J. Offir, PhD
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joffirphd.bsky.social
J. Offir, PhD
@joffirphd.bsky.social
Ph.D. in social psychology. Former researcher in pandemic behavioral risk reduction (non-pharma intervention). Only here to keep up. @[email protected]
Pinned
Updated 📌 list of my essays on the psychology of public health (inc. topics like covid, HIV & reproductive health). As of 8/22/25, there are *31* long-form pieces in this 🧵.

The list starts in reverse chrono. order, but in Oct. 2024 starts rolling forward, so oldest posts are in the middle. Doh.
In The Bad Place, I have a pinned thread of my covid essays & threads, w/ short descriptions of ea. Here's one for This Place, though w/o descriptions, b/c I'm tired. As is true there, I've put them in reverse chrono order, but anything new will post at the end. I flagged ones people liked best:
1. Because they don't know. (Last year, 30% of American adults didn't know what our 3 branches of government are.)

2. B/c they think they don't need vaccines - either b/c they're antivax or, more generally, b/c folks absolutely s* at future threat assessment. ("If it hasn't hurt me yet, it won't.")
Why doesn’t anyone care?
Swell.

"Federal policies under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that are hostile to vaccines have 'sent a chill through the entire industry.'"

Massachusetts: halted vaccine studies

Texas: canceled factory plans & jobs

Cali: laid off workers & halted development of...

1/3

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/h...
February 17, 2026 at 6:27 AM
Reposted by J. Offir, PhD
I still think the best way to think of the ending of US AID is as the single worst genocide committed by any one US presidential administration.

even given all the horrific things the US has done, it's not really that close. 750k dead already; expected 14 million.
this is exactly why I am absolutely not willing to overlook anyone who was once “advocating for ending USAID” as merely committing a little oopsie-daisy-booboo, by the way
The Project 2025 author is using millions of dollars in USAID money for his own security detail.

It is estimated that 762,000 people have *already died* as a result of Elon Musk and Russell Vought’s obscene murder of USAID, including more than 500,000 children.

Vought is a mass murderer.
February 17, 2026 at 2:54 AM
Swell.

"Federal policies under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that are hostile to vaccines have 'sent a chill through the entire industry.'"

Massachusetts: halted vaccine studies

Texas: canceled factory plans & jobs

Cali: laid off workers & halted development of...

1/3

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/h...
Vaccine Makers Curtail Research and Cut Jobs
www.nytimes.com
February 17, 2026 at 5:27 AM
Reposted by J. Offir, PhD
Pregnancy became far more dangerous in Texas after the state banned abortion, according to ProPublica’s first-of-its-kind analysis, which found the sepsis rate for women hospitalized as they miscarried in the 2nd trimester shot up by more than 50%.

(Published Feb. 2025)
Texas Banned Abortion. Then Sepsis Rates Soared.
ProPublica’s first-of-its-kind analysis is the most detailed look yet into a rise in life-threatening complications for women experiencing pregnancy loss under Texas’ abortion ban.
www.propublica.org
February 17, 2026 at 4:00 AM
ICYMI: the issue isn't so much what is or isn't on the website, but what sorts of research are getting de/prioritized.

🔹️NIH director Bhattacharya says of NIAID “'It’s a complete transformation...away from this old model'” that has historically prioritized research...

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Exclusive: Key US infectious-diseases centre to drop pandemic preparation
Staff members have been instructed to scrub this topic and ‘biodefense’ from the agency’s website.
www.nature.com
February 17, 2026 at 3:42 AM
Selling one's tissue/blood products has been a thing in the US for a very long time, but it's something we generally associate with people who live in poverty.

This was a fascinating article about current trends in plasma selling, but I would have liked more info. about how (and when) the...

🧵1/7
My god do we need UBI

“Researchers have found that when a new plasma center opens in a neighborhood, foot traffic at local grocery stores increases, interest in payday loans declines and crime goes down, an indication of the way money from plasma props up households’ finances for necessities.“
Middle-class Americans are selling their plasma to make ends meet
Last year, people in the U.S. made an estimated $4.7 billion selling their plasma. Donation centers are popping up in middle-class neighborhoods, including suburban strip malls and college towns.
www.nbcnews.com
February 17, 2026 at 1:59 AM
"I'm not saying that we're going to regulate ultra-processed food," RFK, Jr. said. "Our job is to make sure that everybody understands what they're getting, to have an informed public."

It's beyond me why anti-regulation, MAHA Republicans ever thought Bobby was...

1/3

share.google/GmKiLZ7aQyVf...
Kennedy says FDA "will act on" ultra-processed foods petition, but indicates no new rules
Kennedy warned of ultra-processed food dangers on "60 Minutes," but added: "I'm not saying that we're going to regulate" it.
share.google
February 16, 2026 at 10:17 PM
Laat week, RFK Jr. told Heritage Foundation's Kevin Roberts, “It’s a joy to work for [Trump], because he lets me do stuff that I don’t think anybody else would ever let me do."

Hey, he finally said something accurate.

A long list of Bobby's HHS-led damage to PH:

www.politico.com/news/2026/02...
RFK Jr.’s battle with the public health establishment has turned to trench warfare
The health secretary turned his agencies toward skepticism of processed food and vaccines, but he’s faced pushback at every turn — including from Republicans.
www.politico.com
February 16, 2026 at 6:03 AM
Nine Senate seats & 50 House seats are up for grabs this year. We need to pick up just a few in both House & Senate to regain control of Congress.

Per the Cook Report, 18 of 435 House races & 4 Senate races are "true toss ups."

If you don't like...

1/2

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Analysis | Six congressional primaries that explain where the country is headed
A 21st-century-record number of seats are opening, and races will be raucous and crowded, reflecting both parties’ ideological, stylistic and generational tensions.
www.washingtonpost.com
February 16, 2026 at 2:23 AM
Non-medical vaccine exemptions are a huge threat to public health. They make it much easier for families to avoid getting their kids vaxxed & much easier for disease outbreaks to take off.

This study parsed the data at a county-level; important, b/c trends can

🧵1/3

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Trends in County-Level Childhood Vaccination Exemptions in the US
This study examines US county-level trends in nonmedical and medical exemptions to childhood vaccination requirements.
jamanetwork.com
February 16, 2026 at 2:04 AM
“'It’s like going to battle with half your generals in place,' said Dr. Elias Zerhouni, who led NIH from 2002 to 2008 under [GW] Bush. 'I don’t think it’s precedented to have so many vacancies so fast.'"

The National Institutes of Health is now down 16...

🧵1/4

www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
National Institutes of Health faces leadership vacuum as director positions sit open
More than half of the NIH's institutes and centers don’t have permanent directors, giving the Trump administration an unusual opportunity to reshape the agency. The latest departure came Friday.
www.nbcnews.com
February 16, 2026 at 1:39 AM
Columbia never should've promoted a DHS career expo, but granted: the virtual era has made protecting campus values harder.

Back in the day at *my* alma mater, when military recruiters came to town, students just blocked them from moving or trapped them in their car.

www.yahoo.com/news/article...
Columbia pulls promotion for DHS career expo after faculty claims university is aiding 'authoritarianism'
Columbia University withdrew promotion of a DHS-affiliated CBP virtual career expo after faculty criticized the listing as aiding "authoritarianism."
www.yahoo.com
February 16, 2026 at 1:02 AM
Reposted by J. Offir, PhD
Good time to remind everyone that NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, a right-wing economist, has made it a personal goal to make sure lockdowns can never return.

Because in his mind, there is nothing that could ever justify shutting down the economy.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Exclusive: Key US infectious-diseases centre to drop pandemic preparation
Staff members have been instructed to scrub this topic and ‘biodefense’ from the agency’s website.
www.nature.com
February 15, 2026 at 2:12 AM
Oh, but, gee whiz - this couldn't possibly be connected to the Republican SAVE Act (which would make it hard for many people w/o a passport to vote), could it?

What to know:

🔹️The State Department has "ordered certain public libraries nationwide to cease...

🧵1/6

apnews.com/article/pass...
State Department orders nonprofit libraries to stop processing passport applications
The State Department has ordered nonprofit public libraries to stop taking passport applications, cutting off a popular local service.
apnews.com
February 14, 2026 at 11:18 PM
This is where the US is at? Politicians - Republicans, even - preemptively letting the country know to suspect foul play, potentially from the executive branch, should they suddenly die?

I don't recall ever seeing this sort of thing here before. And we're only a year into this hell.
INBOX: Rep. Thomas Massie, who has enraged Trump for his insistence on blocking tariffs and releasing the Epstein files according to the law, just issued what is widely known among Chinese dissidents as "a declaration of no suicidal intent" (不自殺聲明), a sign of extreme distress.
February 14, 2026 at 6:26 AM
More reporting: for antivaxxers, fed. guidance change was just their opening shot. (See what I did there?)

Just a few excerpts, as I already thoroughly summarized the STAT article :

🔹️"Many vaccine proponents view the state-level push as a second stage in the

🧵1/3

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/h...
February 14, 2026 at 6:08 AM
In an attempt to out-Florida Florida, South Carolina now boasts more than 930 measles cases. Meanwhile, even their governor (a Republican) "has championed personal choice as the preventable disease spreads through the state."

Part of this problem is due to...

🧵1/4

www.reuters.com/business/hea...
Doctors bear the burden as ‘medical freedom’ fuels worst US measles outbreak in 30 years
About a dozen times each day, medical staff at Parkside Pediatrics in Spartanburg, South Carolina, head to the clinic’s parking lot, reaching inside cars and minivans to check children and their paren...
www.reuters.com
February 14, 2026 at 3:01 AM
Lol: now they say the original exclusion of Dem governors had been a “misunderstanding in scheduling.”

The reversal comes after NGA members were told "the organization would no longer facilitate the White House meeting, citing the decision to only invite Republicans"

share.google/jLii2QXHUvdB...
Governors association says all members now invited to White House meeting as Trump defends exclusion of Moore and Polis | CNN Politics
The National Governors Association said Wednesday that a traditionally bipartisan meeting at the White House next week is back on after invitations were extended to all of its members, even as Preside...
share.google
February 13, 2026 at 9:57 PM
Elections have consequences, and now we're all toast. People high on the SVI (poor people, the disabled & elderly, racial & ethnic minorities, etc) will get hit harder and first.

This is what people who didn't vote in 2024 chose to have happen. What was that about ethics & morality, again?
It's not an exaggeration to say this will result in genocidal-scale death. And I don't mean in the distant, speculative future. Just the tens of thousands of pollution deaths in the relative near-term (Free link.) www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/c...
Trump Administration Erases the Government’s Power to Fight Climate Change
www.nytimes.com
February 13, 2026 at 5:26 PM
ICYMI: In the Senate today, Fetterman was the only D. to vote yea on ICE funding. The vote was 52-47 yea, but they needed 60 to pass it; the filibuster is coming in handy.

So: Of our 259 Dem members of Congress, all but 2 voted against ICE funding. Just think what we could do if we had a majority.
February 13, 2026 at 3:21 AM
For almost two hundred years, young children in the US & Europe (& probably elsewhere) have regularly been taught this story to warn them off the dangers of collective delusion & complicity.

And yet, here we are. Ooh, ahh, how magnificent he is.
NUDE ELON MUSK: The invisible clothes I'm wearing are a product of xAthleisure, which will roll out self-dressing outfits within two years at the latest

THE CREDULOUS PRESS: Fully Clothed Tesla Innovator Does It Again
February 13, 2026 at 1:26 AM
Why did some people develop blood clots after receiving the J&J or AZ covid vaccine? A study published in the NEJM yesterday appears to have solved the case:

For a v. small number of people, these two adenovirus-based (not mRNA) vaccines caused vaccine-...

1/6

www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...
Scientists Figured Out the Problem With Johnson & Johnson’s COVID Vaccine
Rare but dangerous blood clotting associated with that vaccine as well as AstraZeneca’s had a genetic cause, according to a new paper.
www.theatlantic.com
February 13, 2026 at 1:13 AM
No one is surprised by this, and mostly, we don't care - we're just sick of him trying to shove everyone else's heads in the toilet, too.
RFK Jr: I'm not scared of a germ. I used to snort cocaine off of toilet seats.
February 12, 2026 at 9:21 PM
I'm watching Harold & Maude while I work, & it just cut to a car commercial that featured Malvina Reynolds' song Ticky Tacky (also once sung by Pete Seeger), & I think if she knew they'd done that, she would be very, very, very, very upset.

Who's idiotic idea was *that*? They've missed the point.
February 12, 2026 at 2:11 AM
218-13. Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, who always votes wrong, was the only Democrat (of 214, total) to vote yea.

Just think if we'd held a majority in the House.

Elections matter, and #WeAreNotThem.
Breaking: House passes new version of SAVE Act, worst voter suppression bill considered by Congress. Could disenfranchise:

-21 million Americans w/out access to citizenship papers
-69 mil married women who took partner’s name
-21 mil w/out valid drivers license

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The GOP’s “show us your papers” bill Is the latest effort to help Trump take over elections
“If the SAVE Act were to pass, it would be the worst voter suppression law that Congress has ever enacted"
www.motherjones.com
February 12, 2026 at 1:10 AM