Hard to stay sane and healthy in the midst of a record flu season, as government and public health are being dismantled with no real plan or reason. Thank you for helping!
I worry about the flu vaccine for next year without WHO participation and if there will be COVID vaccines available, and all the other vaccines. And although the new head of HHS doesn’t prioritize infectious disease, it still spreads and sometimes it’s spreading more because prevention is being attacked.
See! Trying to say sane, only sometimes successful.
In addition to blanketing our two Senators, Durbin and Duckworth, with calls every day on the issues and cabinet nominees, we also contact our state officials. I have a small group who work together early each morning to write our scripts. Then we spread the word to others in our networks. It's really important to contact your State Attorney Generals as well as the relevant state official, such as the Director of Public Health. The State Attorneys General have joined to file many lawsuits against the current administration, beginning with the birthright citizenship issue. We are being bombarded with all of this every day. Do meditative breathing, take a walk if the weather allows, eat healthy, read books that comfort you, such as poetry. Remain determined to resist in ways that keep you safe.
Archive.org. that's the website that has all of the archives of the government websites before they were taken down and reposted. You can compare the data there to what's currently up.
I would be glad to do some of the pages. Confirmation analysis sounds a bit daunting but comparing pages to see what's different is something I can do. Is it possible to set up something here so we know what pages are done, so as not to duplicate effort? Although the more eyes the better, to catch things. So maybe to just record which pages have been reviewed at least once?
Can you sketch in a little more detail what you have in mind for this confirmation analysis? Is it just eyeballing web pages to look for discrepancies? (That seems like the simplest approach, but perhaps the least reliable.) Are there downloadable datasets (e.g., CSV files) that could be compared mechanically? How important is it for the people doing the comparison to have some sort of medical or public health background?
My son is a cancer survivor and now has a weaker immune system. My immune system is unusual as well. These vaccines are really important to us. Thank you for all this information.
Accurate shared data is helpful for health and wellbeing of our population, health systems & economy. Clearly not a lesson learned by President Trump in 2020.
Thank you so much for these "public health news you can use" updates. It's getting more and more challenging to find information like this that can be trusted, and it's so essential. Again, thank you!
A challenge is to fund all wanted programs with a balanced budget. The history of just printing more money has yet to end well. And the ballooning debt will be devastating if not controlled or if interest rates rise. We live in interesting times.
Certainly our government should strive for a balanced budget, or at least minimize the extent of debt that is incurred. But it should not be done only by curbing money going out, but also by the money coming in. The latter has been an issue for many years and has the potential to worsen if current promises come to fruition.
I can’t thank you enough for keeping all of us updated. It is so difficult to stay attuned to all the different issues this administration is posing, so having an easily digestible email is perfect for educations myself and communicating to others.
I’m wondering if in future editions that talk about the flu, if you can cover the differences between Tamiflu and Xofluza. I’m hearing more and more about Xofluza but have never heard of it before this current wave. I’m moderately immunocompromised, so always trying to stay ahead of all the communicable diseases floating around.
When I heard of the measles outbreak in Texas my first thought was that the public would never understand the potential disaster this foretells. My first thought was 'at least I have JLE to keep me safe and informed.' I live in (ugh) Louisiana, worked in healthcare, and know how much the public needs encouragement and education. The local and national regimes are damaging America. What will it take to get back on track?
"Two Senators—one Democrat and one Republican—sent a letter to the FDA warning of the ad’s risk of misleading patients. The Partnership for Safe Medicines, a coalition of nonprofits, also wrote a disapproving letter to the FDA."
When the other shoe drops, it might look something like this:
The persons responsible for acting on those complaints have been fired.
Extraordinarily helpful, clear, and action-oriented, as Team YLE always is. Thank you so, so much! Now, that said, I do want to offer a note that I hope will be taken with the spirit in which I intend it, regarding the “disclaimer” the HHS is now putting at the head of various pages of the CDC website. Many liberals have valid, serious concerns about the way in which gender ideology has been inscribed into law and policy, including health care policy and practice. I am one who, after diligent and continuing research on these issues, shares these concerns. At first blush, to many who share such concerns, the response to the disclaimer may well be to agree with it, without thinking beyond that. To counter this, more explanation is necessary to make the needed point. The way I try and explain this to liberals who have well-founded concerns about the problematic influence of gender ideology is to talk about the difference between a policy on its face and its implementation. For example, one of the very important points you made in an earlier post was that the CDC was given two days to make millions of changes. There is no way that anything finely calibrated to get at any actual problems with the data could occur in that short time. Again, I hope this will be taken with the spirit in which I intend it. I am enormously grateful for and supportive of your work.
I have been cautious about modern concepts of gender, as well. I found a recent podcast (with all data sources listed) on gender-affirming care to be very informative and assuring. It’s worth checking out Science Vs. Episode name is “Trans Kids’ Healthcare: Are We Getting It Wrong?”
Hi, Emilie: Thanks for the link, and for your thoughtful response. I did look at the transcript, and one thing that leapt out to me right away was the commentators’ treatment of the Cass Review, with which I disagree in a number of respects. I recommend highly to anyone looking into these issues to start by reading the Cass Review final report and associated FAQs, and along with that, Hannah Barnes’s book “Time to Think.” What’s really important here is to wrest this issue out of a left-right paradigm and view it on the merits. Here’s a link to the Cass Final Report: https://cass.independent-review.uk/home/publications/final-report/ (I don’t want to impinge on Team YLE’s post further here, but I hope you find the info helpful. I appreciate very much your willingness to have an exchange on this. That’s exactly what we need, so tip of the 🎩 to you!)
That often cited review was written by advocates, sorry to say. It has been extensively evaluated and in large part debunked. Here is one thoroughgoing analysis: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0092623X.2025.2455133#d1e1896 Please understand that I write as a progressive Democrat who is horrified by what is happening in our country and want to see everyone who thinks so also to be rowing in the same direction so that we have some chance of saving our democracy. The Cass Review is in line with systematic reviews that have been done in several European countries that share our liberal values. The Labour Government has taken it seriously, as we should, and is conducting itself accordingly, including putting a pause on puberty blockers indefinitely until better evidence is obtained. The majority of Democratic voters already understand that the medicalization of children who are under various kinds of distress, including autism, child abuse, and young people struggle with the dawning of same-sex attraction is not warranted. It really is essential for those of us who are liberal and progressive to get the smoke out of our eyes on this and follow the science. We don’t have any more time to waste on getting this right. Read the Cass Review, including the FAQs, read Barne’s Time to Think, and then spend some time reflecting on all of this. I also commend to you to follow sites like Broadview and the Courage Coalition. The people at these sites write from a position of compassion, knowledge, and deep empathy for children who are affected. They can tell you much more than I can, chapter and verse, about why it is a fool’s errand to look to the Yale Review for a competent analysis of the Cass Review.
Hard to stay sane and healthy in the midst of a record flu season, as government and public health are being dismantled with no real plan or reason. Thank you for helping!
I worry about the flu vaccine for next year without WHO participation and if there will be COVID vaccines available, and all the other vaccines. And although the new head of HHS doesn’t prioritize infectious disease, it still spreads and sometimes it’s spreading more because prevention is being attacked.
See! Trying to say sane, only sometimes successful.
In addition to blanketing our two Senators, Durbin and Duckworth, with calls every day on the issues and cabinet nominees, we also contact our state officials. I have a small group who work together early each morning to write our scripts. Then we spread the word to others in our networks. It's really important to contact your State Attorney Generals as well as the relevant state official, such as the Director of Public Health. The State Attorneys General have joined to file many lawsuits against the current administration, beginning with the birthright citizenship issue. We are being bombarded with all of this every day. Do meditative breathing, take a walk if the weather allows, eat healthy, read books that comfort you, such as poetry. Remain determined to resist in ways that keep you safe.
This is great advice. Thanks for what you all are doing!
Archive.org. that's the website that has all of the archives of the government websites before they were taken down and reposted. You can compare the data there to what's currently up.
Yes! Someone just needs to do it :)
I would be glad to do some of the pages. Confirmation analysis sounds a bit daunting but comparing pages to see what's different is something I can do. Is it possible to set up something here so we know what pages are done, so as not to duplicate effort? Although the more eyes the better, to catch things. So maybe to just record which pages have been reviewed at least once?
Can you sketch in a little more detail what you have in mind for this confirmation analysis? Is it just eyeballing web pages to look for discrepancies? (That seems like the simplest approach, but perhaps the least reliable.) Are there downloadable datasets (e.g., CSV files) that could be compared mechanically? How important is it for the people doing the comparison to have some sort of medical or public health background?
I can help! How can we organize this?
I'd also like to help with this!
The website "disclaimer" is sickening in how misleading it is.
In case folks aren't aware, this is the Louisiana Health Secretary who is banning vaccine promotion:
https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/report-pharmacies-owned-by-gop-rep-prescribed-massive-amount-of-opioids-to-community-of-6000/
Not the kind of irony one finds in a blacksmith shop.
KJ and the YLE Team – thank you for being a port in this storm!
My son is a cancer survivor and now has a weaker immune system. My immune system is unusual as well. These vaccines are really important to us. Thank you for all this information.
Thank you KATELYN JETELINA❣️
Accurate shared data is helpful for health and wellbeing of our population, health systems & economy. Clearly not a lesson learned by President Trump in 2020.
Thank you so much for these "public health news you can use" updates. It's getting more and more challenging to find information like this that can be trusted, and it's so essential. Again, thank you!
I have seen emails advising 65+ adults who received the Covid shot when it was first available last year should now get another shot.
Is this advisable?
I asked my PCP - we can get another one in 6 months from the last one. That’s March for me!
I am hoping you are recording your webinar tomorrow as I am traveling and do not want to miss it.I am sure others will have conflicts too
Yes it will be recorded!
Thanks.. Good to know
Where at?
A challenge is to fund all wanted programs with a balanced budget. The history of just printing more money has yet to end well. And the ballooning debt will be devastating if not controlled or if interest rates rise. We live in interesting times.
Certainly our government should strive for a balanced budget, or at least minimize the extent of debt that is incurred. But it should not be done only by curbing money going out, but also by the money coming in. The latter has been an issue for many years and has the potential to worsen if current promises come to fruition.
I can’t thank you enough for keeping all of us updated. It is so difficult to stay attuned to all the different issues this administration is posing, so having an easily digestible email is perfect for educations myself and communicating to others.
I’m wondering if in future editions that talk about the flu, if you can cover the differences between Tamiflu and Xofluza. I’m hearing more and more about Xofluza but have never heard of it before this current wave. I’m moderately immunocompromised, so always trying to stay ahead of all the communicable diseases floating around.
When I heard of the measles outbreak in Texas my first thought was that the public would never understand the potential disaster this foretells. My first thought was 'at least I have JLE to keep me safe and informed.' I live in (ugh) Louisiana, worked in healthcare, and know how much the public needs encouragement and education. The local and national regimes are damaging America. What will it take to get back on track?
"Two Senators—one Democrat and one Republican—sent a letter to the FDA warning of the ad’s risk of misleading patients. The Partnership for Safe Medicines, a coalition of nonprofits, also wrote a disapproving letter to the FDA."
When the other shoe drops, it might look something like this:
The persons responsible for acting on those complaints have been fired.
Extraordinarily helpful, clear, and action-oriented, as Team YLE always is. Thank you so, so much! Now, that said, I do want to offer a note that I hope will be taken with the spirit in which I intend it, regarding the “disclaimer” the HHS is now putting at the head of various pages of the CDC website. Many liberals have valid, serious concerns about the way in which gender ideology has been inscribed into law and policy, including health care policy and practice. I am one who, after diligent and continuing research on these issues, shares these concerns. At first blush, to many who share such concerns, the response to the disclaimer may well be to agree with it, without thinking beyond that. To counter this, more explanation is necessary to make the needed point. The way I try and explain this to liberals who have well-founded concerns about the problematic influence of gender ideology is to talk about the difference between a policy on its face and its implementation. For example, one of the very important points you made in an earlier post was that the CDC was given two days to make millions of changes. There is no way that anything finely calibrated to get at any actual problems with the data could occur in that short time. Again, I hope this will be taken with the spirit in which I intend it. I am enormously grateful for and supportive of your work.
I have been cautious about modern concepts of gender, as well. I found a recent podcast (with all data sources listed) on gender-affirming care to be very informative and assuring. It’s worth checking out Science Vs. Episode name is “Trans Kids’ Healthcare: Are We Getting It Wrong?”
Hi, Emilie: Thanks for the link, and for your thoughtful response. I did look at the transcript, and one thing that leapt out to me right away was the commentators’ treatment of the Cass Review, with which I disagree in a number of respects. I recommend highly to anyone looking into these issues to start by reading the Cass Review final report and associated FAQs, and along with that, Hannah Barnes’s book “Time to Think.” What’s really important here is to wrest this issue out of a left-right paradigm and view it on the merits. Here’s a link to the Cass Final Report: https://cass.independent-review.uk/home/publications/final-report/ (I don’t want to impinge on Team YLE’s post further here, but I hope you find the info helpful. I appreciate very much your willingness to have an exchange on this. That’s exactly what we need, so tip of the 🎩 to you!)
Viewing it on its merits would include reviewing evidence-based critiques of the Cass Review, such as this white paper written by scholars at Yale and other highly regarded institutions which found serious methodological flaws: https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/white-paper-addresses-key-issues-legal-battles-over-gender-affirming-health-care
That often cited review was written by advocates, sorry to say. It has been extensively evaluated and in large part debunked. Here is one thoroughgoing analysis: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0092623X.2025.2455133#d1e1896 Please understand that I write as a progressive Democrat who is horrified by what is happening in our country and want to see everyone who thinks so also to be rowing in the same direction so that we have some chance of saving our democracy. The Cass Review is in line with systematic reviews that have been done in several European countries that share our liberal values. The Labour Government has taken it seriously, as we should, and is conducting itself accordingly, including putting a pause on puberty blockers indefinitely until better evidence is obtained. The majority of Democratic voters already understand that the medicalization of children who are under various kinds of distress, including autism, child abuse, and young people struggle with the dawning of same-sex attraction is not warranted. It really is essential for those of us who are liberal and progressive to get the smoke out of our eyes on this and follow the science. We don’t have any more time to waste on getting this right. Read the Cass Review, including the FAQs, read Barne’s Time to Think, and then spend some time reflecting on all of this. I also commend to you to follow sites like Broadview and the Courage Coalition. The people at these sites write from a position of compassion, knowledge, and deep empathy for children who are affected. They can tell you much more than I can, chapter and verse, about why it is a fool’s errand to look to the Yale Review for a competent analysis of the Cass Review.