiar with t...

www.statnews.com

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Reposted by Ferric Fang, MD

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 8h

Per CDC source: At internal leadership meeting this afternoon, it was shared that 1,257 people were RIF'd at CDC. Number may not be final. Apparently, chief of staff was unaware that RIFs were going to occur so not clear who is making decisions. (Short 🧵)

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Reposted by Ferric Fang, MD

Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 9h

“We can give $20 billion to Argentina but we can’t afford the CDC’s measles experts” is a hell of an argument

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Reposted by Ferric Fang, MD

BK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · 10h

The parents of those 270 kids could get them vaccinated so the can return to school 🤷🏽‍♀️.
www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

Hundreds of U.S. students quarantined amid measles outbreaks

At least 270 unvaccinated kids are staying home from school as measles continues to spread nationwide. "Expect more," one expert said.

www.nbcnews.com

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Ferric Fang, MD @fangferric.bsky.social · 11h

Free of charge, MMRW has been providing indispensable information on:

• influenza
• invasive streptococcal infections
• HIV
• meningococcal disease
• RSV
• Salmonella
• rabies
• baylisascariasis

And that's just in the past 3 months. An irreplaceable loss. Only a psychopath would destroy it.

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 12h

Fustiliarian Friday: Trump/Kennedy/GOP use the shutdown as an excuse to destroy the CDC’s elite field epidemiology team and one of the most important epidemiology journals in the world.

Gift link.

Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Ferric Fang, MD

Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 11h

I've yet to see this properly analysed from a psychological point of view. Obviously RFK is a nut, but there's also a broader pattern in the GOP ranks that seems deeply peculiar, of wanting positively to welcome the threat of disease and death. It feels like a collective psychosis.

Amy Maxmen, PhD @amymaxmen.bsky.social · 14h

The Trump admin is in the midst of laying off 1,100-1,200 HHS staff. The CDC's outbreak responders, gone. The office producing CDC's weekly journal MMWR is gone. CDC staff securing sensitive data, gone. Worker safety, gone. Immunization group, gone.

Instead, Congress watches RFK "make the proof"

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

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Reposted by Ferric Fang, MD

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 17h

My quote of the day

Nobody ever thanks you for saving them from the disease they didn't know they were going to get.

William Foege

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Reposted by Ferric Fang, MD

Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 1d

The editors of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) were apparently fired today.

The precursor to MMWR began in 1878 to address emerging public health threats rapidly.

We are not “great” without it. We are vulnerable to threats from sporadic foodborne illness to bioterrorism.

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Reposted by Ferric Fang, MD

Caitlin Rivers @cmyeaton.bsky.social · 16h

For the 2nd week in a row, the federal shutdown has blocked disease surveillance reporting. So Team Force of Infection again visited all 50 state websites to track COVID, flu & RSV. caitlinrivers.substack.com/p/outbreak-o...

Outbreak Outlook: Week 2 of DIY Surveillance

State by state disease surveillance of COVID-19, influenza and RSV amid federal public health cuts

caitlinrivers.substack.com

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Reposted by Ferric Fang, MD

Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 16h

There must be some mistake, I read 50 Atlantic articles about how RFK Jr just wants to help Americans eat more vegetables

Gravel Influencer @gravelinfluencer.bsky.social · 18h

They continue to eviscerate the public health machinery that has quietly kept Americans, and others around the world, safe and healthy for decades.

The staff of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the journal that reports on health trends and emerging infectious threats, was also laid off. The publication’s storied history includes a June 1981 report that five previously healthy gay men were treated for an unusual pneumonia — the first hint of the AIDS epidemic.

Roughly 70 Epidemic Intelligence Service officers — the so-called “disease detectives” who respond to outbreaks around the globe — received layoff notices, according to a person familiar with them. The service was spared during an earlier round of layoffs in February.

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Reposted by Ferric Fang, MD

PaulaW microIDDoc.bsky.social @microiddoc.bsky.social · 15h

Pandemics do not respect political boundaries. The CDC protects all Americans.

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Reposted by Ferric Fang, MD

Science and Freedom Alliance - SAFA @safa-science.bsky.social · 15h

This is terrible. A brief statement from us:

Congress must stop it. We call for a provision in any CR/budget bill that explicitly declares these Vought shutdown firings to be illegal, null, and void.

Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 1d

I don’t know who needs to hear this but the CDC is being eviscerated right now. America is not going to have any kind of outbreak response capacity after tonight. Americans’ health data is no longer secure. Say goodbye to federal public health in any capacity. It’s a disaster. We won’t recover.

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Reposted by Ferric Fang, MD

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 1d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Reposted by Ferric Fang, MD

Kristina Šekrst @epiphenomenal.bsky.social · 17h

Accurate.

#academia #academy #philsky #philosophysky #philosophy #science

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Reposted by Ferric Fang, MD

Dimitri Drekonja, MD, MS @dimitridrekonja.bsky.social · 1d

The people getting laid off are some of the highest-trained and most specialized people in healthcare. They don’t just get replaced by hiring some new people when a sane administration takes over. This is a huge loss for America.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 1d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Reposted by Ferric Fang, MD

Ian L Morgan @ianlmorgan.bsky.social · 1d

My op-ed just came out discussing how NIH leadership is failing early career researchers and, importantly, how we can push back and take our future into our own hands.

NIH Leadership Is Failing Early Career Researchers

Halted training programs, funding chaos, and hiring freezes jeopardize advancement options for early career researchers.

www.the-scientist.com

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Reposted by Ferric Fang, MD

Ruth Ann Crystal @drruth.bsky.social · 1d

The CDC and ACIP quietly updated their recommendations and now specifically include pregnant individuals among those eligible for COVID vaccination.

Under the new policy, insurers are required to cover the vaccine for pregnant people without cost sharing. buff.ly/Id2vJbe

#medsky #obgynsky 🛟😷🧪

Pregnant woman with lovely smile and dark skin, brown hair wearing a burgandy top and jeans and has a bandaid from vaccination. "The CDC and ACIP updated guidance: Pregnant patients are eligible for COVID vaccination."

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