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Posted
52 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

Weird you ignored the whole redoing of the vote on MMRV vaccines. Yesterday, they removed the recommendation for the MMRV vaccine for children under 4 generally, but voted to uphold access through the federal Vaccines for Children program. Today, they reversed the second part. So, now the combined vaccine is no longer covered under the federal program and those that rely on it will not have access to the MMRV vaccine.  

I am not ignoring anything you lunatic. Yesterday they recommended MMR+V exclusively for children under 4; which was already the default recommendation. I don't agree with a move that restricts coverage in the VFC program for first dose. I am not sure that any coverage decisions should be tied to ACIP guidance (as opposed to say, FDA approved indications). But to be clear here, there is no functional difference in the coverage provided for first dose, and the combined MMRV shot will still be included in the program for second dose.  

 

58 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

And no discussion from you regarding why this vote was tabled.

Been on conference calls and didn't get to listen to that part of the meeting to see how it unfolded. I'll comment on it at some point if you really want to hear my thoughts.

58 minutes ago, Dahobbs said:

And of course, you continue the bullshit of equating a recommendation with forcing vaccination. And you ignore the proposed vote this morning was actually more akin to the type of governmental coercion than any recommendation that a vaccine be administered because it expressly stated that "The first dose of the Hepatitis B vaccine is not given until the child is at least one month old".

LOL.  You are functionally doing in your second sentence what you are accusing me of in your first.  What a clown.  

Posted

Trump administration is going to link Tylenol to Autism even through they don’t have any clear proof.  Epstein files ain’t going to burry themselves as long as the House keeps talking about them I guess. 

Posted
57 minutes ago, HenryJames said:
Quote

Meaning  Acetaminophen use during pregnancy was not associated with children’s risk of autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability in sibling control analyses. This suggests that associations observed in other models may have been attributable to confounding.

 

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Posted

Considered putting this in the good things thread, but why not here? We could use some more good news. Huntington’s disease successfully slowed with new technique that involves brain surgery.

Quote

One of the cruellest and most devastating diseases – Huntington's – has been successfully treated for the first time, say doctors.

The disease runs through families, relentlessly kills brain cells and resembles a combination of dementia, Parkinson's and motor neurone disease.

An emotional research team became tearful as they described how data shows the disease was slowed by 75% in patients.

It means the decline you would normally expect in one year would take four years after treatment, giving patients decades of "good quality life", Prof Sarah Tabrizi told BBC News.

The new treatment is a type of gene therapy given during 12 to 18 hours of delicate brain surgery.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cevz13xkxpro

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Posted
8 hours ago, HenryJames said:

 

How they doing in Europe?

The outbreaks are not a uniquely American phenomenon. 

https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/13-03-2025-european-region-reports-highest-number-of-measles-cases-in-more-than-25-years---unicef--who-europe

It's not always about our political dysfunction. 

 

European Region reports highest number of measles cases in more than 25 years – UNICEF, WHO/Europe

European Region reports highest number of measles cases in more than 25 years – UNICEF, WHO/Europe

127 350 measles cases reported in the European Region for 2024 – double the number reported for 2023 and the highest number seen in the Region since 1997

Posted
12 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

How they doing in Europe?

The outbreaks are not a uniquely American phenomenon. 

https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/13-03-2025-european-region-reports-highest-number-of-measles-cases-in-more-than-25-years---unicef--who-europe

It's not always about our political dysfunction. 

 

European Region reports highest number of measles cases in more than 25 years – UNICEF, WHO/Europe

European Region reports highest number of measles cases in more than 25 years – UNICEF, WHO/Europe

127 350 measles cases reported in the European Region for 2024 – double the number reported for 2023 and the highest number seen in the Region since 1997

It isn't a uniquely American problem, but the cause is the same: vaccine misinformation and lies. If only the people like you that knew better stopped covering for the bullshit. 

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Posted (edited)
20 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

How they doing in Europe?

The outbreaks are not a uniquely American phenomenon. 

https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/13-03-2025-european-region-reports-highest-number-of-measles-cases-in-more-than-25-years---unicef--who-europe

It's not always about our political dysfunction. 

 

European Region reports highest number of measles cases in more than 25 years – UNICEF, WHO/Europe

European Region reports highest number of measles cases in more than 25 years – UNICEF, WHO/Europe

127 350 measles cases reported in the European Region for 2024 – double the number reported for 2023 and the highest number seen in the Region since 1997

Well, it seems both are a result of under vaccination.

"Less than 80% of eligible children in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Romania were vaccinated with MCV1 in 2023 – far below the 95% coverage rate required to retain herd immunity. In both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro the coverage rate for MCV1 has remained below 70% and 50% respectively for the past 5 or more years.

Romania reported the highest number of cases in the Region for 2024, with 30 692 cases, followed by Kazakhstan with 28 147 cases."

I'm glad our politics lead to vaccination rates similar to impoverished former Soviet republics.  Where vaccine skepticism is flourishing. https://www.euronews.com/health/2025/03/25/romanias-measles-crisis-whats-driving-europes-biggest-outbreak

Also *fewer

Edited by TwiceHorn
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Posted (edited)
8 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Well, it seems both are a result of under vaccination.

"Less than 80% of eligible children in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Romania were vaccinated with MCV1 in 2023 – far below the 95% coverage rate required to retain herd immunity. In both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro the coverage rate for MCV1 has remained below 70% and 50% respectively for the past 5 or more years.

Romania reported the highest number of cases in the Region for 2024, with 30 692 cases, followed by Kazakhstan with 28 147 cases."

I'm glad our politics lead to vaccination rates similar to impoverished former Soviet republics.

Our MMR vax coverages rates in 2024-2025 school year was 92.5%.

IMO, you have a global reaction to COVID-19 public health policies playing out. 

Some people, even posters here, told y'all in real time the implications of wrong headed public health policy and messaging. Y'all thought a bunch of lawyers threatening to take away people's livelihood was an effective public health strategy and that there would be no spillover effects.  

Edited by Anastasis
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Posted
2 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Our MMR vax coverages rates in 2024-2025 school year was 92.5%.

IMO, you have a global reaction to COVID-19 public health policies playing out. 

Some people, even posters here, told y'all in real time the implications of wrong headed public health policy and messaging. Y'all thought a bunch of lawyers threatening to take away people's livelihood was an effective public health strategy.  

Look. More bullshit. 

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Posted

"HEPATITAS"

And....now, no tylenol for children whatsoever.  From a man who believes "nobody knows more about medical science than I do."

Y'all want to think that this timeline has gotten as stupid as it possibly can.  But then the clock ticks and another second passes and....sure enough, it gets stupider.

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Posted
On 9/18/2025 at 10:38 AM, Descendant said:

If there’s DNA in the vials with appropriate mammalian promoters, then host cell genomic damage is a concern. In fact, Moderna acknowledge in their own patent from 2018 that foreign DNA introduction is a no-no because of potential for “alterations and/or damage to host cell genomic DNA”.

 

We found SV40 promoter/enhancers in the Pfizer vials. We did not find them in the Moderna vials. This is likely because they didn’t grab the gene therapy plasmid off the shelf when they went to up-scale production for commercial use. This SV40 is NOT the simian virus as a complete virus. It’s a component of SV40, and is a gene therapy tool used in biotech/on the bench to get stuff to the nucleus of cells. Read David Dean’s work.2

“Back to SV40. SV40 is a gene therapy tool. It’s used to traffic stuff to the nucleus of cells. If a cell is dividing, its nuclear membrane breaks down and any old foreign DNA can hypothetically gain access to become integrated. It’s possible. So there’s that. But foreign DNA like SV40 and the other junk only needs to find its way to the juicy interior of a cell to wreak havoc in terms of activating cancer pathways (see: cGas-STING pathway).

There’s also the fact that the SV40 promoter/enhancer sequences are known to interact with the quintessential p53 protein. You know, that tumor suppressor thingy often called the guardian of the genome? What effect is that having? Is it impairing the tumor suppressor effects of p53? Is this why we’re seeing cancers on the rise? There’s more that SV40 can do to mess things up, but I will leave it at this.”

There's so much misunderstanding here. 

The STING pathway is an essential mechanism your immune system responds to infection. It's not a 'cancer activating pathway'. 

SV40 is a virus which infects primates. When we want to drive expression of a gene from an engineered plasmid, one needs a robust promoter which attracts the cellular machinery to transcribe the gene. The reference discusses the SV40 promoter/enhancer...but there is no interaction with p53. With the native SV40 virus, one of the viral protections is the T antigen, which interacts with p53 to enable the virus to transform the cell. There is no T antigen in the vaccine production, that's absurd. Much like the mention of the pcDNA3.1 plasmid referenced in the paper - that uses a CMV promoter to drive whatever gene(s) you put in it...but this does not make the cytomegalovirus. 

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Posted
On 8/8/2025 at 4:27 PM, Anastasis said:

This is what’s being referred to clumsily and imprecisely in that clip. Yet to be seen if they can land it. 
 

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/hhs-nih-launch-next-generation-universal-vaccine-platform-pandemic-prone-viruses

Thursday, May 1, 2025

HHS, NIH launch next-generation universal vaccine platform for pandemic-prone viruses

Image

Colorized transmission electron micrograph of influenza A/H1N1 virus particles. 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the National Institutes for Health (NIH) today announced the development of the next-generation, universal vaccine platform, Generation Gold Standard, using a beta-propiolactone (BPL)-inactivated, whole-virus platform.

This initiative represents a decisive shift toward transparency, effectiveness, and comprehensive preparedness, funding the NIH’s in-house development of universal influenza and coronavirus vaccines, including candidates BPL-1357 and BPL-24910. These vaccines aim to provide broad-spectrum protection against multiple strains of pandemic-prone viruses such as H5N1 avian influenza and coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1, and MERS-CoV.

“Our commitment is clear: every innovation in vaccine development must be grounded in gold standard science and transparency, and subjected to the highest standards of safety and efficacy testing,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

The program realigns BARDA’s operations with its statutory mission under the Public Health Service Act—to prepare for all influenza viral threats, not just those currently circulating.

“Generation Gold Standard is a paradigm shift,” said NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya. “It extends vaccine protection beyond strain-specific limits and prepares for flu viral threats – not just today’s, but tomorrow’s as well – using traditional vaccine technology brought into the 21st century.”

Generation Gold Standard, developed exclusively by NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID):

Recalibrates America’s pandemic preparedness. Unlike traditional vaccines that target specific strains, BPL-inactivated whole-virus vaccines preserve the virus’s structural integrity while eliminating infectivity. This approach induces robust B and T cell immune responses and offers long-lasting protection across diverse viral families. Moreover, the intranasal formulation of BPL-1357 is currently in Phase Ib and II/III trials and is designed to block virus transmission—an innovation absent from current flu and COVID-19 vaccines.

Embodies efficient, transparent, and government-led research. The BPL platform is fully government-owned and NIH-developed. This approach ensures radical transparency, public accountability, and freedom from commercial conflicts of interest.

Marks the future of vaccine development. In addition to influenza and coronavirus, the BPL platform is adaptable for future use against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), metapneumovirus, and parainfluenza. It also offers the unprecedented capability to protect against avian influenza without inducing antigenic drift—a major step forward in proactive pandemic prevention.

Clinical trials for universal influenza vaccines are scheduled to begin in 2026, with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval targeted for 2029. The intranasal BPL-1357 flu vaccine, currently in advanced trials, is also on track for FDA review by 2029.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

Fucking hell, RFK suggesting that they can have a vaccine for 'the whole phylum of viruses' isn't clumsy, it's yet another example of his utter lack of basic high school level science comprehension. It's like hearing that someone is working on a cancer treatment for brain cancer and saying it can be used against all cancers. Par for the course with this group. 

Ok, so what's this about a universal vaccine? The current effort is specifically targeting influenza. 

Science background:

Spoiler

Influenza is a virus which evolves rapidly as it spreads, collecting new mutations which lead to new viral variants. These variants can be identified by surface markers which are the main targets of antibodies in your immune system, and thus are also the targets for vaccines to help train your immune system to identify that strain. For the seasonal flu virus, scientists around the world (152 centers in 129 countries) are constantly collecting samples from patients to phenotype the viruses currently in circulation, and there's quite an elaborate conclave organized by the WHO where they along with the major vaccine manufacturers get together to decide what the components of that year's vaccine should be. There's also a little luck involved as sometimes variants may emerge which are not well incorporated in that vaccine, or those that are end up not being major players. That's why sometimes your yearly flu shot may not be quite as good as before. The manufacturing process is lengthy, some methods use the classic process utilizing eggs (for which production is often impacted by seasonal bird flu outbreaks, so with traditional manufacturing there's not an easy way to quickly pivot to constant changes. 

The current influenza vaccine not only encompasses the seasonal flu, but other variants such as the H1N1 variant of the 1918 Swine flu, which emerged in the 2009 pandemic. There are two main types of influenza which cause disease in humans, A and B. A is the more common and mutates at a high rate, while B stays more constant in makeup. The current trivalent vaccine in the US encompasses viral proteins from one type A H1N1, one from type A H3N2, and one type B lineage. 

Because of the challenges in making these vaccines for seasonal and pandemic influenza strains, there's been a large ongoing effort to make a 'universal' vaccine for all these variants, as well as making a better vaccine to improve the durability, efficacy and breadth of protection. This is yet another global effort best encompassed  by this chart which shows the multitude of world-wide scientific approaches using virus-based, nucleic-acid (mRNA) based, nanoparticles, recombinant proteins, virus-like particles and alternative viral methods - at this moment, based on this tracker, 225 candidates, 30 active trials, 188 developers and those six different platforms. 

There is considerable confusion around RFK's announcement regarding the nomination of the specific approach he endorsed. First, it's not new as the Phase 1 for this approach was put forward by the NIH in a Phase 1, announced by Fauci He Who Shall Not Be Named, in 2022. The specific vaccine (BPL-1357) uses a whole virus which has been inactivated by a chemical (beta-propiolactone or BPL) to eliminate the infectivity while maintaining the structural integrity of the virus particle so it can be used in a vaccine. It's manufactured in canine kidney cells rather than chicken eggs. 

Second, the approach with BPL-1357 contains Influenza type A, but not the Influenza type B (which is a component of current influenza vaccines), which seems to defeat the purpose of a 'universal' approach.

The use of inactivated viruses is vaccine production is one of the earliest approaches ever developed, which produced the first vaccines in the late 1800s for thyphoid, cholera and the first polio vaccines in the '50s. But frankly, it's an older technology and many of those listed in the above chart utilize more cutting edge methods. 

Finally, this nomination of this one method out of all the other potential approaches (dubbed 'Generation Gold Standard') puts a large amount of money ($500m) in this one approach, developed by Dr. Matthew Memoli...who was recently names as the principal director of the NIH. 

So, tl;dr - a lot of eggs (kidneys?) in one basket. There's nothing wrong, per se, with a whole inactivated virus vaccine but it's not a new approach, the vaccine touted from RFK is far from universal, it ignores many other ways to build a better mousetrap, and puts a shit ton of funding in the lab of one guy who happens to have been nominated to run the place. 

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Posted
45 minutes ago, Txzen said:

Fucking hell, RFK suggesting that they can have a vaccine for 'the whole phylum of viruses' isn't clumsy, it's yet another example of his utter lack of basic high school level science comprehension.

Are you saying that he sounds like a former heroin addict who got a parasite in his brain because he just couldn't pass up eating monkey when he was in Africa, and who was later caught driving around with a dead bear cub in his trunk because he really wanted to know what it tasted like?  

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Posted
34 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Are you saying that he sounds like a former heroin addict who got a parasite in his brain because he just couldn't pass up eating monkey when he was in Africa, and who was later caught driving around with a dead bear cub in his trunk because he really wanted to know what it tasted like?  

Oddly specific.

Posted
On 9/26/2025 at 8:15 PM, Sawbonz said:

Most of the dumb fuck MAGA Facebook friends you have are as or more qualified to run HHS than RFK Jr

Odd stalk by someone who allegedly has me on ignore.

 

also Facebook? Really?

Posted

NIH whistleblower at the NIH fired by RFK. Her complaint is pretty awful, specifically with the interactions with the newly appointed head - Memoli - and James McElroy his chief of staff, serving as a liaison to the White House. 

Quote

During the ICD meeting on February 20, 2025, Dr. Marrazzo gave a presentation about the recent outbreak of avian influenza (H5N1). One of the slides pointed out that by that date, 68 pediatric deaths had been attributed to influenza in the U.S. This was a remarkably high fatality rate, particularly that early in the season. In response, Dr. Memoli stated that while a vaccine was “fine,” the number one way to prevent bad outcomes in a respiratory outbreak is to have a healthy population. In advancing this view, Dr. Memoli was simply echoing one of Secretary Kennedy’s favorite talking points: that HHS should focus on chronic disease over infectious diseases. Dr. Kathleen Neuzil, then-Director of the Fogarty International Center, interjected to say that while she agrees that decreasing the prevalence of chronic diseases is important,
vaccines are also necessary for disease control because not everyone with a serious viral infection has a chronic disease. She pointed out that a significant proportion of children in the mortality estimate had healthy immune systems but were unvaccinated. Dr. Memoli appeared annoyed by Dr. Neuzil’s remarks and did not respond.

Quote

On or around February 15, 2025, Dr. Marrazzo met with James McElroy, who had recently been named Deputy Chief of Staff at NIH, reporting directly to Dr. Memoli. ... Dr. Marrazzo’s meeting with Mr. McElroy lasted around 20 minutes, and Mr. McElroy spent nearly the whole meeting asking Dr. Marrazzo extremely basic questions about NIAID. Dr. Marrazzo was shocked by his lack of relevant knowledge. Typically, Deputy Chief of Staff roles are filled by career officials with a background in the relevant subject area, but Mr. McElroy knew nothing about NIH or NIAID. In fact, he knew nothing about clinical trials or NIH’s procedures to reinforce and ensure scientific integrity, including peer review and careful assessment and vetting of grants to investigative teams outside the U.S. Indeed, Mr. McElroy had no government experience and no science background. His work experience consisted entirely of around eight years in the finance and technology sectors, and the publication of a smattering of articles in a conservative magazine, often about partisan politics and Leftist “wokeness.” Mr. McElroy openly stated that he took the job with NIH because he loved President Trump and
sought to advance the goals of his Administration...

...Mr. McElroy pressed Dr. Marrazzo about why NIAID does research at international sites, suggesting that NIAID supports research abroad because regulations are “looser” and researchers can do “whatever they want.” This belief was misguided and baseless. Dr. Marrazzo was offended by the suggestion that NIAID routinely cut corners or tried to evade rigorous oversight. She told Mr. McElroy that this was absolutely not true. She explained to Mr. McElroy that in her experience as a Principal Investigator overseeing clinical trials on HIV prevention in South Africa, the regulatory oversight was in all cases as stringent as the oversight in the United States. She explained that NIH has collaborated with scientists in South Africa for years and built strong, trusted relationships. She also explained that clinics in South African developed an enviable model of community engagement, which was crucial because the success of clinical trials often depended on the strong engagement of community partners. Lastly, she explained to Mr. McElroy that research needed to be conducted where the diseases are. For example, scientists cannot study malaria in the United States because the incidence of malaria in the United States is simply not high enough for this to be efficient. Mr. McElroy asked Dr. Marrazzo how she could trust researchers abroad. Dr. Marrazzo responded that the NIH had developed relationships with trusted scientists over years of working together. He seemed skeptical of her explanations, and it became clear to her that even though he had no rational basis for concluding otherwise, he would not modify his beliefs in the face of the information she provided to him.

tl;dr We are proper fucked. 

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