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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 18d

You could see where this was going before they even started. 7/

Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 18d

It’s like seeing a surgeon about a curable cancer and focusing entirely on the potential harms of the surgery option without evaluating the potential harms of the no-surgery option. 6/

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 18d

Meanwhile they jettisoned CDC’s usual, careful process for grappling with risks of changes they’re voting for. ACIP did zero evaluation of harm, costs, or problems in implementation, while asking for an impossible standard for current vaccination practice. 5/

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 18d

Discussion went round in circles on CDC’s review of the strong evidence supporting current vaccine administration. Prompting this from member Retsef Levi: “I’m hearing a lot of ‘there’s no evidence of harm.’... I think the question is ‘Is there evidence of no harm?’” 4/

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 18d

Finally, an answer came back: we must make changes because trust in vaccines has decreased. “The signal that is prompting this is not one of safety, but one of trust,” said member Robert Malone. 3/

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 18d

Liaison members from medical societies asked repeatedly: what is the reason for the votes to now change routine children’s vaccine schedules when there’s been no signal of harm and clear evidence of great benefit? 2/

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · 18d

I watched the 1st meeting day of RFK Jr’s handpicked committee of vaccine advisors. It was utterly depressing. 1/

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · Sep 1

9 CDC Directors going back to 1977 speak out. What RFK Jr has done to our nation’s public health system "should alarm every American."

It "is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...

Opinion | We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health

www.nytimes.com

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · Aug 11

#freedc I returned from the wedding of our daughter to find the city where I have lived for the last 3 years in the midst of a military takeover.

The military policing Americans.

This is happening. It is a danger for everyone in our country. Now is the moment to turn out in protest.

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · Jul 28

Excellent read from @danielleofri.bsky.social on the reality for clinicians as NIH, CDC, FDA recs are put under political controls: “Medical professionals can no longer fully trust federal health guidance, and our patients are the ones who will suffer the most.” www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/o...

Opinion | Doctors Have Lost Their Mount Olympus of Medicine

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Atul Gawande

Philip Gourevitch @pgourevitch.bsky.social · Jul 27

truly

www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/o...

Opinion | José Andrés: People of Good Conscience Must Stop the Starvation in Gaza

www.nytimes.com

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · Jul 27

They came for the foreign aid workers, justice department, public health institutions, universities and researchers, law firms, media organizations, not to mention longtime immigrants. Now it is nonprofits too. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/o...

Opinion | You May Not Be Trump’s Target This Time. But You Could Be Next.

www.nytimes.com

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · Jul 1

Bono in a lyrical send off: “They called you crooks/when you were the best of us/there for the rest of us./And don’t think any less of us/when politics makes a mess of us.” www.politico.com/news/2025/06...

Bush, Obama — and singer Bono — fault Trump’s gutting of USAID on agency’s last day

“Gutting USAID is a travesty, and it’s a tragedy. Because it’s some of the most important work happening anywhere in the world,” Obama said.

www.politico.com

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · Jul 1

Obama: “Gutting USAID is a travesty, and it’s a tragedy. Because it’s some of the most important work happening anywhere in the world.”

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · Jul 1

Bush, Obama, and Bono thanked USAID staff & criticized dismantling USAID.

Bush: “Is it in our interest that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is. On behalf of a grateful nation, thank you for your hard work, and God bless you.” www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/u...

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · Jul 1

Today, what’s left of USAID is being transferred to the State Dept, which is gutting that development work. Ending USAID will go down in history as a colossal failure and mistake. bsky.app/profile/ddia...

Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · Jun 29

Please read this @khoureld.bsky.social story about the consequences of USAID cuts.

Children are dying from starvation on the streets of Sudan — and the food that could save them, already paid for by our government, is languishing in U.S. warehouses.

(No paywall)

In Sudan, where children clung to life, doctors say USAID cuts have been fatal

The Trump administration’s cuts to USAID had an immediate and deadly impact in war-ravaged Sudan, according to civilians, doctors and aid officials.

wapo.st

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · Jul 1

Higher USAID support was associated with a 15% reduction in overall mortality and 32% reduction in child mortality.

This was the effect of not just its health work but also its development support for economies, people, and institutions that transitioned numerous countries off of aid.

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · Jul 1

STAGGERING: This new study of 133 countries is the first to estimate the impact of all USAID’s work. In 2 decades, it has saved *92M* lives. Current cuts, if not reversed, are forecast to cost up to *14M* lives thru 2030. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · Jun 28

"The anti‑vax movement, once seen as confined to the U.S., is now spreading globally." An excellent, if sobering, piece from Rivka Galchen.

The New Yorker @newyorker.com · Jun 27

A recent study devised forecasts for the next 25 years if vaccination rates decline by various rates. A ten-per-cent drop in measles vaccination, for example, would lead to some 11 million additional cases.

Calculating the Damage of Vaccine Skepticism

It’s clear that we’re on the precipice of a surge in preventable diseases. But how bad will it get?

www.newyorker.com

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · Jun 27

“Foreign aid has changed nothing.” “These are not our problems.” “The system is dysfunctional.” “The countries we aid are corrupt.” “Other countries aren’t doing enough.”

I have heard all these arguments too. @nickkristof.bsky.social succinctly answers.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/o...

Opinion | The U.S. Cannot Solve All the World’s Problems

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Atul Gawande

Stephanie Nolen @stephanienolen.bsky.social · Jun 25

This was supposed to be a breakthrough year in the 44-year-long struggle against H.I.V.

It's turned into something very different.
www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/h...

Promise of Victory Over H.I.V. Fades as U.S. Withdraws Support

www.nytimes.com

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · Jun 25

Republicans in Congress know these facts and have supported @Gavi since its founding.

Trump cannot override Congress's mandated support for Gavi.

It is on the GOP to stop this inhuman decision -- or accept its responsibility for the massive loss of children's lives.

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · Jun 25

There is a direct connection to RFK Jr's firing of CDC vaccine advisers and actions to undermine vaccination here at home.

RFK Jr is now proving to be a direct threat to children's lives in the US and around the world.

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · Jun 25

Some basic facts RFK Jr continues to ignore.

Global health advances have reduced child deaths 75% over the last 50 years.

40% of those gains were from vaccination. And 60% of those gains were from the measles vaccine alone. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

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Atul Gawande @agawande.bsky.social · Jun 25

This is a travesty & a nightmare. The US was a founder of @gavi.org. It lowers global vaccine costs, has vaccinated 1B children, & averted 19M deaths. This pull out will cost 100s of thousands of children's lives a year - and RFK Jr will be personally responsible.
www.politico.com/news/2025/06...

RFK Jr. says US won’t donate to global vaccine effort

Kennedy ripped into Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in a video address at its pledging summit.

www.politico.com

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