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Reposted by Steve Griffin

Prof Sheena Cruickshank @sheencr.bsky.social · 4h

Past surgeon generals alongside psychiatric bodies all calling for Kennedy to go citing his attacks on vaccines that look set to reduce access to vaccines and therapies to tackle substance abuse

Past surgeons general warn HHS Secretary Kennedy must go

www.cidrap.umn.edu

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Steve Griffin @profstevegriffin.bsky.social · 5h

100%, hearing all sorts of folks with severe issues being turned away. Nuts.

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Helen Salisbury @helensalisbury.bsky.social · 1d

Busy day in pratice yesterday and it was great. My patients were <9 to >90. Every system covered (respiratory, cardiology, endocrine, gastro, psychiatry, neuro, ENT, gynae....)
I know many parts of the NHS are struggling but yesterday my bit worked.
GPs moan a lot but it can be a very satisfying job

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Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 1d

This journalist is literally inviting Jenrick to share his views, while being accused of shutting down the debate! Astonishing.

Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 1d

Wow. Robert Jenrick doubles down by branding a black journalist's questions "ridiculous" and saying that the problem is not his comments, but "journalists like you who pop up and try to knock me down", adding that "this is the reason why terrorist attacks happen". ~AA

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Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 23h

Andy Street is spot on. Birmingham is a brilliant city. Vibrant, diverse, wonderful.

BBC Newsnight @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social · 1d

“I’ll put it bluntly, Robert is wrong… it’s actually a very integrated place... Not the definition of a slum.”

Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands 2017-24, responds to Robert Jenrick's comments on Handsworth.

#Newsnight

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Steve Griffin @profstevegriffin.bsky.social · 1d

Honestly, no idea...from first principles, would guess it's the rate at which susceptibles are being generated and then becoming exposed. So, waning immunity, younger folks, increased mixing, the usual! XFG has the advantage, but prior protection from ancestral strains no doubt contributes...

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Prof Sheena Cruickshank @sheencr.bsky.social · 1d

So much confusion by charging guidelines for Covid and flu vaccines in UK with a massive mismatch in eligibility for who can get them 🧵

Pharmacies facing angry patients over Covid jab confusion

Up to half of patients coming to some pharmacies are being turned away because they are not eligible.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Martin McKee @martinmckee.bsky.social · 1d

Then we have Kemi Badenoch talking complete nonsense. The ruling on the Rwanda case said, in terms, that it did NOT rely on the ECHR.

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Martin McKee @martinmckee.bsky.social · 1d

BBC Radio 4 Today takes the political temperature in Manchester by interviewing a cross section of the population … in a golf club
Next, a representative survey of US public opinion in Mar a Lago?

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Steve Griffin @profstevegriffin.bsky.social · 1d

Restricting eligibility as a wave is growing...

One of the reasons used for dropping coverage in younger age groups, especially kids, was a lack of demand...for a medicine they told everyone wasn't necessary...🤦‍♂️
Not an issue nowadays, it seems...

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Steve Griffin @profstevegriffin.bsky.social · 1d

Still good vs severe disease 💪

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Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 2d

I’m back on tour with my new book DOMINATION this week - travelling to Bradford, Sheffield, Newcastle, Hull & Northampton. Expect plenty of monasteries, basilicas, hypocausts as I explore the end of the western Roman Empire and why it’s still relevant today!

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Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · 1d

Sunday's actions were all about trying - and failing - and trying - and failing to deploy the National Guard to Portland and Oregon. It's really confusing, so I break it down in this video...

youtu.be/v4ZP_DJKkvE

Trump's authoritarian actions Sunday 5th October 2025 - all about the National Guard

YouTube video by Professor Christina Pagel

youtu.be

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Prof Sheena Cruickshank @sheencr.bsky.social · 1d

Somewhat ironic that when I was interviewed for this article on fresher's flu I was just getting over a nasty cold myself potentially acquired in various teaching activities. Some quick takes on this for all new students (and not just freshers). 🧪🧵
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

What exactly is freshers' flu - and why do so many get it?

It's not the actual flu, and it's rarely serious, but when thousands of students arrive on campus they bring a cocktail of viruses.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Prof Sheena Cruickshank @sheencr.bsky.social · 1d

I would remiss if I didn't have a whoop about Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering immune cells — regulatory T cells — that help to prevent the body from attacking its own tissues

Medicine Nobel goes to scientists who revealed secrets of immune system ‘regulation’

Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi discovered cells that protect the body from autoimmune diseases.

www.nature.com

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Steve Griffin @profstevegriffin.bsky.social · 2d

Folks have been asking me which of the currently available UK #COVID vaccines are best, given that an older flavour, "KP2" is being given free on the NHS to the twelve or so people that remain eligible (😜🙄), whilst the newer "LP8.1" is available privately...

I'll do my best...

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Steve Griffin @profstevegriffin.bsky.social · 1d

🙏🙏🙏

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Steve Griffin @profstevegriffin.bsky.social · 2d

I believe so...!

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Steve Griffin @profstevegriffin.bsky.social · 2d

Yep, just posted my thoughts Paolo...

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Steve Griffin @profstevegriffin.bsky.social · 2d

If we can't learn from a pandemic, then will we ever? SARS2 is devastating, but H5N1 and others are lining up to have a go next...
Clean the air, monitor, test, and vaccinate. Before it's too late.

Oh, and ignore any US/MAHA/Reform party conference 💩. #vaccineswork 👍💪😇

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Steve Griffin @profstevegriffin.bsky.social · 2d

I feel like a broken record, and not one many folks want to hear nowadays.
But, ignoring resp viruses and the ongoing added burden of COVID is utter stupidity & short termism.
The virus still has cards to play, including the mysterious 3rd omicron family...H/T
@solidevidence.bsky.social

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Steve Griffin @profstevegriffin.bsky.social · 2d

If we are ever going to be able to catch up with SARS2 in the way we have for flu, then we must ⏬prevalence and evolution via both vaccines & infection resilience/NPIs, or it will just go on 4 years.
IMHO, we could do a lot better re flu, RSV = "NHS pressure" too.
open.substack.com/pub/independ...

“Just the ‘flu” hampers our response to the current Covid pandemic and future pandemics

Prof Steve Griffin on why "just a flu" is such a dangerous phrase

open.substack.com

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Steve Griffin @profstevegriffin.bsky.social · 2d

But, this all being said, ANY vax is better than none, and the real world efficacies may well remain similar.
My frustration here is that if we ever want to get near Flutopia, we must do better.
Targeted vax ignores much of the disease and costs of #COVID.
Kids AREN'T protected💔

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Steve Griffin @profstevegriffin.bsky.social · 2d

The bitter pill, however, is that the updated LP8.1 vaccine is available privately, with a price tag that beggars belief.
Of course NHS resources are limited, but this should NOT mean two-tier healthcare.

It could also be a false economy; no vax costs more than a hospital stay.

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Steve Griffin @profstevegriffin.bsky.social · 2d

The UK free vaccines are all KP2. So, the MOST vulnerable groups, by definition, are getting the slightly diminished choice...which, IF it makes a difference, could lead to more damaging consequences. It may not, T cell responses are key, after all, but these too can be tweaked.

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