Michael Mina MD,PhD
@michaelmina.bsky.social
6.4K followers 46 following 82 posts
Epidemiologist, Immunologist, Physician Previously professor at Harvard Med and Public Health I work hard to provide clear communications around science/medicine that experts and non-experts can understand
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michaelmina.bsky.social
It’s Code Red for Vaccines

The number of changes to vaccine policy is dizzying & RFK Jr is just getting started!

Dissolving the group of experts that drive policy is declaring war on “what was”

I write in @nytimes.com about what is and is not working

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/11/o...
Opinion | It’s Code Red for Vaccines in America (Gift Article)
How to make sense of all the vaccine policy changes.
www.nytimes.com
michaelmina.bsky.social
Today RFK Jr took the single biggest step towards destroying childhood vaccines

When @nytimes asked me in December whether RFK could kill the vaccine program - I said he’d have to remove CDCs ACIP

And… that’s exactly what he just did today

Not good-just like that we cannot trust CDC on vaccines
michaelmina.bsky.social
This appears to also include revoking the status of the current international student and trainee body at Harvard

If true this would be a horrendously painful hit to many of the World’s
most promising young scientists - w a nearly unquantifiable impact on future discoveries
michaelmina.bsky.social
A remarkable escalation by Trump blocking international students from Harvard

For many labs (including the one I led) many of the most advanced research is by international students and trainees

International trainees are core to Harvard’s research
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t.co/LjbaMQzTXr
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/us/politics/trump-harvard-international-students.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
t.co
Reposted by Michael Mina MD,PhD
jhu.edu
Did you know? 99% of all new medications resulted from federally-funded university research through #NIH

Learn more about #ResearchSavesLives: hub.jhu.edu/research-sav....
An image with a prescription pill bottle. Text on the image reads: 99% of all new medications resulted from federally-funded university research through NIH
Reposted by Michael Mina MD,PhD
michaelmina.bsky.social
Come to Learn about **Measles** in America today

"Measles in America: Causes, Risks, and Responses"

April 30: 4-5pm EST
bit.ly/measles-in-a...

Webinar by @johnshopkinssph.bsky.social
IVAC

Professor Bill Moss moderates with:
• me (@michaelmina.bsky.social)
• Walt Orenstein
• Daniel Salmon
Reposted by Michael Mina MD,PhD
michaelmina.bsky.social
Thank you for appreciating it.
michaelmina.bsky.social
Measles is spreading

Under vaccinated communities are getting bigger in size and number

Like bubbles, as these communities get bigger, they merge - the firewalls breakdown -

I’m deeply concerned we are at risk of not hundreds, but epidemics of tens of thousands of cases in US

t.co/C3heJrjwic
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/opinion/measles-epidemic-texas.html?rsrc=ss&unlocked_article_code=1.8k4.o4cy.QYinrRQdW3hU&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
t.co
michaelmina.bsky.social
The new nominee for CDC Director, Susan Monarez
is the right type of leader for the CDC today

We need a CDC with a renewed interest in innovating and engineering population health solutions (public healths roots) and drive positive impacts

My new piece in @TIME discusses why

t.co/ug9zmhzjg7
https://time.com/7271890/susan-monarez-right-choice-lead-the-cdc/#
t.co
michaelmina.bsky.social
23andMe changed the culture of how people interact with their biological & medical information and changed translational research at population scale

The company is running into bankruptcy

But its impacts beyond its business, on society and science, will last

I wrote in @statnews

t.co/teNnEzRBsI
https://www.statnews.com/2025/03/25/23andme-bankruptcy-patient-empowerment-consumer-genetic-testing/
t.co
michaelmina.bsky.social
Live where measles is spreading?

Can your baby get a vaccine early?

YES

The vaccine is safe/effective even down to 6 months

(Note: Its recommended later bc maternal antibodies passed to the fetus vs measles wane around ~9 months and could limit vaccine benefit if not yet gone)

t.co/2rIkfk9qvH
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna198038
t.co
michaelmina.bsky.social
I’ve come over from X @michaelmina.bsky.social

@mcuban.bsky.social if you’d share, I write about public health, epidemiology, digital health and new advances in biotech
michaelmina.bsky.social
Unfortunately, this rings all too true for many with chronic illnesses that dont have a neat diagnosis

Many originate from pathogen exposures and are difficult to identify after acute infection has cleared

A silver lining of COVID is it has highlighted this issue and is driving new research
michaelmina.bsky.social
When it happens, the virus often becomes more “fit” within that host then starts to replicate faster than the less fit virus within the host

It is Darwinian evolution at high speed

If the “more fit” virus spreads to another similar host (ie human) it can launch an outbreak

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michaelmina.bsky.social
It’s important to add context to this

These types of mutations are truly what we worry about. They are anticipated to happen in a host who gets infected w a virus who may not be optimized for replication of the virus - so the virus adapts to the host

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michaelmina.bsky.social
This is exactly the type of thing we worry about.

The mutations developed anew in this patient have been linked to severe cases elsewhere

Thank goodness the patient didnt (as far as we know) spread to any people or wildlife but this is the real concern…

We must do better

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