Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
@tzvi-pollock.bsky.social
Microbiologist, immunologist, science communicator and editor. A safe space for the conscious 😷 and vulnerable ♿️ in society. | All opinions are my own.
Working right now as Associate Editor with @commsmed.nature.com!
He/Him
Working right now as Associate Editor with @commsmed.nature.com!
He/Him
Reposted by Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
A retreat from investments in drugs and vaccines will leave the U.S. less prepared for the next viral scourge, experts warn. https://scim.ag/47F3Yap
The Trump administration is dismantling efforts to fight the next pandemic
A retreat from investments in drugs and vaccines leaves U.S. less prepared for the next viral scourge, experts warn
scim.ag
November 13, 2025 at 11:19 PM
A retreat from investments in drugs and vaccines will leave the U.S. less prepared for the next viral scourge, experts warn. https://scim.ag/47F3Yap
The barring of collaboration - scientific collaboration!! - across borders is just more evidence that border themselves do way more harm than good.
“The prohibited activities would include joint research, co-authorship on papers, and advising a foreign graduate student or postdoctoral fellow. The language is retroactive, meaning any interactions during the previous 5 years could make a scientist ineligible for future federal funding.”
U.S. Congress considers sweeping ban on Chinese collaborations
Researchers speak out against proposal that would bar funding for U.S. scientists working with Chinese partners or training Chinese students
www.science.org
November 14, 2025 at 3:52 AM
The barring of collaboration - scientific collaboration!! - across borders is just more evidence that border themselves do way more harm than good.
Reposted by Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
seems to me that those democrats inclined not to fight perceive themselves as living through a somewhat ordinary cycle of presidential overreach and backlash and not something much more significant and dangerous
November 10, 2025 at 12:50 PM
seems to me that those democrats inclined not to fight perceive themselves as living through a somewhat ordinary cycle of presidential overreach and backlash and not something much more significant and dangerous
Reposted by Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
A competent opposition party could make transphobia absolutely toxic for the GOP.
THE MAJORITY of money spent by Winsome Earle-Sears and outside groups in Virginia went to anti-trans ads. The GOP needs a new playbook after tonight. Voters are tired of this song.
November 5, 2025 at 1:05 PM
A competent opposition party could make transphobia absolutely toxic for the GOP.
Reposted by Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
Getting vaccinated is much safer than getting Covid
For children and teens, heart and blood vessel complications of Covid overshadow the very rare and short-term risk of vaccinations, a new report from nearly 14 million kids
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
November 5, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Getting vaccinated is much safer than getting Covid
Reposted by Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
The fact that Staten Island is the only borough to go Cuomo simply convinces me that the whole island should be Atlantis'd, or perhaps Lemuria'd.
November 5, 2025 at 2:27 AM
The fact that Staten Island is the only borough to go Cuomo simply convinces me that the whole island should be Atlantis'd, or perhaps Lemuria'd.
Love for my darkest fears to be proven wrong.
Wow it turns out the entire country is not permanently reactionary because Trump won an election by 1.5%
November 5, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Love for my darkest fears to be proven wrong.
We love a vindictive power structure that makes systemic decisions based on their childish tantrums! At least it's only human lives and livelihoods that are at stake. 😌
good piece. and nirav shah gets it exactly right — grievance and retribution are trump’s motivations for destroying our nation’s public health agency. as simple and horrific as that.
October 29, 2025 at 2:27 PM
We love a vindictive power structure that makes systemic decisions based on their childish tantrums! At least it's only human lives and livelihoods that are at stake. 😌
Reposted by Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
As an educator, as a fellow woman in science, I’m fucking horrified that Lia Smith who was just a year from
graduation felt her only option was to take her own life.
I lay her death at the feet of all the people hounding trans women athletes like her, you fucking monsters
graduation felt her only option was to take her own life.
I lay her death at the feet of all the people hounding trans women athletes like her, you fucking monsters
October 28, 2025 at 2:18 AM
As an educator, as a fellow woman in science, I’m fucking horrified that Lia Smith who was just a year from
graduation felt her only option was to take her own life.
I lay her death at the feet of all the people hounding trans women athletes like her, you fucking monsters
graduation felt her only option was to take her own life.
I lay her death at the feet of all the people hounding trans women athletes like her, you fucking monsters
Reposted by Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
BREAKING: At least 18 Palestinians have been killed and about 50 others injured in Israeli air strikes across Gaza, medical sources on the ground told Al Jazeera.
🔴 LIVE updates: aje.io/11lhsx
🔴 LIVE updates: aje.io/11lhsx
October 28, 2025 at 10:30 PM
BREAKING: At least 18 Palestinians have been killed and about 50 others injured in Israeli air strikes across Gaza, medical sources on the ground told Al Jazeera.
🔴 LIVE updates: aje.io/11lhsx
🔴 LIVE updates: aje.io/11lhsx
Reposted by Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
There has never been a time when SNAP was withheld nationwide, but this shutdown will break the streak. The public has proof of genocide, pedo rings, foreign collusion, gaslighting, surveillance, urban occupation, police brutality, human trafficking, family separation, etc...and now mass starvation.
Reminder: The only 2 nations that voted AGAINST recognizing food as a human right is the United States and Israel.
October 29, 2025 at 10:56 AM
There has never been a time when SNAP was withheld nationwide, but this shutdown will break the streak. The public has proof of genocide, pedo rings, foreign collusion, gaslighting, surveillance, urban occupation, police brutality, human trafficking, family separation, etc...and now mass starvation.
Well at least the past few years have taught us that disease control isn't a particularly important field! 🙃
This is a jaw-dropping, terrifying number. The CDC's workforce has decreased by 3,000 people since January.
A Quarter of the CDC Is Gone
Another round of terminations, combined with previous layoffs and departures, has reduced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention workforce by about 3,000 people since January.
www.wired.com
October 16, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Well at least the past few years have taught us that disease control isn't a particularly important field! 🙃
Reposted by Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
All I can add to the “we reject universal masking” discourse is that it’s not about masks. You aren’t rejecting universal masking, which never happened; you’re rejecting having to think about wearing a mask, and maybe feeling badly about thinking about masks. Can’t help you there.
October 15, 2025 at 12:23 PM
All I can add to the “we reject universal masking” discourse is that it’s not about masks. You aren’t rejecting universal masking, which never happened; you’re rejecting having to think about wearing a mask, and maybe feeling badly about thinking about masks. Can’t help you there.
Reposted by Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
Fascinating new paper: higher levels of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater correlate with higher health-related absences from work.
"COVID-19 may have created a new year-round baseline for work absences that is similar to influenza season conditions before the pandemic," the authors write.
"COVID-19 may have created a new year-round baseline for work absences that is similar to influenza season conditions before the pandemic," the authors write.
Enduring Outcomes of COVID-19 Work Absences on the US Labor Market
This cohort study examines the extent to which COVID-19 continues to generate work absences and decrease labor force participation beyond the pandemic period in the US.
jamanetwork.com
October 15, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Fascinating new paper: higher levels of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater correlate with higher health-related absences from work.
"COVID-19 may have created a new year-round baseline for work absences that is similar to influenza season conditions before the pandemic," the authors write.
"COVID-19 may have created a new year-round baseline for work absences that is similar to influenza season conditions before the pandemic," the authors write.
Reposted by Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
This is almost literally what the English Civil War was fought over.
President Trump on Wednesday signed a memorandum expanding his administration’s authority to repurpose unspent federal funds to pay members of the military during the government shutdown, escalating his challenge to the authority of Congress on spending matters.
Trump Signs Memo Expanding His Authority to Spend Federal Money
The president gave Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wide authority to repurpose funds to pay members of the military without approval from Congress, which has the sole constitutional authority to decide federal spending.
nyti.ms
October 16, 2025 at 12:17 AM
This is almost literally what the English Civil War was fought over.
Reposted by Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
From @washingtonpost.com Health Brief: a screenshot of the 982 people RIFed from HHS. Majority--596--from CDC. The total was released as part of lawsuit filed by AFGE, the federal workers' union.
#Medsky #IDSky #politics #epidemiology #shutdown
#Medsky #IDSky #politics #epidemiology #shutdown
October 15, 2025 at 9:44 PM
From @washingtonpost.com Health Brief: a screenshot of the 982 people RIFed from HHS. Majority--596--from CDC. The total was released as part of lawsuit filed by AFGE, the federal workers' union.
#Medsky #IDSky #politics #epidemiology #shutdown
#Medsky #IDSky #politics #epidemiology #shutdown
Reposted by Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
I hesitate to elevate this comment—IME people aware of how uninformed it is are in the majority on Bsky—but worth observing that this coming from eg the NYT opinion page is part of why RFK has an opening to pretend to be better on Long Covid than liberals. They’ve made the bar that low.
October 15, 2025 at 12:34 AM
I hesitate to elevate this comment—IME people aware of how uninformed it is are in the majority on Bsky—but worth observing that this coming from eg the NYT opinion page is part of why RFK has an opening to pretend to be better on Long Covid than liberals. They’ve made the bar that low.
This and what everyone is saying. Not everyone seems to understand how dire the accurate threat assessment remains to this day. 😷😷😷
As someone with ME/CFS my entire life is "rational assessment of the threat environment," because I walk a daily tightrope of illness management.
I don't have the luxury of ignoring the science, which overwhelmingly proves the threat of covid is still very real.
That's not fear, it's fact.
I don't have the luxury of ignoring the science, which overwhelmingly proves the threat of covid is still very real.
That's not fear, it's fact.
(and i think it is a demand that stems from fear more than a rational assessment of the threat environment)
October 15, 2025 at 3:17 AM
This and what everyone is saying. Not everyone seems to understand how dire the accurate threat assessment remains to this day. 😷😷😷
Reposted by Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
It is next to impossible to rationally assess the threat environment. People do not test, and mingle even when symptomatic. In addition, a good part of transmission is asymptomatic. Best approximations of infection risk can be made based on wastewater testing, where available, and indoor air quality
October 14, 2025 at 1:51 PM
It is next to impossible to rationally assess the threat environment. People do not test, and mingle even when symptomatic. In addition, a good part of transmission is asymptomatic. Best approximations of infection risk can be made based on wastewater testing, where available, and indoor air quality
Reposted by Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
Using ChatGPT
What's something that isn't considered embarrassing but you think it should be?
August 23, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Using ChatGPT
Reposted by Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
(forgetting the word for antibiotics) do i need cancel culture
October 11, 2025 at 7:09 PM
(forgetting the word for antibiotics) do i need cancel culture
Reposted by Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
It amazes me that academics living under an authoritarian US government that has a various times labeled both climate change and vaccine science as fraud still seem that it would be a good idea to criminalize scientific misconduct.
October 14, 2025 at 7:37 PM
It amazes me that academics living under an authoritarian US government that has a various times labeled both climate change and vaccine science as fraud still seem that it would be a good idea to criminalize scientific misconduct.
Reposted by Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
“One veteran researcher who still has his job (and, like other public-health workers I spoke with for this story, requested anonymity for fear of losing it) told me he believes that Kennedy’s ultimate goal is to “silence the scientific voice of career CDC scientists.””
"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things"
- Peter Drucker
- Peter Drucker
You’re Fired. Just Kidding!
How much more whiplash can the CDC withstand?
www.theatlantic.com
October 14, 2025 at 1:52 AM
“One veteran researcher who still has his job (and, like other public-health workers I spoke with for this story, requested anonymity for fear of losing it) told me he believes that Kennedy’s ultimate goal is to “silence the scientific voice of career CDC scientists.””
Reposted by Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
In a new Science study, researchers show that lysosomes, degradative organelles activated by food limitation, stimulate epigenetic changes that contribute to transgenerational longevity in C. elegans.
📄: https://scim.ag/4gOlR9N
#SciencePerspective: https://scim.ag/3IOqNyH
📄: https://scim.ag/4gOlR9N
#SciencePerspective: https://scim.ag/3IOqNyH
October 6, 2025 at 3:12 PM
In a new Science study, researchers show that lysosomes, degradative organelles activated by food limitation, stimulate epigenetic changes that contribute to transgenerational longevity in C. elegans.
📄: https://scim.ag/4gOlR9N
#SciencePerspective: https://scim.ag/3IOqNyH
📄: https://scim.ag/4gOlR9N
#SciencePerspective: https://scim.ag/3IOqNyH
Reposted by Dr. Tzvi Pollock, PhD
I keep trying to get people to recognize that my having a PhD says a lot more about me being stubborn than me being smart.
PhDs aren't given to intelligent people.
They are earned by people who attempted something quite difficult, the creation of new subfield knowledge, and were both humbled and transformed by it.
They are earned by people who attempted something quite difficult, the creation of new subfield knowledge, and were both humbled and transformed by it.
September 25, 2025 at 1:54 AM
I keep trying to get people to recognize that my having a PhD says a lot more about me being stubborn than me being smart.