Mallory Harris, PhD
@malar0ne.bsky.social
thinking about infectious diseases, information, and behavior
Postdoc UMD College Park
https://mjharris95.github.io/
Postdoc UMD College Park
https://mjharris95.github.io/
Pinned
Interpreting Breakthrough Infections Given Assortative Mixing of Partially Vaccinated Populations
Declining vaccine coverage across the United States has increased the risk of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. Even when vaccines have low primary failure rates, conventional epidemic theory...
www.medrxiv.org
In a new preprint, we combine modeling with school-level vaccine data to contextualize the risk of 'breakthrough infections' and impacts on the ongoing US measles outbreak. #idsky #episky
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...
On a recent podcast appearance, Bhattacharya said the funniest experience he's had with Trump was standing next him while the President gave misleading medical advice to pregnant people.
February 19, 2026 at 12:52 AM
On a recent podcast appearance, Bhattacharya said the funniest experience he's had with Trump was standing next him while the President gave misleading medical advice to pregnant people.
He's now NIH Director & Acting Director of CDC
Stanford's Jay Bhattacharya is rumored to be under consideration for a senior health role in the Trump admin.
He served as an expert witness in many cases opposing mask mandates and other Covid restrictions. Multiple judges have pointed to major flaws in his testimony. A thread.
He served as an expert witness in many cases opposing mask mandates and other Covid restrictions. Multiple judges have pointed to major flaws in his testimony. A thread.
February 18, 2026 at 9:48 PM
He's now NIH Director & Acting Director of CDC
Reposted by Mallory Harris, PhD
Trump's pick for NIH director, Jay Bhattacharya, sometimes says positive things about certain childhood vaccines. Can we count on him as a counterweight to RFK Jr's anti-vaccine agenda?
He campaigned for RFK and has a tendency to get really quiet/confused when faced with vaccine lies directly. 🧵
He campaigned for RFK and has a tendency to get really quiet/confused when faced with vaccine lies directly. 🧵
January 18, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Trump's pick for NIH director, Jay Bhattacharya, sometimes says positive things about certain childhood vaccines. Can we count on him as a counterweight to RFK Jr's anti-vaccine agenda?
He campaigned for RFK and has a tendency to get really quiet/confused when faced with vaccine lies directly. 🧵
He campaigned for RFK and has a tendency to get really quiet/confused when faced with vaccine lies directly. 🧵
I saw the news and It's bad
February 18, 2026 at 7:17 PM
I saw the news and It's bad
I was diagnosed w Graves' disease (autoimmune hyperthyroidism) in September & the subreddit has been the main way for me to hear other people's stories. I stumbled across this post abt scientific funding cuts & it's a tremendous example of outreach in the right place www.reddit.com/r/gravesdise...
From the gravesdisease community on Reddit
Explore this post and more from the gravesdisease community
www.reddit.com
February 18, 2026 at 3:22 PM
I was diagnosed w Graves' disease (autoimmune hyperthyroidism) in September & the subreddit has been the main way for me to hear other people's stories. I stumbled across this post abt scientific funding cuts & it's a tremendous example of outreach in the right place www.reddit.com/r/gravesdise...
Good to see decision reversed & interesting to see this op-ed from the NY Post Editorial Board. "Strangling innovation by way of weaponized regulation is not a good look for any Republican...Americans will die needlessly — unless the White House steps in to control RFK Jr.’s most crazed tendencies."
Hundreds of thousands of Americans are hospitalized for flu each year; tens of thousands die from it — and drug bureaucrat Dr. Vinay Prasad looks determined to maximize the death toll, which is always mainly seniors.
Rupert Murdoch's NY Post Editorial
nypost.com/2026/02/16/o...
Rupert Murdoch's NY Post Editorial
nypost.com/2026/02/16/o...
To save seniors’ lives, Trump must stomp on this deadly anti-vax call
Does President Donald Trump know that one of his top regulators is in the process of killing hundreds, maybe thousands, of senior citizens?
nypost.com
February 18, 2026 at 1:28 PM
Good to see decision reversed & interesting to see this op-ed from the NY Post Editorial Board. "Strangling innovation by way of weaponized regulation is not a good look for any Republican...Americans will die needlessly — unless the White House steps in to control RFK Jr.’s most crazed tendencies."
At the recent Brownstone gala where he received an award, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya criticized the media for "taking sides" in the scientific "debate" on global warming.
Confused about why the "Brownstone Institute"--which was founded by Koch-affiliated propagandists to fight COVID-19 lockdowns, social distancing, masking etc--is promoting boilerplate climate denial propaganda? Read #ScienceUnderSiege by @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social & yours truly & it will be clear.
February 17, 2026 at 2:44 PM
At the recent Brownstone gala where he received an award, NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya criticized the media for "taking sides" in the scientific "debate" on global warming.
Reposted by Mallory Harris, PhD
In a post-Schedule F landscape, we should expect NIH civil servants to be more at risk than ever before—just as their ability to get reports of what’s really going on inside the agency to the public is most urgent.
open.substack.com/pub/elizabet...
open.substack.com/pub/elizabet...
What NIH Staff Can’t Tell You—And Why That Matters
The people who understand most clearly what is being lost at the NIH are also the people least able to say so.
open.substack.com
February 17, 2026 at 2:02 PM
In a post-Schedule F landscape, we should expect NIH civil servants to be more at risk than ever before—just as their ability to get reports of what’s really going on inside the agency to the public is most urgent.
open.substack.com/pub/elizabet...
open.substack.com/pub/elizabet...
Leslie Manookian said at the 2022 Brownstone Institute Gala that measles infection protects kids from cancer (false) and infections can benefit kids & cause developmental leaps.
I wish that our current NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, who was in the audience & on another panel, had spoken up.
I wish that our current NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, who was in the audience & on another panel, had spoken up.
Remember this is what RFKjr desires:
“What we need to do is freaking burst the dam open,” Leslie Manookian, the backer of a law that banned medical mandates in Idaho... “And that is what this year is all about, bursting the dam open in the states where we think it can happen first.” 1/3
“What we need to do is freaking burst the dam open,” Leslie Manookian, the backer of a law that banned medical mandates in Idaho... “And that is what this year is all about, bursting the dam open in the states where we think it can happen first.” 1/3
Kennedy Allies Target States to Overturn Vaccine Mandates for Schoolchildren
www.nytimes.com
February 14, 2026 at 11:54 PM
Leslie Manookian said at the 2022 Brownstone Institute Gala that measles infection protects kids from cancer (false) and infections can benefit kids & cause developmental leaps.
I wish that our current NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, who was in the audience & on another panel, had spoken up.
I wish that our current NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, who was in the audience & on another panel, had spoken up.
Reposted by Mallory Harris, PhD
UCLA said no to Trump's abusive demands, went to court, and the govt is backing off.
Harvard said no to Trump's abusive demands, went to court, and the govt is left sputtering.
Columbia, Cornell, and Northwestern giving in was a big mistake. If only there were lessons against appeasing fascists.
Harvard said no to Trump's abusive demands, went to court, and the govt is left sputtering.
Columbia, Cornell, and Northwestern giving in was a big mistake. If only there were lessons against appeasing fascists.
This is a genuinely huge, sweeping victory today for the University of California—or rather, for us, its faculty, acting through our faculty associations, while the UC itself maintained a strict policy of deer-in-headlights silence.
The Trump admin has given up its appeal of a powerful injunction:
The Trump admin has given up its appeal of a powerful injunction:
Trump administration drops appeal of court order blocking $1.2-billion UCLA settlement
The Trump administration dropped its appeal of a major higher education case in which a federal judge blocked its $1.2-billion settlement proposal to UCLA over alleged civil rights violations. It will...
www.latimes.com
February 14, 2026 at 4:30 PM
UCLA said no to Trump's abusive demands, went to court, and the govt is backing off.
Harvard said no to Trump's abusive demands, went to court, and the govt is left sputtering.
Columbia, Cornell, and Northwestern giving in was a big mistake. If only there were lessons against appeasing fascists.
Harvard said no to Trump's abusive demands, went to court, and the govt is left sputtering.
Columbia, Cornell, and Northwestern giving in was a big mistake. If only there were lessons against appeasing fascists.
Reposted by Mallory Harris, PhD
For those at #AAAS in Phoenix, @malar0ne.bsky.social will be speaking at the Expo Stage on our joint #SCIMaP work today:
'Widespread Economic Impacts of Federal Research Cuts in Local Communities'
Time: 2:50 PM for 10 minutes
aaas.confex.com/aaas/2026/me...
'Widespread Economic Impacts of Federal Research Cuts in Local Communities'
Time: 2:50 PM for 10 minutes
aaas.confex.com/aaas/2026/me...
Widespread Economic Impacts of Federal Research Cuts in Local Communities
aaas.confex.com
February 14, 2026 at 5:33 PM
For those at #AAAS in Phoenix, @malar0ne.bsky.social will be speaking at the Expo Stage on our joint #SCIMaP work today:
'Widespread Economic Impacts of Federal Research Cuts in Local Communities'
Time: 2:50 PM for 10 minutes
aaas.confex.com/aaas/2026/me...
'Widespread Economic Impacts of Federal Research Cuts in Local Communities'
Time: 2:50 PM for 10 minutes
aaas.confex.com/aaas/2026/me...
In the end, we are merely quad mortals
February 14, 2026 at 3:25 PM
In the end, we are merely quad mortals
Reposted by Mallory Harris, PhD
after a full day of oral arguments over the legality of changes to ACIP & the childhood vax schedule, federal judge decided not to make a ruling from the bench — asking for a response from DOJ lawyers to new info by next Wednesday
www.statnews.com/2026/02/13/r...
www.statnews.com/2026/02/13/r...
February 13, 2026 at 10:54 PM
after a full day of oral arguments over the legality of changes to ACIP & the childhood vax schedule, federal judge decided not to make a ruling from the bench — asking for a response from DOJ lawyers to new info by next Wednesday
www.statnews.com/2026/02/13/r...
www.statnews.com/2026/02/13/r...
Reposted by Mallory Harris, PhD
I’m at the Boston federal court this AM for a hearing on the suit from AAP and other groups challenging a slew of changes to vaccine policies – which could affect the forthcoming ACIP meeting and the change to the childhood vaccine schedule
February 13, 2026 at 2:32 PM
I’m at the Boston federal court this AM for a hearing on the suit from AAP and other groups challenging a slew of changes to vaccine policies – which could affect the forthcoming ACIP meeting and the change to the childhood vaccine schedule
Reposted by Mallory Harris, PhD
This is a vivid, horribly relevant read. “She does not sleep well. And as you lift up her pajama top to check her rash one morning, you see that her breathing is labored, shadows pooling between her ribs when she sucks in air. You suffer an icy moment of realization: This is a medical crisis.”
This Is How a Child Dies of Measles
When your family becomes a data point in an outbreak
www.theatlantic.com
February 13, 2026 at 12:35 PM
This is a vivid, horribly relevant read. “She does not sleep well. And as you lift up her pajama top to check her rash one morning, you see that her breathing is labored, shadows pooling between her ribs when she sucks in air. You suffer an icy moment of realization: This is a medical crisis.”
Reposted by Mallory Harris, PhD
In terms of what cures are being lost:
- Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis
- herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis
- shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease
- Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis
- herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis
- shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease
February 13, 2026 at 5:44 AM
In terms of what cures are being lost:
- Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis
- herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis
- shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease
- Epstein-Barr virus is perhaps the major trigger for multiple sclerosis
- herpes simplex virus causes cold sores, genital herpes, infections in babies, deadly meningitis
- shingles virus causes an intensely painful disease
Reposted by Mallory Harris, PhD
FDA's decision not to accept Moderna's flu vaccine filing has sent shock waves through pharma. "When there’s uncertainty about the path to approval & the reliability of the process, that really has pretty serious consequences,” one player told @jasonmast.bsky.social. www.statnews.com/2026/02/12/f...
FDA’s rejection of Moderna threatens to stifle broader vaccine industry
Experts say the FDA "moved the goalposts" on Moderna, creating "a destructive precedent that will undermine the future of vaccine development" in the U.S.
www.statnews.com
February 12, 2026 at 9:04 PM
FDA's decision not to accept Moderna's flu vaccine filing has sent shock waves through pharma. "When there’s uncertainty about the path to approval & the reliability of the process, that really has pretty serious consequences,” one player told @jasonmast.bsky.social. www.statnews.com/2026/02/12/f...
Reposted by Mallory Harris, PhD
More than 650 members of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, acting in their individual capacities, publicly signed on to endorse the Articles of Impeachment introduced in the House on Dec 10, 2025 by Representative Haley Stevens.
drive.google.com/file/d/1iQKK...
drive.google.com/file/d/1iQKK...
NASEM Signers.pdf
drive.google.com
February 12, 2026 at 4:23 PM
More than 650 members of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, acting in their individual capacities, publicly signed on to endorse the Articles of Impeachment introduced in the House on Dec 10, 2025 by Representative Haley Stevens.
drive.google.com/file/d/1iQKK...
drive.google.com/file/d/1iQKK...
Not that much oversight has been happening anyway!
February 12, 2026 at 7:07 PM
Not that much oversight has been happening anyway!
Excited to represent @scienceimpacts.org at #AAASmtg with a talk at 2:50 Saturday on our work to communicate about the economic impacts of scientific funding cuts on local communities & motivate action. Starting off today attending a workshop on courtroom science communication!
February 12, 2026 at 4:06 PM
Excited to represent @scienceimpacts.org at #AAASmtg with a talk at 2:50 Saturday on our work to communicate about the economic impacts of scientific funding cuts on local communities & motivate action. Starting off today attending a workshop on courtroom science communication!
Reposted by Mallory Harris, PhD
Not to detract from the rest of Mark's point, but a recurring theme from reporting last year I encountered was the damage done by uncertainty.
Without long term assurances, PhD offers were rescinded, new grants were scaled back at NSF & NIH. At Harvard people left before the grants came back.
Without long term assurances, PhD offers were rescinded, new grants were scaled back at NSF & NIH. At Harvard people left before the grants came back.
Quote is about the destruction wrought in science this year.
And it all happened with effectively a flat budget, without budget cuts, because science agencies have been presidentialized since Jan 2025– shifting control from the scientific community to the president.
And it all happened with effectively a flat budget, without budget cuts, because science agencies have been presidentialized since Jan 2025– shifting control from the scientific community to the president.
One Boston Children’s Hospital researcher said, “This is like asking, how do you think dropping an atomic bomb on New York City will affect the future of Broadway musicals? This is a generational loss of innovation, technology, and economic power.” www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/09/m...
February 11, 2026 at 1:50 PM
Not to detract from the rest of Mark's point, but a recurring theme from reporting last year I encountered was the damage done by uncertainty.
Without long term assurances, PhD offers were rescinded, new grants were scaled back at NSF & NIH. At Harvard people left before the grants came back.
Without long term assurances, PhD offers were rescinded, new grants were scaled back at NSF & NIH. At Harvard people left before the grants came back.
Reposted by Mallory Harris, PhD
In our new poll with the Boston Globe of NIH funded scientists in Mass ...
- 72% say they have delayed or cancelled projects
- 66% reduced research scope
- 56% paused experiments or students.
www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/09/m...
- 72% say they have delayed or cancelled projects
- 66% reduced research scope
- 56% paused experiments or students.
www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/09/m...
February 11, 2026 at 12:38 PM
In our new poll with the Boston Globe of NIH funded scientists in Mass ...
- 72% say they have delayed or cancelled projects
- 66% reduced research scope
- 56% paused experiments or students.
www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/09/m...
- 72% say they have delayed or cancelled projects
- 66% reduced research scope
- 56% paused experiments or students.
www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/09/m...
NIH Dir. Bhattacharya said even if scientists don't think there's any way this could work "If lots of people believe it...we as NIH have an obligation, again, to treat it seriously."
In Bhattacharya's confirmation hearing, he defended funding research on nonexistent link btw MMR & autism similarly.
In Bhattacharya's confirmation hearing, he defended funding research on nonexistent link btw MMR & autism similarly.
The National Cancer Institute will begin studying ivermectin's ability to kill cancer cells, @rachanadpradhan.bsky.social reports
www.statnews.com/2026/02/10/i...
www.statnews.com/2026/02/10/i...
National Cancer Institute studying ivermectin’s ‘ability to kill cancer cells,’ alarming career scientists
The National Cancer Institute is studying ivermectin as a potential cancer treatment, according to its top official, alarming career scientists.
www.statnews.com
February 10, 2026 at 4:16 PM
NIH Dir. Bhattacharya said even if scientists don't think there's any way this could work "If lots of people believe it...we as NIH have an obligation, again, to treat it seriously."
In Bhattacharya's confirmation hearing, he defended funding research on nonexistent link btw MMR & autism similarly.
In Bhattacharya's confirmation hearing, he defended funding research on nonexistent link btw MMR & autism similarly.
Reposted by Mallory Harris, PhD
Check out this @nature.com News explainer article on measles, with my comments about our prior work, and featuring an upcoming article led by Drs @malar0ne.bsky.social and @joshuasweitz.bsky.social: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Measles is raging worldwide: are you at risk?
Cases in fully vaccinated people are rare and usually mild, but are likely to become more common as exposure to the virus rises.
www.nature.com
February 9, 2026 at 5:23 PM
Check out this @nature.com News explainer article on measles, with my comments about our prior work, and featuring an upcoming article led by Drs @malar0ne.bsky.social and @joshuasweitz.bsky.social: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Mallory Harris, PhD
If you didn’t catch the significance of the exploding transformers in Bad Bunny’s halftime show, I gotcha. Here’s one of a bunch of pieces I wrote from/on Puerto Rico about the crisis—and Trump’s role in it. slate.com/news-and-pol...
Washington’s Corruption Has Created Another Humanitarian Crisis in Puerto Rico
The island’s earthquakes are its latest man-made disaster.
slate.com
February 9, 2026 at 1:59 AM
If you didn’t catch the significance of the exploding transformers in Bad Bunny’s halftime show, I gotcha. Here’s one of a bunch of pieces I wrote from/on Puerto Rico about the crisis—and Trump’s role in it. slate.com/news-and-pol...