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1 week ago | 
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com | Katelyn K. Jetelina
Next week (June 25-26), ACIP—the external committee that sets vaccine policy in the U.S.—meets. Normally, these meetings barely make headlines. They happen three times a year and are usually a routine part of the bureaucratic process determining who gets vaccines and how they’re made available. But these aren’t normal times.
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1 week ago | 
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com | Kristen Panthagani
Like “misinformation” and “disinformation,” the phrase “doing your own research” has become deeply polarizing. To some, it’s a call to think critically about health information and do their due diligence before making health decisions. To others—especially in science and medicine—it represents the mistaken belief that a Google or AI chatbot search can substitute for years of scientific and medical training.
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1 week ago | 
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com | Katelyn K. Jetelina
Hello from Africa! I’m here for a TEDTalk Summit focused on the intersection of a warming climate and health. Nothing quite like international perspectives, the cross-pollination of ideas, and the beauty of wildlife to recalibrate a bit. Back in the U.S. health science world, some glimmers of hope are peeking through the cracks. Also, Covid in Europe may mean us soon, new sobering data in light of Pride Month, and, yes, they are back: sunscreen falsehoods on social media.
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2 weeks ago | 
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com | Katelyn K. Jetelina
It’s been… a week. Sometimes I’m left feeling like I’m bailing buckets of water out of an ocean. So I’m going to keep this short. As you may have heard, RFK Jr. has already revealed eight names for the new ACIP committee. As mentioned earlier, there was a spectrum of possibilities on who these names would be, going from “best case” to “worst case.” Let’s say there are some major red flags.
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2 weeks ago | 
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com | Katelyn K. Jetelina
Well. He did it. In an unprecedented and deeply alarming move, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has removed every single member of the nation’s vaccine policy committee—the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—and announced plans to handpick their replacements. In other words, someone with an established track record of ignoring reality made the unilateral, ideological decision to gut one of the most trusted and effective pillars of America’s vaccine infrastructure.
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2 weeks ago | 
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com | Katelyn K. Jetelina |Jeremy Samuel Faust
In an unprecedented and deeply alarming move, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has removed every single member of the nation’s vaccine policy committee—the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—and announced plans to handpick their replacements. Yesterday, at the spur of the moment, I was asked by my friend and colleague Dr. Jeremy Faust, author of Inside Medicine, if we could discuss it on Substack Live.
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2 weeks ago | 
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com | Katelyn K. Jetelina
Happy Monday! Covid-19 remains mostly quiet (for now), but measles, ticks, and wildfire smoke are ramping up quickly. At the same time, falsehoods are clouding the facts on abortion care and infant formula. Calling this information landscape “confusing” doesn’t quite do it justice. Let’s break it down. For the first time in nearly 30 years, the FDA has approved a brand-new class of antibiotics to treat urinary tract infections—a breakthrough in the fight against antibiotic resistance.
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3 weeks ago | 
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com | Katelyn K. Jetelina
About a month ago, a few of us in public health began meeting with members of the grassroots advocacy group Make America Healthy Again (MAHA). I shared some initial reflections, and our conversation aired on the podcastWhy Should I Trust You. It went viral, sparked by an immense wave of curiosity—people wanted to understand what it looks like when two seemingly opposing sides sit down and actually talk.
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3 weeks ago | 
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com | Katelyn K. Jetelina |Hannah Totte
Happy June! We’re nearly halfway through the year. Phew. This week’s edition of The Dose is a bit packed—partly because we took last week off, and partly because, well, a lot is happening. We’re covering everything from Covid-19 (variants, summer wave concerns, and vaccine eligibility confusion) to a Salmonella outbreak tied to cucumbers, the MAHA report, and more. A lot is happening in the Covid-19 world. Here are 4 updates for you: 1. Transmission and a summer wave.
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4 weeks ago | 
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com | Katelyn K. Jetelina
Given the current health and policy landscape, I’ll be sharing a different kind of post on Fridays—more reflective, less data-heavy. As I wrote in My Promise To You back in February, YLE will always stay grounded in evidence. But Friday reflections are where I’ll share my perspectives, distinguishing where the data ends and opinions begin. This week, the dismantling of science and our health infrastructure continued—at a pace that’s both gobsmacking and grimly impressive.