Maxwell Smith, PhD
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maxwellsmith.bsky.social
Maxwell Smith, PhD
@maxwellsmith.bsky.social
6.5K followers 740 following 300 posts
Bioethicist, Associate Professor, & CIHR Applied Public Health Chair at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. Also Director, Western's Centre for Bioethics and Associate Director, Rotman Institute of Philosophy. Views are my own.

maxwellsmith.ca
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maxwellsmith.bsky.social
Asking questions about vaccines is fine. Repeatedly ignoring the answers is not.
hypoautonomic.bsky.social Hypoautonomic, BS @hypoautonomic.bsky.social · 12h
Can you hear the clapping from the antivaxxers? That's the sound of Jay's legacy.
Children’s Health Defense @ChildrensHD · Jan 12 NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya says questioning vaccines is essential to good science. “This idea that if you are asking questions about side effects of vaccines, you’re anti‑vax … the exact opposite is true.” “You need excellent scientific evidence so that people can make
January 14, 2026 at 8:02 PM
maxwellsmith.bsky.social
We desperately need a vaccine registry.

www.cp24.com/local/toront...
Two students were suspended from Peel District schools over outdated vaccine records. They were fully immunized
Andrew Steeves submitted his son’s immunization records at least three times to Peel Public Health, proving his 10-year-old has received all of his routine vaccinations. But his public school still su...
www.cp24.com
January 14, 2026 at 2:08 PM
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
maxwellsmith.bsky.social
Data published today from Statistics Canada show that COVID dropped from the 6th leading cause of death in Canada to the 9th in 2024.

COVID deaths continue to decrease. This is great news, but we can't give up - COVID remains a top 10 cause of death in Canada.

www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quo...
The Daily — Deaths, 2024
Today, Statistics Canada is releasing preliminary data on deaths in Canada, covering the 2024 reference year. According to these data, there were 326,779 deaths in Canada in 2024, a slight decrease co...
www150.statcan.gc.ca
January 13, 2026 at 2:12 PM
maxwellsmith.bsky.social
This is absolutely just one metric of the burden caused by COVID. On its own, it is significant and should be cause for action. When you consider the totality of the burden of this disease, it's a no-brainer.
January 13, 2026 at 2:26 PM
maxwellsmith.bsky.social
Compare COVID's rank as the 9th leading cause of death in Canada in 2024 with other leading causes we tend to take seriously:

Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis: 10
Parkinson's: 12
Suicide: 13
Sepsis: 14
HIV: 32
Meningitis: 33
Tuberculosis: 34
Measles: 48
January 13, 2026 at 2:19 PM
maxwellsmith.bsky.social
Data published today from Statistics Canada show that COVID dropped from the 6th leading cause of death in Canada to the 9th in 2024.

COVID deaths continue to decrease. This is great news, but we can't give up - COVID remains a top 10 cause of death in Canada.

www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quo...
The Daily — Deaths, 2024
Today, Statistics Canada is releasing preliminary data on deaths in Canada, covering the 2024 reference year. According to these data, there were 326,779 deaths in Canada in 2024, a slight decrease co...
www150.statcan.gc.ca
January 13, 2026 at 2:12 PM
maxwellsmith.bsky.social
"Just asking questions" rather than engaging with the answers to those questions version 1,000,000
January 10, 2026 at 4:44 PM
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
jonshaffer.bsky.social
Trump & RFK Jr.'s coterie of bootlicking doctors are real pieces of shit, we argue in the British Medical Journal, essentially.

Link: www.bmj.com/content/392/...
Trump and RFK Jr are dismantling public health—aided and abetted by powerful doctors High profile physicians should be using their positions of power to resist Trump and RFK Jr’s damaging policies, not collaborating with them, say Gavin Yamey and Jonathan Shaffer President Donald Trump and secretary of health and human services Robert F Kennedy Jr have held many press events during which they have promoted dangerous health misinformation.1 2 Despite taking an oath to“first do no harm,” influential doctors have stood by Trump and RFK Jr’s sides during these briefings, lending their support. The wider medical community needs to tackle this phenomenon with evidence based strategies, including warning the public about the risks of misleading information, highlighting scientific consensus, mapping the institutional networks that spread controversial information, and countering them using political and legal strategies.3
January 7, 2026 at 2:08 AM
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
meagancfitz.bsky.social
Do others remember this headline?

According to this new JAMA study, the US reaches this incalculable loss annually. I think most of the public doesn't realize it.

#IDEpi #EpiSky
New York Times headline from May 2020 proclaiming "U.S. deaths near 100,000, an incalculable loss" followed by a list of names and hometowns of the deceased.
January 6, 2026 at 6:55 PM
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
bmj.com
Physicians in the Trump administration are aligning themselves with anti-public health interests and policies.

High profile physicians should be resisting Trump and RFK Jr’s damaging policies, not collaborating with them, @gavinyamey.bsky.social @jonshaffer.bsky.social
www.bmj.com/content/392/...
January 6, 2026 at 4:28 PM
maxwellsmith.bsky.social
COVID killed >100,000 people per year over the course of 2023 and 2024 in the US alone.

The level of indifference to this massive annual toll among both the public and the majority of my public health colleagues is stunning.

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Estimated Burden of COVID-19 Illnesses, Medical Visits, Hospitalizations, and Deaths
This cross-sectional study estimates the age group-specific burden of COVID-19–associated illnesses, outpatient visits, hospitalizations, and deaths in the US from October 2022 to September 2024.
jamanetwork.com
January 6, 2026 at 2:41 PM
maxwellsmith.bsky.social
🙏🙏🙏
January 6, 2026 at 2:07 AM
maxwellsmith.bsky.social
New commentary published in @natmed.nature.com with @dsilvaphd.bsky.social, Anna Levy, and Katherine Littler:

Navigating Difficult Ethical Decisions in Global Health

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A screenshot of a commentary published in Nature Medicine, titled "Navigating Difficult Ethical Decisions in Global Health".
January 5, 2026 at 2:45 PM
maxwellsmith.bsky.social
New article from Sharon Kirkey in the National Post today that features an article I co-authored with Cécile Bensimon and Kumanan Wilson:

nationalpost.com/news/canada/...
Were vaccine certificates a threat to liberty or the only option? Study considers if they should ever be used again
A new Canadian paper offers conditions under which vaccine certificates should and should not be considered in future pandemic scenarios.
nationalpost.com
December 31, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
durhamhealthnc.bsky.social
You may have seen masks mentioned a lot lately, especially as the spread of multiple viruses is currently high, so it’s important to know the facts in order to protect yourself and others. Learn more and stay safe this respiratory virus season and beyond! (Part 1/2)
myth : There’s no evidence masks work. fact: Studies have repeatedly shown that wearing masks significantly reduces your odds of COVID-19, flu, and other viruses that can spread through the air (airborne transmission / airborne spread). N95s & KN95s work best and should be worn if possible, but even cloth masks offer more protection than wearing nothing! Mask myths and facts. N95s and KN95s are the only masks that offer any protection against viruses. High-quality masks like N95s and KN95s (these are also called respirators) offer the most protection against viruses that can spread through the air, like COVID-19, flu, and more, but any mask is better than nothing! If you don’t have an N95 or KN95, it’s still a good idea to wear the best mask available to you. myth: There’s no point in wearing a mask if no one else nearby is wearing one. fact: Masks offer the most protection to the community when more people are wearing them, but they are still highly effective even when you are the only person masked! myth: Wearing a mask helps protect other people but has no impact on the person wearing it. fact: Wearing a mask helps protect you and others. Masks help keep virus particles you exhale from spreading in the air, and they help protect you from inhaling virus particles put into the air by others.
December 23, 2025 at 6:27 PM
maxwellsmith.bsky.social
Add this to MAHA's wins for 2025!
princetonupress.bsky.social Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 23d
Congratulations to Stephen Macedo & Frances Lee, whose book In Covid's Wake has been recognized as:

⭐ A @newyorker.com Best Book of the Year
⭐ An @economist.com Book of the Year
⭐ A @wsj.com Best Book of the Year

Learn more about this eye-opening book: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us by Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee. A New Yorker Best Book of the Year; An Economist Best Book of the Year; A Wall Street Journal Best Book of the Year
December 23, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
scottlgreer.bsky.social
The scale of elite support for this terrible book is interesting information about public health politics
princetonupress.bsky.social Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 23d
Congratulations to Stephen Macedo & Frances Lee, whose book In Covid's Wake has been recognized as:

⭐ A @newyorker.com Best Book of the Year
⭐ An @economist.com Book of the Year
⭐ A @wsj.com Best Book of the Year

Learn more about this eye-opening book: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us by Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee. A New Yorker Best Book of the Year; An Economist Best Book of the Year; A Wall Street Journal Best Book of the Year
December 23, 2025 at 3:14 PM
maxwellsmith.bsky.social
Look, if you're willing to concede that masking in health care settings is reasonable, then masking outside of such settings is hardly zealotry, since respiratory pathogens and the people vulnerable to them exist outside of health care settings, too.
broadwaybabyto.bsky.social Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 24d
It’s not a refusal to re-enter society.

It’s not shaping your life around Covid avoidance.

It’s adaptation. It’s a desire to protect health. It’s being willing to accept that things change, and masking & clean air are the way forward.

Mass death & disability is not normal
Screenshot of a telegraph article which reads I think I will mask forever: The 'zero Covid' zealots refusing to re-enter society While the rest of the world has moved on from the pandemic, a minority continue to shape their lives around coronavirus avoidance
December 22, 2025 at 2:32 PM
maxwellsmith.bsky.social
"The Order...would deem the requirement for the Minister to examine specified information and material in a new drug submission to have been met based on decisions or documents produced by certain foreign regulatory authorities"
December 20, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
robertscotthorton.bsky.social
BREAKING: RFKJr directs that the US instantly stop recommending all vaccinations for children. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
Under RFK Jr., U.S. plans to stop recommending most vaccines, defer to doctors
The plan, which is not finalized, suggests children get fewer shots and shifts to a model telling parents to consult doctors to make their own vaccine choices.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 19, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
gavinyamey.bsky.social
This is the best piece I’ve read so far on why the Guinea-Bissau RCT, in which a proven life-saving vaccine will be deliberately WITHHELD, is unethical

“When benefit is established, withholding an intervention is no longer neutral experimentation it becomes premeditated harm”
boghuma.bsky.social BK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · 27d
The planned hepatitis B birth-dose trial in Guinea-Bissau raises serious ethical concerns. Withholding a proven, life-saving vaccine from newborns to answer speculative questions is an absence of equipoise with real downstream harms for trust in vaccines.
bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-unethi...
How Unethical Research Seeds Medical Mistrust
The absence of equipoise can turn research into harm
bktitanji.substack.com
December 18, 2025 at 11:06 PM
maxwellsmith.bsky.social
That's kind of you to say - thank you!

Not to my recollection, but this is almost certainly because the document was restricted to the allocation decision-making for medical countermeasures.
December 18, 2025 at 7:59 PM
maxwellsmith.bsky.social
The @who.int has published a briefing document outlining a comprehensive framework for guiding national allocation decisions for pandemic influenza medical countermeasures, such as vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostic tools. I had the pleasure of providing input.

iris.who.int/items/6c8b06...
Planning for national allocations of pandemic influenza medical countermeasures: considerations brief
iris.who.int
December 17, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
picardonhealth.bsky.social
Three children dead in Ottawa, Eastern Ontario region after flu-related complications. Medical officers of health warn of rapid rise in influenza-A, urge vaccination ahead of holidays, by @kkirkup.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic... via @theglobeandmail.com
Three children dead in Ottawa, Eastern Ontario region after flu-related complications
Medical officers of health warn of rapid rise in influenza-A, urge vaccination ahead of holidays
www.theglobeandmail.com
December 16, 2025 at 12:05 AM
maxwellsmith.bsky.social
If the flu shot is a bad match, then messaging that fails to emphasize other protective measures is also a bad match.
young.me Andrew Young 🇨🇦 @young.me · Dec 9
#Ontario: Chief Medical Officer of Health providing update on the respiratory virus season in Ontario - news.ontario.ca/en/statement...

No mention of "masks" anywhere: MASK UP!
Ontario health officials urge everyone to get flu, COVID‑19, and RSV vaccines early and practice basic hygiene to protect against the upcoming holiday surge of respiratory viruses.
December 12, 2025 at 5:59 PM