Maxwell Smith, PhD
@maxwellsmith.bsky.social
Bioethicist, Associate Professor, & CIHR Applied Public Health Chair at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. Also Director, Western's Centre for Bioethics and Associate Director, Rotman Institute of Philosophy. Views are my own.
maxwellsmith.ca
maxwellsmith.ca
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
You may have seen masks mentioned a lot lately, especially as the spread of multiple viruses is currently high, so it’s important to know the facts in order to protect yourself and others. Learn more and stay safe this respiratory virus season and beyond! (Part 1/2)
December 23, 2025 at 6:27 PM
You may have seen masks mentioned a lot lately, especially as the spread of multiple viruses is currently high, so it’s important to know the facts in order to protect yourself and others. Learn more and stay safe this respiratory virus season and beyond! (Part 1/2)
Add this to MAHA's wins for 2025!
Congratulations to Stephen Macedo & Frances Lee, whose book In Covid's Wake has been recognized as:
⭐ A @newyorker.com Best Book of the Year
⭐ An @economist.com Book of the Year
⭐ A @wsj.com Best Book of the Year
Learn more about this eye-opening book: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
⭐ A @newyorker.com Best Book of the Year
⭐ An @economist.com Book of the Year
⭐ A @wsj.com Best Book of the Year
Learn more about this eye-opening book: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
December 23, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Add this to MAHA's wins for 2025!
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
The scale of elite support for this terrible book is interesting information about public health politics
Congratulations to Stephen Macedo & Frances Lee, whose book In Covid's Wake has been recognized as:
⭐ A @newyorker.com Best Book of the Year
⭐ An @economist.com Book of the Year
⭐ A @wsj.com Best Book of the Year
Learn more about this eye-opening book: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
⭐ A @newyorker.com Best Book of the Year
⭐ An @economist.com Book of the Year
⭐ A @wsj.com Best Book of the Year
Learn more about this eye-opening book: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
December 23, 2025 at 3:14 PM
The scale of elite support for this terrible book is interesting information about public health politics
Look, if you're willing to concede that masking in health care settings is reasonable, then masking outside of such settings is hardly zealotry, since respiratory pathogens and the people vulnerable to them exist outside of health care settings, too.
It’s not a refusal to re-enter society.
It’s not shaping your life around Covid avoidance.
It’s adaptation. It’s a desire to protect health. It’s being willing to accept that things change, and masking & clean air are the way forward.
Mass death & disability is not normal
It’s not shaping your life around Covid avoidance.
It’s adaptation. It’s a desire to protect health. It’s being willing to accept that things change, and masking & clean air are the way forward.
Mass death & disability is not normal
December 22, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Look, if you're willing to concede that masking in health care settings is reasonable, then masking outside of such settings is hardly zealotry, since respiratory pathogens and the people vulnerable to them exist outside of health care settings, too.
"The Order...would deem the requirement for the Minister to examine specified information and material in a new drug submission to have been met based on decisions or documents produced by certain foreign regulatory authorities"
Classic yet alarming: the federal govt just posted in the Canada Gazette a proposal to fundamentally change drug regulation as we know it.
Here's the link to the Gazette: gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/202...
Here's the link to the Gazette: gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/202...
Canada Gazette, Part 1, Volume 159, Number 51: Order Providing for Reliance on Decisions of, or Documents Produced by, Foreign Regulatory Authorities in Respect of Certain Drugs
December 20, 2025, Part 1, Volume 159, Number 51, Canada Gazette
gazette.gc.ca
December 20, 2025 at 7:36 PM
"The Order...would deem the requirement for the Minister to examine specified information and material in a new drug submission to have been met based on decisions or documents produced by certain foreign regulatory authorities"
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
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 Maxwell Smith, PhD
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”
The @who.int has published a briefing document outlining a comprehensive framework for guiding national allocation decisions for pandemic influenza medical countermeasures, such as vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostic tools. I had the pleasure of providing input.
iris.who.int/items/6c8b06...
iris.who.int/items/6c8b06...
Planning for national allocations of pandemic influenza medical countermeasures: considerations brief
iris.who.int
December 17, 2025 at 2:41 PM
The @who.int has published a briefing document outlining a comprehensive framework for guiding national allocation decisions for pandemic influenza medical countermeasures, such as vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostic tools. I had the pleasure of providing input.
iris.who.int/items/6c8b06...
iris.who.int/items/6c8b06...
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
Three children dead in Ottawa, Eastern Ontario region after flu-related complications. Medical officers of health warn of rapid rise in influenza-A, urge vaccination ahead of holidays, by @kkirkup.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic... via @theglobeandmail.com
Three children dead in Ottawa, Eastern Ontario region after flu-related complications
Medical officers of health warn of rapid rise in influenza-A, urge vaccination ahead of holidays
www.theglobeandmail.com
December 16, 2025 at 12:05 AM
Three children dead in Ottawa, Eastern Ontario region after flu-related complications. Medical officers of health warn of rapid rise in influenza-A, urge vaccination ahead of holidays, by @kkirkup.bsky.social www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic... via @theglobeandmail.com
If the flu shot is a bad match, then messaging that fails to emphasize other protective measures is also a bad match.
#Ontario: Chief Medical Officer of Health providing update on the respiratory virus season in Ontario - news.ontario.ca/en/statement...
No mention of "masks" anywhere: MASK UP!
No mention of "masks" anywhere: MASK UP!
December 12, 2025 at 5:59 PM
If the flu shot is a bad match, then messaging that fails to emphasize other protective measures is also a bad match.
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
🤔"Nunavik ends year with record number of TB cases, as officials promise funding announcement to come"
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... #tuberculosis
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... #tuberculosis
December 11, 2025 at 7:51 PM
🤔"Nunavik ends year with record number of TB cases, as officials promise funding announcement to come"
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... #tuberculosis
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... #tuberculosis
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
The Supreme Court just set aside a 2nd Circuit decision upholding New York's requirement that all school students, public and private, obtain certain vaccinations, without any religious exemptions. It orders the 2nd Circuit to reconsider the ruling in light of SCOTUS' LGBTQ school books decision.
December 8, 2025 at 2:38 PM
The Supreme Court just set aside a 2nd Circuit decision upholding New York's requirement that all school students, public and private, obtain certain vaccinations, without any religious exemptions. It orders the 2nd Circuit to reconsider the ruling in light of SCOTUS' LGBTQ school books decision.
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
A study on 1.7 million people in Hong Kong shows superior hybrid immunity to Covid in people who got vaccinated before infection vs. people who got infected first. "Our findings are a direct rebuttal to arguments for natural immunity," the authors write. doi.org/10.1016/j.va...
Redirecting
doi.org
December 6, 2025 at 5:02 PM
A study on 1.7 million people in Hong Kong shows superior hybrid immunity to Covid in people who got vaccinated before infection vs. people who got infected first. "Our findings are a direct rebuttal to arguments for natural immunity," the authors write. doi.org/10.1016/j.va...
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
So, to all the "RFK's got some good ideas" folks (Rachael Bedard, Leana Wen) and Jay Bhattacharya is "an excellent choice for NIH" (Steven Macedo, Frances Lee) and Vinay Prasad "will bring a breath of fresh air to FDA" (Adam Cifu, John Mandrola) groupies--you own this now too.
I think the *speed* at which RFK Jr and his Great Barrington Declaration/anti-vaxx/Brownstone wrecking crew have been dismantling the US public health system has been really astonishing
Well, Senators Bill Cassidy and Thom Tillis, you wanted RFK Jr. to “go wild” at HHS.
Congratulations. You’ve achieved your goal. He is well on his way to completely destroying the US vaccine program.
Congratulations. You’ve achieved your goal. He is well on his way to completely destroying the US vaccine program.
December 7, 2025 at 11:15 AM
So, to all the "RFK's got some good ideas" folks (Rachael Bedard, Leana Wen) and Jay Bhattacharya is "an excellent choice for NIH" (Steven Macedo, Frances Lee) and Vinay Prasad "will bring a breath of fresh air to FDA" (Adam Cifu, John Mandrola) groupies--you own this now too.
December 1, 2025 at 7:36 PM
From the same administration that brought you "Tylenol causes autism."
Vinay Prasad of the FDA claims that he has proof that 10 children died from COVID19 vaccines, so the FDA will now target flu shots, look at whether people should receive multiple vaccines at the same time, and make the vaccine approval process significantly more difficult.
FDA to impose strict new vaccine requirements, claiming child covid shot deaths
Vinay Prasad, the nation’s top vaccine regulator, said his team concluded that coronavirus shots were linked to children’s deaths, necessitating a new approach.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 29, 2025 at 3:27 PM
From the same administration that brought you "Tylenol causes autism."
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
So, why does "medical freedom" have so many new restrictions?
November 29, 2025 at 2:30 PM
So, why does "medical freedom" have so many new restrictions?
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
"The head of the national organization representing Inuit says he has had no firm commitment from federal officials to renew funding to support the elimination of #tuberculosis in #Canada’s North – despite the government promising to eradicate it by 2030."
www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...
www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...
Federal funding for tuberculosis fight in the North remains uncertain, Inuit leader says
The program’s $16.2-million funding in 2023 will run out on March 31 next year
www.theglobeandmail.com
November 26, 2025 at 3:20 AM
"The head of the national organization representing Inuit says he has had no firm commitment from federal officials to renew funding to support the elimination of #tuberculosis in #Canada’s North – despite the government promising to eradicate it by 2030."
www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...
www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
🚨We're hiring! A tenure track position at McGill University in the area of #bioethics and / or philosophy of science, with a special focus on the ethics of medical technologies. Please share widely. #philsky #ethics #philsci philjobs.org/job/show/30402
Assistant Professor (Tenure Track), Department of Equity, Ethics, and Policy and Department of Philosophy, McGill University
- PhilJobs:JFP
Assistant Professor (Tenure Track), Department of Equity...
An international database of jobs for philosophers
philjobs.org
November 25, 2025 at 2:02 AM
🚨We're hiring! A tenure track position at McGill University in the area of #bioethics and / or philosophy of science, with a special focus on the ethics of medical technologies. Please share widely. #philsky #ethics #philsci philjobs.org/job/show/30402
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
Must read from @sarahkarlin-smith.bsky.social.
Prasad will pause+review all basic science research happening at CBER initiated before he came, insinuating its researchers haven't been doing "honest work." How much more abuse can FDA staff be expected to take?
insights.citeline.com/pink-sheet/a...
Prasad will pause+review all basic science research happening at CBER initiated before he came, insinuating its researchers haven't been doing "honest work." How much more abuse can FDA staff be expected to take?
insights.citeline.com/pink-sheet/a...
CBER Poised for Research Shakeup As Prasad Makes Unproven Claims About ‘Polluted Science’
In an email to staff filled with unsupported accusations about the quality of the center’s research, CBER Director Vinay Prasad said no resources or time should be spent on ongoing projects started be...
insights.citeline.com
November 24, 2025 at 11:40 PM
Must read from @sarahkarlin-smith.bsky.social.
Prasad will pause+review all basic science research happening at CBER initiated before he came, insinuating its researchers haven't been doing "honest work." How much more abuse can FDA staff be expected to take?
insights.citeline.com/pink-sheet/a...
Prasad will pause+review all basic science research happening at CBER initiated before he came, insinuating its researchers haven't been doing "honest work." How much more abuse can FDA staff be expected to take?
insights.citeline.com/pink-sheet/a...
Lots of other ostriches to save. No interest?
Perhaps they're not pro-ostrich, but rather anti-public health...
Perhaps they're not pro-ostrich, but rather anti-public health...
In case you’re wondering:
The key people behind tomorrow’s planned nationwide Ostrich Convoy include an aging Burning Man attendee who drives a psychedelic school bus called the “Church of Bubbles” and a Dutch-born Gen Z social media marketer who imports maple syrup to Utrecht, Netherlands
The key people behind tomorrow’s planned nationwide Ostrich Convoy include an aging Burning Man attendee who drives a psychedelic school bus called the “Church of Bubbles” and a Dutch-born Gen Z social media marketer who imports maple syrup to Utrecht, Netherlands
Leaders of Canada’s Newest Convoy Worry Police Are Trying to Sabotage a Nationwide Protest Avenging a Flock of Dead Ostriches
Convoy organizers say they are at ‘war’ with the federal government, but insist they will remain ‘peaceful’
pressprogress.ca
November 22, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Lots of other ostriches to save. No interest?
Perhaps they're not pro-ostrich, but rather anti-public health...
Perhaps they're not pro-ostrich, but rather anti-public health...
Sensible move, especially when the health system is under so much strain.
Exceptional to see that the #Manitoba government will be eliminating sick notes for any absences of 7 consecutive days or less. This is a massive step forward in minimizing administrative burden for physicians, so they can spend quality time with patients.
Manitoba looks to end sick notes unless employee absent for 1 week | CBC News
Doctors are sick of filing sick notes for minor illnesses — and the Manitoba government is heeding their advice.
www.cbc.ca
November 21, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Sensible move, especially when the health system is under so much strain.
Lockdowns in 2020/2021 ‘undoubtedly saved lives’ but ‘only became inevitable because of the acts and omissions of the four governments’ - UK COVID Inquiry 2025
Key lesson: if you oppose lockdowns, support proactive interventions that could obviate their use.
thedoctor.bma.org.uk/articles/hea...
Key lesson: if you oppose lockdowns, support proactive interventions that could obviate their use.
thedoctor.bma.org.uk/articles/hea...
Government response to COVID-19 was ‘too little too late’, inquiry concludes
Report says 23,000 deaths could have been avoided with earlier lockdown
thedoctor.bma.org.uk
November 21, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Lockdowns in 2020/2021 ‘undoubtedly saved lives’ but ‘only became inevitable because of the acts and omissions of the four governments’ - UK COVID Inquiry 2025
Key lesson: if you oppose lockdowns, support proactive interventions that could obviate their use.
thedoctor.bma.org.uk/articles/hea...
Key lesson: if you oppose lockdowns, support proactive interventions that could obviate their use.
thedoctor.bma.org.uk/articles/hea...
Reposted by Maxwell Smith, PhD
23,000 deaths in England could have been prevented in the first wave of Covid if lockdown had started a week earlier, a new report by the Covid Inquiry has found.
Read more in The Doctor Magazine👇
thedoctor.bma.org.uk/articles/hea...
Read more in The Doctor Magazine👇
thedoctor.bma.org.uk/articles/hea...
Government response to Covid was ‘too little too late’, inquiry finds
Report says 23,000 deaths could have been avoided with earlier lockdown
thedoctor.bma.org.uk
November 20, 2025 at 8:32 PM
23,000 deaths in England could have been prevented in the first wave of Covid if lockdown had started a week earlier, a new report by the Covid Inquiry has found.
Read more in The Doctor Magazine👇
thedoctor.bma.org.uk/articles/hea...
Read more in The Doctor Magazine👇
thedoctor.bma.org.uk/articles/hea...