Crescent Martin
@crescentmartin.bsky.social
Cmartin2 over at the Bad Place
Reposted by Crescent Martin
From Alec Gaffney at @agencyiq.bsky.social:
"There doesn’t seem to be a coherent approach to evidentiary requirements at the FDA at this time, other than one that demonizes vaccines."
"There doesn’t seem to be a coherent approach to evidentiary requirements at the FDA at this time, other than one that demonizes vaccines."
February 14, 2026 at 12:48 PM
From Alec Gaffney at @agencyiq.bsky.social:
"There doesn’t seem to be a coherent approach to evidentiary requirements at the FDA at this time, other than one that demonizes vaccines."
"There doesn’t seem to be a coherent approach to evidentiary requirements at the FDA at this time, other than one that demonizes vaccines."
Reposted by Crescent Martin
From @lizneeley.bsky.social's newsletter today: "Hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage have poured into the Potomac river in the past month, exposing Maryland and Washington DC to staggering levels of pathogenic bacteria. [This] is now the worst wastewater spill in American history." 1/2
February 14, 2026 at 12:53 PM
From @lizneeley.bsky.social's newsletter today: "Hundreds of millions of gallons of sewage have poured into the Potomac river in the past month, exposing Maryland and Washington DC to staggering levels of pathogenic bacteria. [This] is now the worst wastewater spill in American history." 1/2
Reposted by Crescent Martin
6/ The Post has lost over 375,000 subscribers in just over a year. If 10% of those readers subscribed to The 51st instead, we could hire 10 reporters and five editors, dramatically scaling our coverage of the city at this critical time. 51st.news/signup
Join The 51st
The 51st is a worker-led nonprofit news source for D.C. Our reporting is rooted in our conviction that local journalism is meant to make people’s lives better — no paywalls, ever. But that's only…
51st.news
February 4, 2026 at 7:21 PM
6/ The Post has lost over 375,000 subscribers in just over a year. If 10% of those readers subscribed to The 51st instead, we could hire 10 reporters and five editors, dramatically scaling our coverage of the city at this critical time. 51st.news/signup
Reposted by Crescent Martin
Science: "10,109 doctoral-trained experts in science and related fields left their jobs last year as President Donald Trump dramatically shrank the overall federal workforce."
#AcademicSky
www.science.org/content/arti...
#AcademicSky
www.science.org/content/arti...
January 27, 2026 at 12:05 PM
Science: "10,109 doctoral-trained experts in science and related fields left their jobs last year as President Donald Trump dramatically shrank the overall federal workforce."
#AcademicSky
www.science.org/content/arti...
#AcademicSky
www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Crescent Martin
Going to repeat my talking point here because let it be known: ACIP does not and cannot require people to be vaccinated. It is a red herring to insert individual choice. The "AC" stands for advisory committee. They are meant to give advice on how best to use vaccines to prevent illness.
I’ll be on PBS Newshour tonight discussing measles. We’ll likely lose our elimination status, and I expect more big outbreaks in 2026. The MMR vaccine is safe, effective and, you might be surprised to learn, very popular.
January 23, 2026 at 9:44 PM
Going to repeat my talking point here because let it be known: ACIP does not and cannot require people to be vaccinated. It is a red herring to insert individual choice. The "AC" stands for advisory committee. They are meant to give advice on how best to use vaccines to prevent illness.
Reposted by Crescent Martin
The multi-year NIH funding of grants tagged to 2025 allows Russell Vought to reduce the number of grants funded this year because he insists that a 5 years of $$$ has to be committed. This is bad. We could see a cut in actual grants by 1/3 or more. Spread the word. www.statnews.com/2026/01/16/n...
Limit on multiyear funding of NIH grants is a sticking point in Senate budget talks
A clause limiting the use of multiyear NIH grant funding has become a sticking point as the Senate appropriations panel finalizes the HHS spending bill.
www.statnews.com
January 21, 2026 at 10:55 AM
The multi-year NIH funding of grants tagged to 2025 allows Russell Vought to reduce the number of grants funded this year because he insists that a 5 years of $$$ has to be committed. This is bad. We could see a cut in actual grants by 1/3 or more. Spread the word. www.statnews.com/2026/01/16/n...
Reposted by Crescent Martin
20 out of 25 CIO director positions at CDC are vacant and filled by actings (or eliminated), just in the past year via CDC Data Project www.cdcdataproject.org/leadership-c...
January 10, 2026 at 7:18 PM
20 out of 25 CIO director positions at CDC are vacant and filled by actings (or eliminated), just in the past year via CDC Data Project www.cdcdataproject.org/leadership-c...
Reposted by Crescent Martin
RFK Jr's HHS had a press call to announce they were — based on no new data — overhauling the childhood vaccine schedule. Senior officials at HHS answered questions but refused to go on the record, saying we could only attribute the quotes to "officials." www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...
U.S. overhauls childhood vaccine schedule, recommends fewer shots
The U.S. no longer broadly recommends vaccines for flu, hepatitis A and B, and RSV. Health officials say the guidance aligns with that of peer countries.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 5, 2026 at 9:48 PM
RFK Jr's HHS had a press call to announce they were — based on no new data — overhauling the childhood vaccine schedule. Senior officials at HHS answered questions but refused to go on the record, saying we could only attribute the quotes to "officials." www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...
Reposted by Crescent Martin
The Post interviewed almost 100 sources for this comprehensive, revelatory account of how RFK Jr. has disrupted public health in America.
It's the capstone to a year of extensive reporting by @rachelroubein.bsky.social, @lenasun.bsky.social & @laurenweberhp.bsky.social.
Gift link: wapo.st/48YSPC1
It's the capstone to a year of extensive reporting by @rachelroubein.bsky.social, @lenasun.bsky.social & @laurenweberhp.bsky.social.
Gift link: wapo.st/48YSPC1
Inside RFK Jr.’s reshaping of public health in Trump’s first year
Interviews with almost 100 people reveal how Kennedy, as health secretary, has reshaped the vaccine and broader public health infrastructure in less than a year.
wapo.st
December 30, 2025 at 1:13 PM
The Post interviewed almost 100 sources for this comprehensive, revelatory account of how RFK Jr. has disrupted public health in America.
It's the capstone to a year of extensive reporting by @rachelroubein.bsky.social, @lenasun.bsky.social & @laurenweberhp.bsky.social.
Gift link: wapo.st/48YSPC1
It's the capstone to a year of extensive reporting by @rachelroubein.bsky.social, @lenasun.bsky.social & @laurenweberhp.bsky.social.
Gift link: wapo.st/48YSPC1
Reposted by Crescent Martin
Detailed, thorough, consequential, and of course...
"Cassidy’s office declined repeated requests for a formal interview."
🎁
wapo.st/48YSPC1
"Cassidy’s office declined repeated requests for a formal interview."
🎁
wapo.st/48YSPC1
How RFK Jr. upended the public health system
Interviews with almost 100 people reveal how Kennedy, as health secretary, has reshaped the vaccine and broader public health infrastructure in less than a year.
wapo.st
December 30, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Detailed, thorough, consequential, and of course...
"Cassidy’s office declined repeated requests for a formal interview."
🎁
wapo.st/48YSPC1
"Cassidy’s office declined repeated requests for a formal interview."
🎁
wapo.st/48YSPC1
Reposted by Crescent Martin
The US is not Denmark. Denmark is not the US. The Danish immunization schedule is not adapted for the realities of the American Healthcare system and population.
Let me explain.
This is a long thread so buckle up 🧵
Let me explain.
This is a long thread so buckle up 🧵
December 21, 2025 at 2:38 PM
The US is not Denmark. Denmark is not the US. The Danish immunization schedule is not adapted for the realities of the American Healthcare system and population.
Let me explain.
This is a long thread so buckle up 🧵
Let me explain.
This is a long thread so buckle up 🧵
Reposted by Crescent Martin
Read @boghuma.bsky.social’s piece on RFK Jr’s HBV vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau. bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-unethi...
How Unethical Research Seeds Medical Mistrust
The absence of equipoise can turn research into harm
bktitanji.substack.com
December 18, 2025 at 11:12 PM
Read @boghuma.bsky.social’s piece on RFK Jr’s HBV vaccine trial in Guinea-Bissau. bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-unethi...
Reposted by Crescent Martin
This is the best piece I’ve read so far on why the Guinea-Bissau RCT, in which a proven life-saving vaccine will be deliberately WITHHELD, is unethical
“When benefit is established, withholding an intervention is no longer neutral experimentation it becomes premeditated harm”
“When benefit is established, withholding an intervention is no longer neutral experimentation it becomes premeditated harm”
The planned hepatitis B birth-dose trial in Guinea-Bissau raises serious ethical concerns. Withholding a proven, life-saving vaccine from newborns to answer speculative questions is an absence of equipoise with real downstream harms for trust in vaccines.
bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-unethi...
bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-unethi...
How Unethical Research Seeds Medical Mistrust
The absence of equipoise can turn research into harm
bktitanji.substack.com
December 18, 2025 at 11:06 PM
This is the best piece I’ve read so far on why the Guinea-Bissau RCT, in which a proven life-saving vaccine will be deliberately WITHHELD, is unethical
“When benefit is established, withholding an intervention is no longer neutral experimentation it becomes premeditated harm”
“When benefit is established, withholding an intervention is no longer neutral experimentation it becomes premeditated harm”
Reposted by Crescent Martin
The planned hepatitis B birth-dose trial in Guinea-Bissau raises serious ethical concerns. Withholding a proven, life-saving vaccine from newborns to answer speculative questions is an absence of equipoise with real downstream harms for trust in vaccines.
bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-unethi...
bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-unethi...
How Unethical Research Seeds Medical Mistrust
The absence of equipoise can turn research into harm
bktitanji.substack.com
December 18, 2025 at 9:18 PM
The planned hepatitis B birth-dose trial in Guinea-Bissau raises serious ethical concerns. Withholding a proven, life-saving vaccine from newborns to answer speculative questions is an absence of equipoise with real downstream harms for trust in vaccines.
bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-unethi...
bktitanji.substack.com/p/how-unethi...
Reposted by Crescent Martin
The media needs to stop writing headlines like “The CDC changes course on vaccines and autism” and “The CDC defends measles response”.
NONE of this is coming from legitimate scientists at the CDC.
ALL of it is coming from RFK Jr.
Every such headline is causing further harm to public health.
NONE of this is coming from legitimate scientists at the CDC.
ALL of it is coming from RFK Jr.
Every such headline is causing further harm to public health.
December 17, 2025 at 1:49 AM
The media needs to stop writing headlines like “The CDC changes course on vaccines and autism” and “The CDC defends measles response”.
NONE of this is coming from legitimate scientists at the CDC.
ALL of it is coming from RFK Jr.
Every such headline is causing further harm to public health.
NONE of this is coming from legitimate scientists at the CDC.
ALL of it is coming from RFK Jr.
Every such headline is causing further harm to public health.
Reposted by Crescent Martin
Birthright citizenship under the common law, a thread:
I have done this many times on social media, in print, and in media interviews, but not to be accused of taking others’ not seriously enough, by plainly stating the law and history of birthright citizenship, I’m taking the time here:
I have done this many times on social media, in print, and in media interviews, but not to be accused of taking others’ not seriously enough, by plainly stating the law and history of birthright citizenship, I’m taking the time here:
December 12, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Birthright citizenship under the common law, a thread:
I have done this many times on social media, in print, and in media interviews, but not to be accused of taking others’ not seriously enough, by plainly stating the law and history of birthright citizenship, I’m taking the time here:
I have done this many times on social media, in print, and in media interviews, but not to be accused of taking others’ not seriously enough, by plainly stating the law and history of birthright citizenship, I’m taking the time here:
Reposted by Crescent Martin
Covid vaccines released last fall sharply decreased the risk of ER and urgent care visits in children, according to new data released by the CDC — providing a striking counterpoint to Trump administration rhetoric about the shots
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/11/h...
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/11/h...
Covid Vaccines Reduced Children’s Likelihood of E.R. and Urgent Care Visits, the C.D.C. Reported
www.nytimes.com
December 11, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Covid vaccines released last fall sharply decreased the risk of ER and urgent care visits in children, according to new data released by the CDC — providing a striking counterpoint to Trump administration rhetoric about the shots
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/11/h...
Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/12/11/h...
Reposted by Crescent Martin
Monument to the Unknown Bureaucrat, Reykjavik — Magnús Tómasson, 1994
November 26, 2025 at 5:45 AM
Monument to the Unknown Bureaucrat, Reykjavik — Magnús Tómasson, 1994
Reposted by Crescent Martin
We have an exciting offer thanks to researcher, author, and Autonomy News subscriber @gretchensisson.bsky.social: Sign up for a new annual subscription before December 31 and you will receive a free, signed copy of Gretchen’s book Relinquished, as long as supplies last!
Autonomy News
A worker-owned reproductive rights and justice publication.
www.autonomynews.co
December 8, 2025 at 11:34 PM
We have an exciting offer thanks to researcher, author, and Autonomy News subscriber @gretchensisson.bsky.social: Sign up for a new annual subscription before December 31 and you will receive a free, signed copy of Gretchen’s book Relinquished, as long as supplies last!
Reposted by Crescent Martin
The decision by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to downgrade its recommendations to protect infants from hepatitis B is a dangerous move that will harm children.
Click here to read AAP's full statement: bit.ly/3Y9ZQJT
Click here to read AAP's full statement: bit.ly/3Y9ZQJT
December 5, 2025 at 4:15 PM
The decision by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to downgrade its recommendations to protect infants from hepatitis B is a dangerous move that will harm children.
Click here to read AAP's full statement: bit.ly/3Y9ZQJT
Click here to read AAP's full statement: bit.ly/3Y9ZQJT
Reposted by Crescent Martin
THIS is how you do health journalism—including the highly responsible title that gets immediately to the real story
Thank goodness for journalists like @melodyschreiber.com & columnists like @lisamjarvis.bsky.social at Bloomberg, who are covering the dangerous shenanigans of the MAHA crew so well
Thank goodness for journalists like @melodyschreiber.com & columnists like @lisamjarvis.bsky.social at Bloomberg, who are covering the dangerous shenanigans of the MAHA crew so well
America’s top vaccines official promised, in a long and argumentative memo to staff, to revamp vaccine regulation after claiming 10 children died from Covid vaccines. But Vinay Prasad offered no evidence for that allegation and scant details on the new approach.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
‘Never seen anything like this’: alarm at memo from top US vaccine official
Vinay Prasad memo said at least 10 children had died from Covid vaccination – but offered scant evidence for claim
www.theguardian.com
December 4, 2025 at 2:58 PM
THIS is how you do health journalism—including the highly responsible title that gets immediately to the real story
Thank goodness for journalists like @melodyschreiber.com & columnists like @lisamjarvis.bsky.social at Bloomberg, who are covering the dangerous shenanigans of the MAHA crew so well
Thank goodness for journalists like @melodyschreiber.com & columnists like @lisamjarvis.bsky.social at Bloomberg, who are covering the dangerous shenanigans of the MAHA crew so well
Reposted by Crescent Martin
Hoping this is #FrontPage and context for all journalists and editors writing about the demolition of the FDA and CDC by antiscience.
A Threat to Evidence-Based Vaccine Policy and Public Health Security at the FDA: former FDA commissioners call out Dr. Prasad's departure from previous standards in @nejm.org www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
A Threat to Evidence-Based Vaccine Policy and Public Health Security at the FDA | NEJM
Twelve former commissioners of the FDA express concern that the agency’s recent moves will undermine a regulatory model designed to ensure vaccine safety, effectiveness, and availability.
www.nejm.org
December 4, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Hoping this is #FrontPage and context for all journalists and editors writing about the demolition of the FDA and CDC by antiscience.
Reposted by Crescent Martin
The BLS continues to produce high quality employment estimates. I understand where this comes from, but part of how Trump undermines institutions is by generating mistrust of legitimate institutions.
The only reliable data we are going to get on this stuff now comes from the private sector. bsky.app/profile/atru...
🚨 CNBC on latest jobs numbers: "A big miss on ADP payrolls. The private payroll company saying private payrolls shed 32,000 workers in Nov. That's the 4th negative number in past 6 months. The estimate was for +40,000, so the street was off ... this may be coming from being hammered by the tariffs"
December 3, 2025 at 2:21 PM
The BLS continues to produce high quality employment estimates. I understand where this comes from, but part of how Trump undermines institutions is by generating mistrust of legitimate institutions.
Reposted by Crescent Martin
It's very concerning that the ACIP may vote to delay hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccines for children, as reported by
@reuters.com
Here's why. 🧵
www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...
@reuters.com
Here's why. 🧵
www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...
December 2, 2025 at 8:32 PM
It's very concerning that the ACIP may vote to delay hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccines for children, as reported by
@reuters.com
Here's why. 🧵
www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...
@reuters.com
Here's why. 🧵
www.reuters.com/legal/litiga...
Reposted by Crescent Martin
One of my absolute favorite expert virologists (who is also one of the editors of the journal Vaccine) tells it like it is
“Prasad can heap suffering on CBER staff all he likes, but it always must be in the service of Kennedy’s MAHA agenda. What Kennedy asks, Prasad will deliver.”
“Prasad can heap suffering on CBER staff all he likes, but it always must be in the service of Kennedy’s MAHA agenda. What Kennedy asks, Prasad will deliver.”
This REALLY annoyed me yesterday. Mostly because I know what the intended impact is on vaccination (stripping access), but also because it is not evidence-based. Prasad & Høeg provided no data to support their position besides "it's VAERS."
bsky.app/profile/angi...
bsky.app/profile/angi...
Vinay Prasad sent Tracey Høeg dumpster diving in VAERS for pretext to block access to flu vaccines, alter safety standards, end combo vaccines, & hold clinical trials to impossible standards.
CBER is supposed to regulate vaccines, not withhold them. FDA is as broken as CDC.
CBER is supposed to regulate vaccines, not withhold them. FDA is as broken as CDC.
November 30, 2025 at 12:00 PM
One of my absolute favorite expert virologists (who is also one of the editors of the journal Vaccine) tells it like it is
“Prasad can heap suffering on CBER staff all he likes, but it always must be in the service of Kennedy’s MAHA agenda. What Kennedy asks, Prasad will deliver.”
“Prasad can heap suffering on CBER staff all he likes, but it always must be in the service of Kennedy’s MAHA agenda. What Kennedy asks, Prasad will deliver.”