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Allison Neitzel

@alineitzelmd.bsky.social

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whowhatwhy.org/author/allison-neitzel/

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Allison Neitzel @alineitzelmd.bsky.social · Nov 7

Expect to see a lot of people who helped Trump fuck up the initial COVID-19 response installed in leadership positions at public health institutions under the umbrella of the HHS in Trump 2.0.

Bleak shit ahead.

Allison Neitzel @alineitzelmd.bsky.social · Oct 7

I wrote about the GOP-led House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, which appears to be following a "road map" from the Heritage Foundation behind Project 2025.
whowhatwhy.org/politics/us-...

Don’t Let House Republicans Rewrite Trump’s Pandemic History

The GOP COVID-19 subcommittee appears to have followed a script from the Heritage Foundation that’s behind Project 2025.

whowhatwhy.org

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Martin Enserink @martinenserink.bsky.social · Feb 24

A reminder that: @science.org's Trump Tracker provides updates several times a day about the crisis in US science.
Latest update: European science groups ‘deeply concerned’ about threats to U.S. academic freedom. www.science.org/content/arti...

Trump Tracker: Firings, lawsuits, and U.S. science in chaos

Follow President Donald Trump’s impact on U.S. research and science globally

www.science.org

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Reposted by Allison Neitzel

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Feb 19

Baldwin: "Last night, the president said 'I'm not touching Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, VA, I'm not touching them.' By this morning, he endorsed the House budget resolution which paves the way for massive cuts to Medicaid."

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David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · Feb 20

What I’ve been saying (screaming). Now there’s data.

Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · Feb 20

The DOGE firings have nothing to do with “efficiency” or “cutting waste.” They’re a direct push to weaken federal agencies perceived as liberal. This was evident from the start, and now the data confirms it: targeted agencies overwhelmingly those seen as more left-leaning. 🧵⬇️

Scatterplot titled “Empirical Evidence of Ideological Targeting in Federal Layoffs: Agencies seen as liberal are significantly more likely to face DOGE layoffs.”
• The x-axis represents Perceived Ideological Leaning of federal agencies, ranging from -2 (Most Liberal) to +2 (Most Conservative), based on survey responses from over 1,500 federal executives.
• The y-axis shows Agency Size (Number of Staff) on a logarithmic scale from 1,000 to 1,000,000.

Each point represents a federal agency:
• Red dots indicate agencies that experienced DOGE layoffs.
• Gray dots indicate agencies with no layoffs.

Key Observations:
• Liberal-leaning agencies (left side of the plot) are disproportionately represented among red dots, indicating higher layoff rates.
• Notable targeted agencies include:
• HHS (Health & Human Services)
• EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
• NIH (National Institutes of Health)
• CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
• Dept. of Education
• USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development)
• The National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE), despite its conservative leaning (+1 on the scale), is an exception among targeted agencies.
• A notable outlier: the Department of Veterans Affairs (moderately conservative) also faced layoffs despite its size.

Takeaway:

The figure visually demonstrates that DOGE layoffs disproportionately targeted liberal-leaning agencies, supporting claims of ideological bias. The pattern reveals that layoffs were not driven by agency size or budget alone but were strongly associated with perceived ideology.

Source: Richardson, Clinton, & Lewis (2018). Elite Perceptions of Agency Ideology and Workforce Skill. The Journal of Politics, 80(1).

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Walker Bragman @walkerbragman.bsky.social · Feb 20

It’s the dark money. A coordinated, global right-wing campaign to weaponized disinformation and the internet—particularly social media—to politicize public health and sow distrust and doubt.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

How COVID Pushed a Generation of Young People to the Right

Research suggests that pandemics are more likely to reduce rather than build trust in scientific and political authorities.

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by Allison Neitzel

Madhu Pai, MD, PhD @madhupai.bsky.social · Feb 18

Tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas

Measles outbreak in Texas

Bird flu - first death among humans

But yes, by all means, please fire CDC, NIH, and other scientists

Everything will be fine

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Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · Feb 17

“We appreciate all your efforts, especially your focus on providing care to those who are struggling. You embody the mission and vision of the Department of Health and Human Services.”

140-plus Obama and Biden appointees, including Sebelius + Becerra, sign a thank-you letter to career staff at HHS.

THANK YOU!

The following is a “thank you” letter from the political appointees who served alongside the tens of thousands of dedicated civil servants at HHS during the Obama and Biden presidencies. It is signed…

jeffnesbit.medium.com

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Brandy Zadrozny @brandyzadrozny.bsky.social · Feb 17

New: Last night, hundreds of CDC post-doc fellows were fired, including all in the group who call themselves the "disease detectors," and are the future of public health lab leaders. One senior official told me, "It is going to cripple public health for decades."

www.nbcnews.com/politics/dog...

CDC 'disease detectors' among hundreds fired as Trump administration ramps up agency cuts

Administration officials last week informed CDC leaders of plans to cut up to 10% of its workforce as it targeted federal probationary employees.

www.nbcnews.com

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Dorit Reiss @doritreiss.bsky.social · Feb 17

So it begins: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is confirmed as HHS Secretary and immediately starts dismantling US federal science infrastructure sciencebasedmedicine.org/so-it-begins... via @sciencebasedmedicine.org @gorskon.bsky.social

So it begins: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is confirmed as HHS Secretary and immediately starts dismantling US federal science infrastructure | Science-Based Medicine

RFK Jr. was confirmed as HHS Secretary and didn't wait long to start dismantling federal science programs, complete with a commission to draw up a battle plan.

sciencebasedmedicine.org

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Allison Neitzel @alineitzelmd.bsky.social · Feb 17

"The very fact that I am having to publish this anonymously in a country that has the right to free speech written into our Constitution is an indictment of what is happening."
www.bmj.com/content/388/...

Anger, despair, and defiance from a voice within the US federal research system

People around the world are watching with disbelief as the new US government closes down its aid programme, withdraws from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Paris agreement on climate change...

www.bmj.com

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🦋Dr. Natalia🕊🌻🪬 @solnatamd.medsky.social · Feb 16

'Physician Senators, What Have You Done?

They have betrayed the Hippocratic Oath in voting to confirm RFK Jr.'

👇🏻

Opinion | Physician Senators, What Have You Done?

They have betrayed the Hippocratic Oath in voting to confirm RFK Jr.

www.medpagetoday.com

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Reposted by Allison Neitzel

Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · Feb 16

“I never thought antivaxx policies would be put first in MY state,” sobs man who single-handedly cleared the way for antivaxxers to dictate health policy for the entire country

Physicians for a Healthy Democracy @physiciandemocracy.medsky.social · Feb 16

Republican senator who voted for RFK Jr balks at Louisiana anti-vaccine move - NewsBreak

Republican Bill Cassidy calls state surgeon general’s halt to promotion of mass vaccination a disservice to parents

share.newsbreak.com

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Kiera Butler @kieraevebutler.bsky.social · Feb 14

I wrote about how RFK Jr. is targeting SSRIs in his first 100 days plan, and his history of spreading disinformation about antidepressants. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

RFK Jr. is already taking aim at antidepressants

The new HHS secretary has made baseless claims that the drugs are addictive and cause violent behavior.

www.motherjones.com

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ProPublica @propublica.org · Feb 16

NEW: Marocco has tried shutting down nearly all USAID programs & freezing foreign aid. He’s led the charge to place nearly all USAID staff on administrative leave.

Officials said they see the move as retribution against those who opposed his earlier work.

By @annamaria.bsky.social + Brett Murphy

Trump Official Destroying USAID Secretly Met With Christian Nationalists Abroad in Defiance of U.S. Policy

Now one of the most powerful people in the U.S. government, Peter Marocco’s turbulent tenure during the first Trump administration sheds light on his current efforts to dismantle the American foreign ...

www.propublica.org

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Union of Concerned Scientists @ucs.org · Feb 16

"If we don’t continue to fight against the attacks on science and the budding authoritarian regime we are living through right now, I am afraid of the future. My past teaches me what it’s like. And I don’t want to live through it again in the US. Never forget."

President Trump and Musk's Onslaught Reminds Me of Brazil's Dictatorship

We're living in a budding authoritarian regime.

blog.ucsusa.org

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David Corn @davidcorn.bsky.social · Feb 15

This is fascism.

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Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · Feb 15

The most fitting end to a day in which the regime just curbstomped our outbreak response capacity: an H5N1 patient in a hospital that’s also presumably full of seasonal flu patients.

www.reuters.com/business/hea...

Wyoming identifies first human case of bird flu

The Wyoming Department of Health said on Friday it has identified its first human case of H5N1 bird flu in the region, making it the third confirmed instance of hospitalization related to the infection in the United States.

www.reuters.com

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Kristian G. Andersen @kgandersen.bsky.social · Feb 14

"the extremely strong desire is to just punish universities [..] It’s not based on any kind of coherent policy agenda. It’s just a desire to inflict pain."

This, is critical to understand. Pointing out "it's hurting us" won't do, since it's the whole point.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/o...

Opinion | Trump Wants to Destroy All Academia, Not Just the Woke Parts (Gift Article)

The administration’s war on universities defies rational self-interest.

www.nytimes.com

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Stuart Neil @tetherin.bsky.social · Feb 15

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

What is going on at NIH and CDC is horrific. Young scientists summarily fired during the PhDs and Postdocs. Whole sections bullied into resigning. All pandemic and surveillance programme shut in the middle of a cattle flu outbreak that is infecting more people.

Musk’s takeover of US health agencies raises pandemic threat, experts warn

Doge wreaks havoc on HHS and CDC as Trump seeks to grant committee sweeping governmental powers

www.theguardian.com

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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · Feb 14

Termination notices going out this afternoon to more than 300 employees of the National Cancer Institute. Access likely ends today. Four weeks paid leave and that’s it.

Strong power move for Team Cancer.

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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · Feb 14

Texas measles outbreak doubled, now into 4 counties www.houstonchronicle.com/health/artic...

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Meredith Wadman @meredithwadman.bsky.social · Feb 14

‘Wrecking ball’: RFK Jr. moves to fire thousands of health agency employees | Science | AAAS brought to you by @science.org www.science.org/content/arti...

‘Wrecking ball’: RFK Jr. moves to fire thousands of health agency employees

Supervisors deliver bad news across NIH, CDC

www.science.org

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Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · Feb 14

But RFK Jr PROMISED Senate Republicans he would leave vaccines alone.

The promise was broken less than 24 hours after taking over at HHS.

Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · Feb 14

Today's executive order from President Trump is intended to halt federal funding for schools and universities with covid vaccine mandates, White House official says.

Breitbart first reported the planned executive order.

Exclusive: Trump Expected to Halt Federal Funding to Schools with COVID Vaccine Mandates

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Friday halting federal funds for schools and universities that require students to be vaccinated against coronavirus.

www.breitbart.com

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Prof Gavin Yamey @gavinyamey.bsky.social · Feb 14

An absolutely scorching OpEd by Harold Varmus, Nobel laureate, on Trump's destruction of the vaunted US scientific & biomedical enterprise & on Trump's kooky picks to lead the US health & science agencies

Gift link to share far & wide

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/o...

Opinion | American Science is Under Attack (Gift Article)

The Trump administration hobbles research and endangers the public health.

www.nytimes.com

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · Feb 15

We are used to assuming that legal decisions are at least partly shaped by partisan identity. It would be nice if we could assume they were not also shaped by threats and intimidation from the leader of an online far right movement.

Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · Feb 15

JUST IN: Judge Bates (who Musk has been relentlessly attacking on X since he ordered CDC to restore deleted health websites) just sided with DOGE and rejected an emergency effort to bar Musk allies from accessing systems at Labor, HHS and CFPB.

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Saskia Popescu @saskiapopescu.bsky.social · Feb 14

To be clear- this will cost lives, severely weaken public health (and global health), cause more distrust in federal response, and ultimately undermine all the advancements in health we’ve made in recent decades.

HHS to lose thousands of workers under Trump administration probationary job cuts

Department of Health and Human Services officials expect most of the agency’s roughly 5,200 probationary employees to be fired.

apnews.com

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