Rebecca Persson (she/her)
@rspersson.bsky.social
Epidemiologist at Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program 🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
The brutality of state force is in the streets, it’s on video, and it’s being defended at the highest levels of government. If we do not act now with united, powerful resistance, the normalization of militarized state power will become irreversible.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
2025 was ICE’s deadliest year in two decades. Here are the 32 people who died in custody
The deaths came as the Trump administration ramped up immigration enforcement, detaining a record number of people
www.theguardian.com
January 11, 2026 at 7:02 PM
The brutality of state force is in the streets, it’s on video, and it’s being defended at the highest levels of government. If we do not act now with united, powerful resistance, the normalization of militarized state power will become irreversible.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-i...
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
These dancers are a common sight at Minneapolis protests and cultural events. Protesters are gathered around as they wait for the protest against ICE to start in south Minneapolis.
January 10, 2026 at 6:47 PM
These dancers are a common sight at Minneapolis protests and cultural events. Protesters are gathered around as they wait for the protest against ICE to start in south Minneapolis.
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
This would be a good moment for top editors in our major news organizations to call a meeting to announce to their staff that Trump has lost his mind and you don’t have to cover him like he’s normal anymore.
January 7, 2026 at 9:42 PM
This would be a good moment for top editors in our major news organizations to call a meeting to announce to their staff that Trump has lost his mind and you don’t have to cover him like he’s normal anymore.
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
Parent and pediatrician here.
All vaccines are still available & recommended. Talk to your pediatrician for more info.
Know this: Even as our government shifts its recommendation language, I would never forgo the RSV, hepatitis A & B, or meningitis vaccines for my own kids.
All vaccines are still available & recommended. Talk to your pediatrician for more info.
Know this: Even as our government shifts its recommendation language, I would never forgo the RSV, hepatitis A & B, or meningitis vaccines for my own kids.
January 5, 2026 at 10:35 PM
Parent and pediatrician here.
All vaccines are still available & recommended. Talk to your pediatrician for more info.
Know this: Even as our government shifts its recommendation language, I would never forgo the RSV, hepatitis A & B, or meningitis vaccines for my own kids.
All vaccines are still available & recommended. Talk to your pediatrician for more info.
Know this: Even as our government shifts its recommendation language, I would never forgo the RSV, hepatitis A & B, or meningitis vaccines for my own kids.
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
It’s quite telling that so many right-wing dealers in nostalgia are embracing the aesthetics of modern AI-generated art. Can’t actually find real images of the imagined past to which you want us to return? No problem; just generate it with AI.
January 2, 2026 at 3:22 PM
It’s quite telling that so many right-wing dealers in nostalgia are embracing the aesthetics of modern AI-generated art. Can’t actually find real images of the imagined past to which you want us to return? No problem; just generate it with AI.
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
Massachusetts, know this:
🏳️⚧️Gender affirming care remains legal and protected in MA
🏳️⚧️ Gender affirming care saves lives
🏳️⚧️As your AG, I will always fight to keep the federal governments’ hands off your health care
🏳️⚧️Gender affirming care remains legal and protected in MA
🏳️⚧️ Gender affirming care saves lives
🏳️⚧️As your AG, I will always fight to keep the federal governments’ hands off your health care
December 29, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Massachusetts, know this:
🏳️⚧️Gender affirming care remains legal and protected in MA
🏳️⚧️ Gender affirming care saves lives
🏳️⚧️As your AG, I will always fight to keep the federal governments’ hands off your health care
🏳️⚧️Gender affirming care remains legal and protected in MA
🏳️⚧️ Gender affirming care saves lives
🏳️⚧️As your AG, I will always fight to keep the federal governments’ hands off your health care
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
If you’re wondering why your friends in academia are a little on edge right now, it’s because an eighteen-year-old who hasn’t done the reading, doesn’t look at the assignment, and has does no critical thinking skills more complex than “because I think it’s in the Bible” can literally end your career
The University of Oklahoma has removed an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.” https://cnn.it/4b6g3rd
Oklahoma instructor removed from teaching for failing a Bible-based gender essay | CNN
The University of Oklahoma has removed an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.”
cnn.it
December 24, 2025 at 6:21 PM
If you’re wondering why your friends in academia are a little on edge right now, it’s because an eighteen-year-old who hasn’t done the reading, doesn’t look at the assignment, and has does no critical thinking skills more complex than “because I think it’s in the Bible” can literally end your career
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
“The administration’s goal, he said, was to deport immigrants as efficiently as Amazon moves packages: ‘Like Prime, but with human beings.’”
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
ICE documents reveal plan to hold 80,000 immigrants in warehouses
The Trump administration wants to build seven large-scale deportation hubs to speed up deportations, internal ICE documents show.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 24, 2025 at 4:32 PM
“The administration’s goal, he said, was to deport immigrants as efficiently as Amazon moves packages: ‘Like Prime, but with human beings.’”
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
Americans having to bootleg broadcast news about our government’s offshored concentration camp is a level of fascism that immediately precedes democratic societies dropping leaflets on us from weather balloons.
And now someone has uploaded a version that wasn't filmed off a TV.
There's also the torrent link there, which is probably the fastest way to download the 60 Minutes segment on CECOT if you want to save the file locally to your computer.
There's also the torrent link there, which is probably the fastest way to download the 60 Minutes segment on CECOT if you want to save the file locally to your computer.
Pulled 60 Minutes segment on CECOT : CBS : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
This is a screen recording of a 60 Minutes segment about the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) prison in El Salvador, which was intended to be...
archive.org
December 23, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Americans having to bootleg broadcast news about our government’s offshored concentration camp is a level of fascism that immediately precedes democratic societies dropping leaflets on us from weather balloons.
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
If you want to give us the Denmark vaccine schedule, you also need to give us the 6+ month parental leave the Danes get, so that new babies can avoid picking up germs at daycare, and you need to give us universal healthcare.
December 20, 2025 at 3:04 AM
If you want to give us the Denmark vaccine schedule, you also need to give us the 6+ month parental leave the Danes get, so that new babies can avoid picking up germs at daycare, and you need to give us universal healthcare.
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
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
BREAKING: RFKJr directs that the US instantly stop recommending all vaccinations for children. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
This is not the first time RFK Jr or his fellow anti-vax travelers conducted a study they knew would harm or kill children in low-income countries. It is a dehumanizing, colonialist model of manufacturing evidence: sacrificing foreign kids for political pseudoscience.
www.notus.org/health-scien...
www.notus.org/health-scien...
CDC to Fund Controversial Study in West Africa on Infant Hepatitis B Vaccines
The study prompted swift outcry from scientists in the U.S. who say it’s “unethical.”
www.notus.org
December 19, 2025 at 5:46 PM
This is not the first time RFK Jr or his fellow anti-vax travelers conducted a study they knew would harm or kill children in low-income countries. It is a dehumanizing, colonialist model of manufacturing evidence: sacrificing foreign kids for political pseudoscience.
www.notus.org/health-scien...
www.notus.org/health-scien...
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
I was interviewed for @theguardian.com by the wonderful @melodyschreiber.com, one of the finest health reporters in the world, about what I called a “neocolonialist” study planned by Danish researchers in Guinea-Bissau, funded by RFK Jr. So many red flags 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
US plan for $1.6m hepatitis B vaccine study in Africa called ‘highly unethical’
Experts decry ‘neocolonialist’ Guinea-Bissau study after Trump administration changed advice for US babies
www.theguardian.com
December 19, 2025 at 5:18 PM
I was interviewed for @theguardian.com by the wonderful @melodyschreiber.com, one of the finest health reporters in the world, about what I called a “neocolonialist” study planned by Danish researchers in Guinea-Bissau, funded by RFK Jr. So many red flags 🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
These new proposed rules are not only a cruel attack on our trans neighbors but put millions of Americans’ health care at risk by forcing providers to choose between Medicaid and Medicare funding and gender-affirming care.
You can bet I'll use every tool available to my office to fight back.
You can bet I'll use every tool available to my office to fight back.
Breaking News: New Trump administration rules, if finalized, would pull funding from hospitals that provide gender-related care to minors.
Trump Moves to Prevent Access to Gender-Related Care for Minors
Proposed new rules would pull all federal financing from hospitals that continue to provide gender treatments for adolescents.
nyti.ms
December 18, 2025 at 6:51 PM
These new proposed rules are not only a cruel attack on our trans neighbors but put millions of Americans’ health care at risk by forcing providers to choose between Medicaid and Medicare funding and gender-affirming care.
You can bet I'll use every tool available to my office to fight back.
You can bet I'll use every tool available to my office to fight back.
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
Of the 172 medicines approved by the FDA from 2015-18, only 24% of countries had physical access to every drug they helped test, even after 5 years, with lowest access in African countries.
New research from ERIC Affiliate Faculty Jen Miller, PhD and team lays it out clearly:
tinyurl.com/ycxehhy4
New research from ERIC Affiliate Faculty Jen Miller, PhD and team lays it out clearly:
tinyurl.com/ycxehhy4
Physical Accessibility of Medicines in Countries Hosting Trials for FDA Approvals
This cross-sectional study aims to determine whether and when medicines receive market authorization in the countries where they are tested for US Food and Drug Administration approval, as well as…
tinyurl.com
December 13, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Of the 172 medicines approved by the FDA from 2015-18, only 24% of countries had physical access to every drug they helped test, even after 5 years, with lowest access in African countries.
New research from ERIC Affiliate Faculty Jen Miller, PhD and team lays it out clearly:
tinyurl.com/ycxehhy4
New research from ERIC Affiliate Faculty Jen Miller, PhD and team lays it out clearly:
tinyurl.com/ycxehhy4
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
I missed this from a couple of weeks ago, but if you're an NIH-funded investigator, please read.
Peer review will exist to make things look legitimate, but can, and will, be over-ruled. Funding decisions, ultimately, will be done by political appointees.
grants.nih.gov/news-events/...
Peer review will exist to make things look legitimate, but can, and will, be over-ruled. Funding decisions, ultimately, will be done by political appointees.
grants.nih.gov/news-events/...
Implementing a Unified NIH Funding Strategy to Guide Consistent and Clearer Award Decisions | Grants & Funding
grants.nih.gov
December 5, 2025 at 9:06 PM
I missed this from a couple of weeks ago, but if you're an NIH-funded investigator, please read.
Peer review will exist to make things look legitimate, but can, and will, be over-ruled. Funding decisions, ultimately, will be done by political appointees.
grants.nih.gov/news-events/...
Peer review will exist to make things look legitimate, but can, and will, be over-ruled. Funding decisions, ultimately, will be done by political appointees.
grants.nih.gov/news-events/...
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
Pretty much ANY statistic you see cited to frighten you about vaccines comes from the VAERS database. (Including the recent evidence-free missive from Vinay Prasad). Here's why VAERS can NEVER be a proper source for population-level vaccine risk estimates.
Thread [1/9]
Thread [1/9]
November 30, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Pretty much ANY statistic you see cited to frighten you about vaccines comes from the VAERS database. (Including the recent evidence-free missive from Vinay Prasad). Here's why VAERS can NEVER be a proper source for population-level vaccine risk estimates.
Thread [1/9]
Thread [1/9]
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
Hey @nature.com, have you got an explanation for how the hell THIS happened? & especially why you accepted a paper with such a bizarre piece of genAI slop in it?!
& more to the point, why we should take you seriously at all going forward?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
& more to the point, why we should take you seriously at all going forward?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 27, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Hey @nature.com, have you got an explanation for how the hell THIS happened? & especially why you accepted a paper with such a bizarre piece of genAI slop in it?!
& more to the point, why we should take you seriously at all going forward?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
& more to the point, why we should take you seriously at all going forward?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
We know that, for a ton of reasons, a lot of folks don't have as much to spend as they'd like this holiday season. Sooooooo, here's a thread of things you can do that will support your local indie bookstore or other business WITHOUT spending any more than you intended...
November 26, 2025 at 10:26 PM
We know that, for a ton of reasons, a lot of folks don't have as much to spend as they'd like this holiday season. Sooooooo, here's a thread of things you can do that will support your local indie bookstore or other business WITHOUT spending any more than you intended...
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
About that exclusive, "closed-to-press" MAHA summit last week with RFK and JD Vance: I got in.
Here's what I saw. 🧵 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Here's what I saw. 🧵 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
November 21, 2025 at 5:01 PM
About that exclusive, "closed-to-press" MAHA summit last week with RFK and JD Vance: I got in.
Here's what I saw. 🧵 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Here's what I saw. 🧵 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
Instead of considering whether the super-rich really need a tax cut, the Trump regime is considering whether poor people really need to eat.
Brooke Rollins on why the Trump administration is cracking down on food stamps: "We're really opening up the market here, wanting to make sure that those who are receiving this *supplemental* nutrition benefit -- it was never meant for the long term -- are really those who need it."
November 19, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Instead of considering whether the super-rich really need a tax cut, the Trump regime is considering whether poor people really need to eat.
Reposted by Rebecca Persson (she/her)
very funny to read these emails and then remember summers wondering whether the leaky pipeline in stem was because women are inherently bad at math
The emails have Summers reporting to Epstein about his attempts to date a Harvard economics student & to hit on her during a seminar she was giving.
November 16, 2025 at 1:56 AM
very funny to read these emails and then remember summers wondering whether the leaky pipeline in stem was because women are inherently bad at math