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amymaxmen.bsky.social
Amy Maxmen, PhD
@amymaxmen.bsky.social
33K followers 2.6K following 580 posts
Award-winning public health reporter at KFF Health News. Bylines at Nature, New York Times, National Geographic & more. AmyM@kff.org Signal: AmyMaxmen.25 www.amymaxmen.com & https://kffhealthnews.org/news/author/amy-maxmen
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amymaxmen.bsky.social
Amy Maxmen, PhD @amymaxmen.bsky.social · Nov 10
Hi! I'm a public health reporter moving from THERE to here. Give me a follow if you're interested in my writing & take:

Public health isn't only about outbreaks & vaccines. It's about making society healthier outside of clinics. It requires systemic change, equity, a belief in the common good.
amymaxmen.bsky.social
Extensively drug-resistant Salmonella outbreak linked to moringa powder. MAHA and FOX News, among others, have promoted moringa as a "natural" medicine.

content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USF...
FDA MedWatch - Outbreak Investigation of Extensively Drug-Resistant Salmonella: Moringa Powder (February 2026)
content.govdelivery.com
February 17, 2026 at 6:45 PM
Reposted by Amy Maxmen, PhD
kgandersen.bsky.social
It's important to put this in context of one of the first things Taubenberger did when he took over as the director of NIAID - he canceled the premier pandemic preparedness network ("CREID" - which we were part of) because it was deemed "unsafe for Americans".

Cc. @maxkozlov.bsky.social.
February 13, 2026 at 9:36 PM
amymaxmen.bsky.social
After more than 1.2 Americans lost their lives to Covid, NIH director Jay Bhattacharya orders the agency to deprioritize pandemic preparedness & biodefense.

Make it make sense.

Scoop from @maxkozlov.bsky.social @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Exclusive: Key US infectious-diseases centre to drop pandemic preparation
Staff members have been instructed to scrub this topic and ‘biodefense’ from the agency’s website.
www.nature.com
February 13, 2026 at 8:16 PM
amymaxmen.bsky.social
"Exploiting scarcity is not ethical."

WHO director @drtedros.who.int puts out a statement explaining basic research ethics to RFK.

www.who.int/news/item/13...
Statement on the planned hepatitis B birth dose vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau
WHO is aware of the proposed randomized controlled trial (RCT) on the hepatitis B birth dose vaccine in Guinea-Bissau. Based on questions raised in publicly available information and consultation with...
www.who.int
February 13, 2026 at 7:45 PM
Reposted by Amy Maxmen, PhD
philipcball.bsky.social
Why are all the US media using words like "revoke" and repeal"? They mean nothing in this context. Why not "refuse to accept", "deny", or "lie about"?
February 12, 2026 at 10:31 PM
Reposted by Amy Maxmen, PhD
proflshtpstr.bsky.social
I can't believe we're using Guantanamo for this shit
amymaxmen.bsky.social Amy Maxmen, PhD @amymaxmen.bsky.social · 9d
I talked w/ uniformed health workers about their deployments to prisons where ICE holds immigrants.

ICE's operation is especially secretive at Guantanamo -- the place where America flouted its own rules to torture detainees post 9/11.

@wired.com and @kffhealthnews.org (no paywall)
Public Health Workers Are Quitting Over Assignments to Guantánamo
Doctors, nurses, and other officers are increasingly being deployed to ICE detention centers. Some have resigned in protest, while others offer a rare look into bleak conditions.
www.wired.com
February 10, 2026 at 3:38 AM
Reposted by Amy Maxmen, PhD
aauerbach.bsky.social
My dad was career US Public Health Service. He deployed after 9/11, after Katrina, helping to set up the basic infrastructure that saved lives. Its nauseating thinking about the position these folks are being put in.
amymaxmen.bsky.social Amy Maxmen, PhD @amymaxmen.bsky.social · 9d
I talked w/ uniformed health workers about their deployments to prisons where ICE holds immigrants.

ICE's operation is especially secretive at Guantanamo -- the place where America flouted its own rules to torture detainees post 9/11.

@wired.com and @kffhealthnews.org (no paywall)
Public Health Workers Are Quitting Over Assignments to Guantánamo
Doctors, nurses, and other officers are increasingly being deployed to ICE detention centers. Some have resigned in protest, while others offer a rare look into bleak conditions.
www.wired.com
February 10, 2026 at 4:36 AM
Reposted by Amy Maxmen, PhD
walkerbragman.bsky.social
SCOOP: The Department of Health and Human Services has been using the term “sex-rejecting procedures” to describe gender-affirming care for transgender and nonbinary individuals.

The term is not clinical or medical. It comes from a Christian Right group.

www.importantcontext.news/p/hhs-is-usi...
HHS Has Been Using Anti-Trans Language From a Christian Right Think Tank
The department refers to gender-affirming care as “sex-denying procedures,” a term coined by the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
www.importantcontext.news
February 9, 2026 at 5:51 PM
amymaxmen.bsky.social
SMH. RFK's CDC measles dashboard has a lead image of flights coming into the US from abroad -- as if other countries are to blame for our skyrocketing measles numbers.

>89% of cases last year were home-grown and >92% of cases this year. This is a US problem that needs domestic solutions.
February 9, 2026 at 7:33 PM
amymaxmen.bsky.social
Wow. 733 measles cases so far this year. At this rate, 2026 will far exceed 2025, the worst year for measles in decades

Only 6 cases this year were imported from abroad. This is a domestic problem that will grow FAR worse when the babies going unvaccinated on RFK's watch admin go to kindergarten.
February 9, 2026 at 7:25 PM
Reposted by Amy Maxmen, PhD
maybarduk.bsky.social
Most people will do better through insurance than TrumpRx. Many without insurance will not be able to afford the still-high TrumpRx prices.

But drugmakers certainly will appreciate Trump’s free product promos, delivered with a false veneer of price accountability.

www.politico.com/news/2026/02...
TrumpRx debuts with several dozen discounted drugs
Drug pricing experts have questioned whether the effort would benefit most Americans.
www.politico.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:53 PM
amymaxmen.bsky.social
Hell of a story. The federal government has awarded contracts to a senior figure in the Patriotic Front, a “white nationalist pyramid scheme.”

The group recruits & trains white nationalists in preparation for what they believe is a coming race war.
February 9, 2026 at 3:47 PM
Reposted by Amy Maxmen, PhD
kffhealthnews.org
Uniformed health workers have been deployed to President Donald Trump’s secretive immigration operation at Guantánamo Bay. They describe a dark prison and limits on medical care.

@amymaxmen.bsky.social investigates ⤵️
Public Health Workers Are Quitting Over Assignments to Guantánamo - KFF Health News
U.S. Public Health Service doctors and nurses are being deployed to Guantánamo and other detention centers as President Donald Trump escalates mass arrests in his campaign to curb immigration. Some ha...
kffhealthnews.org
February 9, 2026 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by Amy Maxmen, PhD
propublica.org
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.

Hundreds of kids are still detained.

We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
February 9, 2026 at 12:25 PM
amymaxmen.bsky.social
I talked w/ uniformed health workers about their deployments to prisons where ICE holds immigrants.

ICE's operation is especially secretive at Guantanamo -- the place where America flouted its own rules to torture detainees post 9/11.

@wired.com and @kffhealthnews.org (no paywall)
Public Health Workers Are Quitting Over Assignments to Guantánamo
Doctors, nurses, and other officers are increasingly being deployed to ICE detention centers. Some have resigned in protest, while others offer a rare look into bleak conditions.
www.wired.com
February 9, 2026 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Amy Maxmen, PhD
saskiapopescu.bsky.social
“Doctors, nurses, and other officers are increasingly being deployed to ICE detention centers. Some have resigned in protest, while others offer a rare look into bleak conditions.” - @amymaxmen.bsky.social
Public Health Workers Are Quitting Over Assignments to Guantánamo
Doctors, nurses, and other officers are increasingly being deployed to ICE detention centers. Some have resigned in protest, while others offer a rare look into bleak conditions.
www.wired.com
February 7, 2026 at 1:46 AM
Reposted by Amy Maxmen, PhD
altcdc.altgov.info
🧵 1/6 A few articles on the U.S. Public Health Service are making waves this week.

Deploying USPHS officers to care for undocumented migrants in prisons and concentration camps pulls them away from their actual jobs at IHS, CDC, and other agencies—work that protects patients and the public.
Public Health Workers Are Quitting Over Assignments to Guantánamo
Doctors, nurses, and other officers are increasingly being deployed to ICE detention centers. Some have resigned in protest, while others offer a rare look into bleak conditions.
web.archive.org
February 6, 2026 at 8:04 PM
Reposted by Amy Maxmen, PhD
harmancipants.bsky.social
Some detainees didn't know they were at Guantanamo—until a public health worker told them. Other nurses, doctors, etc., are quitting rather than participating in Trump's immigration camps www.wired.com/story/public...
Public Health Workers Are Quitting Over Assignments to Guantánamo
Doctors, nurses, and other officers are increasingly being deployed to ICE detention centers. Some have resigned in protest, while others offer a rare look into bleak conditions.
www.wired.com
February 6, 2026 at 1:03 PM
amymaxmen.bsky.social
My latest: A look inside the secretive immigration prisons at Guantanamo—and the ethical questions that doctors and nurses face to treat those inside.
wired.com WIRED @wired.com · 12d
Doctors, nurses, and other officers are increasingly being deployed to ICE detention centers. Some have resigned in protest, while others offer a rare look into bleak conditions.
Public Health Workers Are Quitting Over Assignments to Guantánamo
Doctors, nurses, and other officers are increasingly being deployed to ICE detention centers. Some have resigned in protest, while others offer a rare look into bleak conditions.
wrd.cm
February 6, 2026 at 11:21 AM
amymaxmen.bsky.social
I’m so honored to receive the "Impact on Public Opinion" award from Research!America @researchamerica.bsky.social

Information feels especially muddy right now, lots of noise from on high. I try to provide a little clarity, grounded in science.

ICYMI 🧵

www.researchamerica.org/advocacy-awa...
Advocacy Awards - Research!America
Advocacy Awards The 2026 Advocacy Awards will take place on March 10, 2026, at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC. REGISTER Established in 1996, the Advocacy Awards are an annual, […]
www.researchamerica.org
February 5, 2026 at 2:53 PM
Reposted by Amy Maxmen, PhD
nicolefoy.bsky.social
our government used a Blackhawk helicopter in a major American city, detained children and zip-tied U.S. citizens all to target... squatters

and the alleged Tren de Aragua presence? "It was a brutal lie against the American public."
www.propublica.org/article/chic...
The Real Story Behind the Midnight Immigration Raid on a Chicago Apartment Building
The Trump administration has claimed the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua had taken over the building. But new documents make no mention of the gang and reveal federal agents had information about “ille...
www.propublica.org
February 4, 2026 at 11:46 PM
Reposted by Amy Maxmen, PhD
emilymullin.bsky.social
NEW: South Carolina's measles outbreak has reached 876 cases, and for the first time, the state has confirmed encephalitis—brain swelling—in some children who have gotten measles.

Encephalitis can cause long-term neurological damage, including intellectual disability.
www.wired.com/story/measle...
Measles Is Causing Brain Swelling in Children in South Carolina
In the ongoing measles outbreak in South Carolina that has infected more than 800 people, some children have developed a rare but serious complication called encephalitis.
www.wired.com
February 4, 2026 at 9:26 PM
Reposted by Amy Maxmen, PhD
alexhanna.bsky.social
I went to college with Aliya. Here, she speaks to Congress about being assaulted by ICE in Minneapolis, pulled violently out of her car, and taken to detention, where she blacked out.

"You have no reason to believe you will make it out alive if you already being called a body."
February 4, 2026 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Amy Maxmen, PhD
atrupar.com
happening this morning in Minneapolis -- ICE agents drawing guns on observers. I reiterate again that it is only a matter of time before DHS kills more innocent people in Minnesota. Congress needs to shut this shit down right now.
February 3, 2026 at 4:19 PM
amymaxmen.bsky.social
"Secretary Noem complains of strains
unlawful immigrants place on our system. Her answer? Turn 352,959 lawful immigrants into unlawful immigrants. She complains of strains to our economy. Her answer? Turn employed lawful immigrants who contribute billions in taxes into the legally unemployable."
stevevladeck.bsky.social Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 15d
Even if you don't have time to read all 83 pages of Judge Reyes's opinion barring the Trump administration from rescinding Temporary Protected Status for 350,000+ Haitians, please at least check out the four-page introduction.

It's a tour de force:

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
"On December 2, 1783, then-Commander-in-Chief George Washington penned: “America is open to receive not only the Opulent & respected Stranger, but the oppressed & persecuted of all Nations & Religions.”1 More than two centuries later, Congress reaffirmed President Washington’s vision by establishing the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. See 8 U.S.C. § 1254a (TPS statute). It provides humanitarian relief to foreign nationals in the United States who come from disaster-stricken countries. It also brings in substantial revenue, with TPS holders generating $5.2 billion in taxes annually. See Part VI. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem has a different take. [screenshot of tweet]. So says the official responsible for overseeing the TPS program. And one of those (her word) “damn” countries is Haiti. Relevant here, three days before making the above post, Secretary Noem announced she would terminate Haiti’s TPS designation as of February 3, 2026. See 90 Fed. Reg. 54733 (Nov. 28, 2025) (Termination). Plaintiffs are five Haitian TPS holders. They are not, it emerges, “killers, leeches, or entitlement junkies.” They are instead: Fritz Emmanuel Lesly Miot, a neuroscientist researching Alzheimer’s disease, Dkt. 90 (Second Am. Compl. (SAC)) ¶ 1; Rudolph Civil, a software engineer at a national bank, id. ¶ 2; Marlene Gail Noble, a laboratory assistant in a toxicology department, id. ¶ 3; Marica Merline Laguerre, a college economics major, id. ¶ 4; and Vilbrun Dorsainvil, a full-time registered nurse, id. ¶ 5. They claim that Secretary Noem’s decision violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. § 706(2), and the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Government counters that the Court does not have jurisdiction, and, in any case, the Secretary did not violate the law. Plaintiffs seek to stay the Secretary’s decision under 5 U.S.C. § 705 pending the outcome of this litigation. See Dkt. 81 (§ 705 Mot.). To decide their motion, the Court considers first whether it has jurisdiction. It does. See Part II. It then considers: whether Plaintiffs have a substantial likelihood of success on the merits; whether they will be irreparably harmed absent a stay; and whether a merged balance of the equities and public interest analysis favors a stay. See Part III. Each element favors Plaintiffs. See Parts IV, V, and VI. Plaintiffs charge that Secretary Noem preordained her termination decision and did so because of hostility to nonwhite immigrants. This seems substantially likely. Secretary Noem has terminated every TPS country designation to have reached her desk—twelve countries up, twelve countries down. See Section IV.A.2. Her conclusion that Haiti (a majority nonwhite country) faces merely “concerning” conditions cannot be squared with the “perfect storm of suffering” and “staggering” “humanitarian toll” described in page-after-page of the Certified Administrative Record (CAR). See Section IV.A.3.a. She ignored Congress’s requirement that she “review the conditions” in Haiti only “after” consulting “with appropriate agencies.” 8 U.S.C. § 1254a(b)(3)(A); see Section IV.A.1. Indeed, she did not consult other agencies at all. See id. Her “national interest” analysis focuses on Haitians outside the United States or here illegally, ignoring that Haitian TPS holders already live here, and legally so. See Section IV.A.3.b. And though she states that the analysis must include “economic considerations,” she ignores altogether the billions Haitian TPS holders contribute to the economy. See id. The Government’s primary response is that the TPS statute gives the Secretary unbounded discretion to make whatever determination she wants, any way she wants. And, yes, the statute does grant her some discretion. But not unbounded discretion. To the contrary, Congress passed the TPS statute to standardize the then ad hoc temporary protection system—to replace executive whim with statutory predictability. See Section I.A. As to irreparable harm, the Government contends that, at most, the harms to Haitian TPS holders are speculative. But the Department of State (State) warns [screenshot] Dkt. 100 (§ 705 Reply) at 20–21.4 “Do not travel to Haiti for any reason” does not exactly scream, as Secretary Noem concluded, suitable for return. And so, the Government studiously does not argue that Plaintiffs will suffer no harm if removed to Haiti. Instead, it argues Plaintiffs will not certainly suffer irreparable harm because DHS might not remove them. But this fails to take Secretary Noem at her word: “WE DON’T WANT THEM. NOT ONE.” See Section IV.B.2.b. Finally, the balance of equities and public interest favor a stay. The Government does not cite any reason termination must occur post haste. Secretary Noem complains of strains unlawful immigrants place on our immigration-enforcement system. Her answer? Turn 352,959 lawful immigrants into unlawful immigrants overnight. She complains of strains to our economy. Her answer? Turn employed lawful immigrants who contribute billions in taxes into the legally unemployable. She complains of strains to our healthcare system. Her answer? Turn the insured into the uninsured. This approach is many things—in the public interest is not one of them. For the reasons below, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs’ Renewed Motion for a Stay Under 5 U.S.C. § 705, Dkt. 81.
February 3, 2026 at 2:31 PM