Helen Branswell

Wondering about fall vaccines — who should get them, when, & will they still be available? Key medical organizations have issued clear guidance today.
Good news: The Vaccines for Children program, which covers about 50% of US kids, will still provide them this year. https://www.statnews.com/2026/09/02/vaccine-integrity-project-fall-winter-guidelines-rsv-covid-flu-shots/

C.J. Peters, one of the legendary virus hunters of decades past, has died. In 2018, I traveled to his home in Galveston, Tex., where he told me jaw-dropping story after jaw-dropping story. He had an extraordinary brain and was hugely curious. Such a loss. https://www.statnews.com/2018/02/20/virus-hunter-cj-peters/

Trump's #vaccines executive order calls for breaking combo vaxes into individual pathogen shots again, starting with #MMR — measles, mumps & rubella. Experts argue there's no science supporting this & manufacturers are not on board. Most parents likely aren't either. https://www.statnews.com/2026/08/11/health-care-pharma-industry-pushes-back-trump-vaccine-policy-changes/

The #CDC #measles page still doesn't list any measles-related deaths in 2026. But the coroner in Lancaster County, PA has reported that at least 1 of 2 recent deaths linked to measles was due to measles.
The CDC site was updated today. Will another update follow? https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/04/well/measles-infant-pennsylvania-death.html

What could possibly go wrong?
#CDC pauses support for states on testing for #rabies & #mpox because it doesn't have the personnel to do the work.
2 pathogens you really don't want to mess with, rabies & mpox. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/01/health/cdc-rabies-mpox-tests-paused.html?partner=slack&smid=sl-share

The US has recorded 2073 confirmed #measles cases so far this year, which is 91% of the total accumulated last year -- in less than six months. 40 jurisdictions have reported cases.
https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html

12 more dairy cow herds in Idaho have tested positive for #H5N1 #birdflu, #USDA has reported. It had been about a month since the most recent positive tests were revealed.
This brings the national total to 1,105 dairy herds in 19 states since March 2024. https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-detections/hpai-confirmed-cases-livestock

The bits of animal data suggesting #Ervebo, the #Ebola Zaire vaccine, might be useful against #Bundibugyo Ebola are getting supported from data showing some cross protection in blood of vaccinees. That's leading to increasing calls to study the vaccine in DRC. https://www.statnews.com/2026/07/22/new-study-supports-testing-of-mercks-ebola-vaccine-in-drc-outbreak/

The outbreak of #Ebola #Bundibugyo is now the 3rd largest on record. The #WHO country rep in DRC, Anne Ancia, told the World Health Assembly today that the suspected case count is now over 500, with 130 suspected deaths.
This will be hugely difficult to contain. https://www.unognewsroom.org/story/en/3126/ebola-update-who

The #hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship off the coast of Africa is a serious public health event that needs to be handled properly. But if you are having #Covid flashbacks, put those worries to rest. The risk here is to people on the ship & their close contacts. https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/07/hantavirus-cruise-ship-outbreak-scientists-say-not-new-pandemic/

Stanley Plotkin had a major hand in the development of a number of vaccines in use today; he designed the rubella vaccine. He remembers the world before widespread use of vaccines & knows what's coming as vaccine policy is rewritten & vaccine confidence is eroded. https://www.statnews.com/2026/03/02/stanley-plotkin-profile-godfather-of-vaccines-worried/

When the Trump administration came into office, it was presented with a playbook, 100s of pages long, detailing how to organize a multi-agency response to threats, including #Ebola. It's not being used, Daniel Payne and Chelsea Cirruzzo report. https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/30/trump-ebola-response-biden-pandemic-preparations-thrown-away/

Congenital #syphilis is a "never event" in the medical world - shouldn't happen. But the only drug to prevent spread from an infected mother to her baby is in short supply & the system set up to deliver it where it's needed failed, Eric Boodman of @STAT@newsie.social reports. https://www.statnews.com/2026/06/15/pfizer-bicillin-shortage-preventable-congenital-syphilis-surging/

As an outbreak, #hantavirus on a cruise ship is more interesting than alarming. But it should serve as a warning sign to the US, which by withdrawing from #WHO has cut itself off from WHO's outbreak intelligence network — which could prove challenging during this summer's World Cup, Krutika Kuppalli writes for @STAT@newsie.social.
https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/05/hantavirus-cruise-ship-outbreak-who-world-cup/

Multiple vaccines offer benefits beyond protecting the vaccinated individual from the disease the vaccine targets. Some protect fetuses in the womb, some protect people who are immunocompromised, some protect seniors. As vax rates fall, these benefits are threatened. https://www.statnews.com/2026/03/19/vaccine-success-widespread-hidden-benefits-make-skepticism-possible/

Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis is a rare but fatal side effect of #measles infection, which manifests years after a kid recovers. This story of a family who lost a 10-year old to it is heartbreaking. Renae was too young to be vaccinated when she caught measles. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/21/opinion/measles-child-britain-vaccination.html

How do you persuade people they need to take #Ebola seriously when more in their midst are dying from other diseases & armed conflict? That is the challenge #WHO DG Tedros confronted when he visited the outbreak zone in DRC this week. “Ebola is a lesser evil." https://www.statnews.com/2026/06/13/who-director-general-in-drc-war-greater-concern-than-ebola/

#Measles update: In the first 4 months of 2026, there have been 1,814 confirmed measles cases (& doubtless many more that were never confirmed).
For context: That's 79% of the total for the entirety of 2025 — but in 4 months, not 12. https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html#cdc_data_surveillance_section_5-yearly-measles-cases

The Senate's #HELP committee vote on whether to support Sean Kaufman's nomination for the head of the public health preparedness operations at #HHS has been delayed due to lack of support. @statnews@bird.makeup 's intrepid Chelsea Cirruzzo has the story. https://www.statnews.com/2026/07/23/sean-kaufman-aspr-nomination-confirmation-vote-postponed-senate-committee/

There's no vaccine to protect against #Ebola #Bundibugyo. But there is a tiny bit of animal data suggesting Ervebo, the Ebola Zaire vaccine, might offer some cross protection & debate within scientific circles & at #WHO over whether to try to see if it might help. https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/18/ebola-outbreak-update-experts-weigh-use-merck-vaccine-ervebo/

The #hantavirus outbreak onboard the MV Hondius is an rapidly evolving situation. Here are some takeaways from the #WHO press conference today. A key one for me: the US and Argentina, both recent WHO dropouts, are cooperating with the WHO-led efforts.
https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/07/hantavirus-outbreak-key-takeaways-who-cruise-ship-briefing/

As @statnews@bird.makeup reported yesterday, several Americans in DRC had high-risk exposures to #Ebola in the latest outbreak. One has tested positive. These individuals are being flown to Germany for observation and treatment as needed. https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/18/cdc-ebola-travel-ban-announced-uganda-congo-south-sudan/

The United States is taking a Fortress America approach to the current #Ebola outbreak, seemingly more concerned about keeping Ebola out than in helping to contain the outbreak at source — even if that means forcing infected Americans to be treated abroad. https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/28/trump-ebola-travel-restrictions-discourages-medical-volunteers/

#Flu season is over, but pediatric flu deaths from 2025-26 continue to be reported to #CDC. Last week it was informed of 8 more deaths, bringing the season's total to date to 166. It will continue to rise, sadly, in the weeks ahead.
85% of those kids were not fully vaxed. https://www.cdc.gov/fluview/surveillance/2026-week-18.html

There are media reports of 2 new #H5N1 #birdflu outbreaks in dairy cows, in Texas and Utah. They haven't yet been added to #USDA 's dashboard. If confirmed by USDA, there will have been 1,109 herds infected in 19 states.
https://www.telemundoutah.com/noticias/local/influenza-aviar-lecheria-logan/2397092/ and
https://www.kbtx.com/2026/06/04/highly-pathogenic-avian-flu-found-texas-dairy-herd/

ICYMI (I did): #FDA has accepted the recommendation of its expert panel, #VRBPAC & recommended that Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers make a monovalent targeting the JN.1 lineage XFG variant.
How will #CDC handle the change? It would normally go to #ACIP but it's in limbo. https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/industry-biologics/covid-19-vaccines-2026-2027-formula-use-united-states-beginning-fall-2026

In case you missed it — I did! — the process to select the next #WHO director-general has begun.
DGs can only serve 2 terms; the current DG, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus' 2nd term is up next summer. On April 24, he notified member states that the nomination period was open. It closes 9/24/26. https://www.who.int/about/governance/election-of-the-who-director-general

#CDC has been without a director for most of Trump 2.0. A new nominee was put forward today, Erika Schwartz, a former deputy surgeon general. (Nomination was scooped earlier this week by the Washington Post's Dan Diamond and Lena Sun.)
Let's see what happens. https://www.statnews.com/2026/04/16/erica-schwartz-cdc-director-nominee/

The World Cup of Football will bring enormous numbers of people from across the globe to North America. It could well serve to spread diseases. The risk that #Ebola will be one of them is quite low, Krutika Kuppalli writes for @statnews@bird.makeup. https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/28/ebola-world-cup-travel-public-health-measles/

#WHO's director-general Tedros implores the warring factions in DRC's Ituri province to call a ceasefire so that efforts to stop the #Ebola #Bundibugyo outbreak can be mounted & take hold. "I urge you, I implore you: give us the space to help the people who need it most." https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2026-message-by-the-who-director-general-to-the-people-of-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo

"The surgeon general is not a wellness influencer": Former surgeon general Jerome Adams on why the Senate should not confirm surgeon general-nominee Casey Means, who does not have an active physician's license. https://www.statnews.com/2026/02/27/casey-means-surgeon-general-jerome-adams/

#Flu season is over but #CDC was alerted last wk to 7 more kids who died from flu. Six were from this past season, bringing the total to date to 155. It will grow becoz these deaths are often reported on a delay, as the 7th death shows; it occurred in March 2025. The 2024-25 total is now a jaw-dropping, unbelievably tragic 297 children.
Most of these kids were not vaxed.
https://www.cdc.gov/fluview/surveillance/2026-week-16.html

#USDA reports another #H5N1 #birdflu infected dairy cow herd in Idaho.
This is the 1,107th reported infection of a dairy herd since the outbreak was first detected in March 2024. Infected herds have been reported from 19 states. https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestock-poultry-disease/avian/avian-influenza/hpai-detections/hpai-confirmed-cases-livestock

Read this: When #HHS rewrote the childhood vaccination schedule, it pushed several "recommended for all vaccines" to the "shared clinical decision making" category. SCDM has been conflated with informed consent by proponents of the change but it isn't that.
https://jakescottmd.substack.com/p/when-the-default-is-inaction

With #hantavirus & #Ebola crowding the headlines, it's important to remember how critical outbreak readiness is. Emerging diseases continue to emerge & ever expanding global travel means a threat elsewhere can be a threat almost anywhere. https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/15/ebola-outbreak-drc-hantavirus-who/

Doctors in several European cities are seeing cases of an animal skin disease in men who have sex with men who haven't had contact with the livestock that normally contract this disease. The good news is, it's mild & treatable. The hope is all cases are mild. https://www.statnews.com/2026/05/11/rare-animal-skin-infection-msm-clusters-europe-dermatophilus-congolensis/

#HHS refused for weeks to confirm what was widely known: Jeffery Taubenberger had been removed as acting director of #NIAID. Today HHS confirmed that John H. Powers is now acting director.
Why this happened & why HHS refused to admit it remains undisclosed. https://www.statnews.com/2026/06/09/niaid-acting-director-john-powers-replaces-taubenberger/

The publisher Elsevier confirms it has turned down a request from the leaders of the Bandim Health Project to retract a commentary in Vaccine that analyzed their work on non-specific effects of vaccines & concluded there were significant problems with it. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0264410X25012344?via%3Dihub

The next #WHO director-general will be selected in 2027 but candidates will soon start throwing hats in the ring.
A name one hears as a possible candidate is Hanan Balkhy, director for WHO's Eastern Mediterranean region, who has a very challenging job these days. https://www.statnews.com/2026/04/14/next-who-director-general-candidate-qa-with-hanan-balkhy/

Duikers — a variety of small antelopes prevalent in Central and West Africa — may be playing a role in the spread of #mpox, Science's Kai Kupferschmidt reports. https://www.science.org/content/article/these-small-african-antelopes-may-help-mpox-spread

The US government plowed money into #Covid vaccines, money that allowed for their rapid development. As the vaccines transition to the private market, the USG is pay 3x more per shot than it did earlier — & more than elsewhere. https://www.statnews.com/2023/09/28/covid-vaccines-higher-price/

Seth Berkley is days from concluding a 12-year tenure as the head of Gavi, which helps low-income countries buy vaccines. I talked to Berkley about the work he's done & his concerns for the future of the vaccines sector. "I’m impatient when it has to do with people’s lives," he told me.
https://www.statnews.com/2023/07/20/seth-berkley-gavi-vaccines-covid-interview/