Your Local Epidemiologist

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Covid summer and confusion, measles, cucumber recall, maternal health declining, and a curious MAHA report

5 days 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.
What would making America healthy really mean?

1 week 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.
Covid-19 vaccines, what just happened at the FDA, and why it matters

2 weeks ago | yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com | Katelyn K. Jetelina

Yesterday, the FDA Commissioner, Marty Makary, and his new advisor, Vinay Prasad, unveiled a major shift in U.S. Covid-19 vaccine policy—via a New England Journal of Medicineperspective piece and a live FDA event. Their bottom line: Going forward, Covid-19 vaccines will only be recommended for people over 65 or with at least one chronic condition. If manufacturers want to offer updated vaccines to younger adults, they must run a new placebo-controlled trial after a variant arrives.
Your top 10 FAQ on drug prices

3 weeks ago | yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com | Katelyn K. Jetelina |Aaron S. Kesselheim

It’s outrageous how much we pay for brand-name drugs in the U.S. An EpiPen is $600 here and just $67 in the U.K. On Monday, the administration dropped an executive order to tackle drug costs. This issue is wildly confusing (sometimes I think that’s on purpose), but that doesn’t make it less important—drug prices shape the lives of millions of Americans. So, I partnered with Dr. Aaron S.
Who are you? Round 4.

3 weeks ago | yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com | Katelyn K. Jetelina

It’s been five years of Your Local Epidemiologist. Five years! What started as an email thread to faculty and staff became an international newsletter with over 370,000 subscribers. And to my utter disbelief, it’s stillgrowing. For the last few years, I wondered how to sustain YLE beyond an international health emergency. Your insight was crucial into understanding how. And I would say we were successful in doing this! But every year, new challenges arise. This year, public health has been hit hard.
The rise of a new form of germ theory denial

1 month ago | yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com | Kristen Panthagani

There is a growing, concerning movement undermining one of the most well established scientific theories there is: germ theory, the idea that germs—like viruses and bacteria—cause disease. But it’s subtle. Outright denial of germ theory is still a fringe idea: very few deny that viruses and bacteria exist. Rather, it’s the effect of germs—whether germs are the true cause of an illness—that is increasingly being called into question.
Novavax confusion, food dyes, measles, dengue, and a new backup plan for vaccines

1 month ago | yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com | Katelyn K. Jetelina

Keeping up with public health developments—both policy and health events—is like drinking from a firehose these days. While all YLE content remains free, we need financial support to keep the team sustainable (and sane). If you can, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription below. Measles cases are still rising fast, dengue season is heating up early, and food dyes may be on their way out.
Inside the Room: How We, As Real People, Can Influence Health Policy-Right Now

1 month ago | yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com | Katelyn K. Jetelina

It often feels like health policy decisions are made behind closed doors, far away from where we live, work, and raise our families. But the truth is: your voice matters more than you think.
Your Local Epidemiologist

1 month ago | yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com | Katelyn K. Jetelina

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Birth rates are falling. But solutions are focused on the wrong thing.

1 month ago | yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com | Katelyn K. Jetelina

I have two beautiful daughters. But the journey to bring them into the world nearly broke me—physically, emotionally, and financially. It took three years of infertility treatments to get pregnant the first time and the cost drained our savings. One round of treatment can run upwards of $50,000—just for a single ovulation cycle, paid entirely out of pocket. And when we tried to fight our insurance denials, we were told there was a “medical alternative”: don’t have a baby.