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Ed Belongia MD

@belongia.bsky.social
4K followers 1.1K following 825 posts

Vaccines & viruses | Epidemiology & public health | Former CDC & ACIP | Climate advocate | Dog walker & e-biker Google Scholar: scholar.google.com/citations?user=X…

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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
FDA provided a thorough & unbiased review of Moderna's mRNA flu vax at today's VRBPAC mtg. 👉 Superior relative effectiveness vs. standard dose vax in ppl 50+ 👉 Superior immune response vs high dose vax in ppl 65+ 👉 More freq local/systemic side effects (most mild/mod) 👉 Reassuring safety profile
CDC summary slide
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
💯
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
Takeaways from @ylepidemiologist.bsky.social webinar on vax hesitancy 👉Changing minds takes time 👉Vax decisions play into identity 👉Close the language gap (use familiar terms) 👉Be genuinely curious about sources 👉You don't have to be a doc to be a trusted messenger open.substack.com/pub/yourloca...
open.substack.com
From questions to confidence: What changed my mind on vaccines
YLE webinar recording, takeaways, and FAQs
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Jonathan Howard @joho.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
"The double standard could not be more stark: Scientific evidence supporting vaccines is suppressed while unsupported claims casting doubt on them are amplified." The legacy of our failed FDA leaders
geneticliteracyproject.org
The FDA couldn’t find a vaccine safety crisis, so it buried its own research
Corrupt and Unethical Leadership at the FDA here is a particular kind of government betrayal that arrives not with a bang, but with an
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
How to restore ACIP credibility: 👉 Ensure appropriate membership (ie, real experts) 👉 Restore integrity to meeting agendas 👉 Restore integrity & transparency to ACIP processes 👉 Limit & disclose role of political appointees 👉 Revise ACIP charter www.statnews.com/2026/05/18/a... via @statnews.com
statnews.com
How to restore credibility to the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee
Jesse Goodman, former director of CBER and former FDA chief scientist, calls for five critical changes to restore trust in the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
"Hantavirus may be contained. But the conditions that made these two weeks so destabilizing are not. The real outbreak is one of fractured trust, unhealed trauma, and absent leadership. No one is coming to fix it but us." @ylepidemiologist.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/yourloca...
open.substack.com
Something deeper than hantavirus
Two weeks ago, my phone started lighting up before I’d had my coffee.
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Great update on the hantavirus situation, including a few pointed questions for CDC. 👇 @ylepidemiologist.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/yourloca...
open.substack.com
Hantavirus update
Steady heads, good news, and some questions
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public health guy @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
icymi trump defunded an important yale lab that works on pandemic and climate change risk *as the hantavirus outbreak unfolded*. that deserves more attention
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
CDC denied a request by @helenbranswell.bsky.social to interview a hantavirus expert, & CDC press release is fluff without substance. Look to ECDC and WHO for timely & detailed situation updates. www.statnews.com/2026/05/07/h... via @statnews.com
statnews.com
Cruise ship hantavirus outbreak worries experts, though they discount pandemic fears
Scientists are worried that hantaviruses haven’t been as well studied as they ought to be, but not that the MV Hondius cruise ship is ground zero for the next pandemic.
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Good resource for sharing with vaccine-hesitant family and friends. 👇
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
💯👇👇
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Withdrawing from the World Health Organization was a very bad move. 👇
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Adam Kucharski @adamjkucharski.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
This is a good primer on the test-negative study design if you want to know how this widely used method works: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... Main benefit is can get near real-time estimates (i.e. this vaccine against this strain), rather than low RCT (result = historical vaccine & strain)
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
CDC Director is censoring CDC scientists on COVID vax effectiveness study. The stated reason is concerns about study methods. This is bogus--the test-neg design is valid and has been widely used for 15+ years. The real reason is the study results don't support RFK's anti-vax crusade. wapo.st/41JhAhb
wapo.st
CDC won’t publish report showing covid shots cut likelihood of hospital visits
The report, which had cleared the agency’s scientific-review process, had been delayed. It now won’t be published at all, people familiar with the decision told The Post.
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Edward Nirenberg @enirenberg.bsky.social · 10/04/2026
I'd like to take a second to explain all the ways that this comment is disqualifying as a marker of legitimate expertise in vaccination. 🧵 www.nytimes.com./2026/04/09/h...
In his petition to Dr. Bhattacharya, Mr. Siri similarly argued that vaccines that blunt illness but do not prevent infection or transmission do not have an impact more broadly on the population, so individuals should be free to choose for themselves whether they wish to be immunized. He included in this category vaccines against polio, tetanus and human papillomavirus or HPV.
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Acting CDC Dir is delaying publication of COVID vax effectiveness (VE) study that found high protection. He has concerns about the test-negative design (TND) but does not understand this method. It has been widely used for 15+ years & is the gold-standard for flu/COVID VE studies. 👇 wapo.st/4ccudpF
wapo.st
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
I just started following Grandparents For Vaccines. What a great concept! They are promoting vaccines with stories from: 👉 Survivors of preventable childhood diseases 👉 Caregivers 👉 People who remember friends, relatives, etc with polio or other serious childhood disease bsky.app/profile/gpar...
bsky.app
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CIDRAP @cidrap.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
New COVID variant with immune escape potential confirmed in US & 22 other countries. BA.3.2 represents a new lineage of SARS-CoV-2, genetically distinct from the JN.1 lineages that have circulated in the US since January 2024. Read more: ow.ly/Q50350YxOSv Photo Credit: NIAID
Image of rendering of SARS-CoV-2 virus particles. 

Credit: NIAID
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
CDC used to be the world's preeminent public health agency. It has been dismantled with astonishing speed. The loss of CDC expertise and credibility will lead to more sickness & distrust for a generation, regardless of who wins the next election. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Inside the Turmoil at RFK Jr.’s CDC, as Told by Current and Former Employees (Gift Article)
Forty-three current and former C.D.C. employees on the changes they say are replacing science with ideology — and making Americans more vulnerable.
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Warming oceans, melting glaciers, extreme weather, rising seas👇 “A study about the pace of global warming, published on March 6, found that…the rate of global warming has accelerated since 2015.” @nytimes.com
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Edward Nirenberg @enirenberg.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
The indirect — and sometimes surprising — benefits of vaccines www.statnews.com/2026/03/19/v... via @statnews.com
statnews.com
The indirect — and sometimes surprising — benefits of vaccines
Many vaccines confer surprising knock-on, or indirect, health benefits when they have been put into widespread use.
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Get ready for a resurgence in vaccine-preventable diseases, brought to you by the US govt. Excellent review by @propublica.org 👇
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
This is a big win for evidence-based vaccine policies. ACIP can meet this week but they can’t vote to change the CDC recommendations.
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Tara C. Smith @aetiology.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
🧵🦠🧪
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Amy Maxmen, PhD @amymaxmen.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
Growing measles outbreak in Florida, and yet somehow the Florida Dept of Health has managed to avoid mentioning vaccines. Small print suggests consulting clinics for "pre-exposure options." 🫠
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Stanley Plotkin is a living legend in the vaccine world. He often attended ACIP meetings & I was lucky to meet him years ago. Kudos to @helenbranswell.bsky.social for profiling his life and accomplishments at a time when vaccines are under attack. We need his wisdom & insights more than ever. 👇
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CIDRAP @cidrap.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
WHO updates all 3 viral strains to be included in fall flu shots The recommendation for vaccines for the next flu season includes a new influenza variant—subclade K—that started to increase last fall. www.cidrap.umn.edu/i...
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
“In the pre-vaccine era, hundreds of kids would get measles encephaltitis each year. And many of them died.”
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Dorit Reiss @doritreiss.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
As measles cases climb, these 9 diseases threaten comebacks: ""When vaccination rates decrease, the most highly contagious diseases pop up first..." so measles is first, but other killers will follow. wapo.st/3ZXc2yK
wapo.st
As measles cases climb, these 9 diseases threaten comebacks
When it comes to infectious diseases, measles is “the canary in the coal mine,” one expert said.
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
“In his relentless undermining of vaccines, Kennedy is working to make our lives shorter and harder. Congress should pay attention.” 👇 wapo.st/40hAz1H
wapo.st
Opinion | RFK Jr.’s war on vaccines is coming for the elderly
The miseries of aging are more linked to late-life infections than was previously understood.
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
HHS spokesperson says "HHS will put rigorous science and public trust first, every time.” It's the opposite. They cherry-pick data, overstate the risks, & ignore the benefits of vaccination. They actively undermine public trust. Must-read article by @laurenweberhp.bsky.social 👇 wapo.st/46jSng1
wapo.st
Inside RFK Jr.’s push against the flu vaccine that he links to his voice condition
Trump’s health secretary has halted federal flu vaccine promotions, citing personal beliefs about vaccine risks.
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
"So far, vaccine manufacturers say that they have no plans to exit the market & that their businesses are resilient enough to withstand the new pressures." But vaccine manufacturers could decide to abandon the US market if the govt removes liability protections. NYT report by Rebecca Robbins 👇
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
The US govt has rejected rigorous & unbiased review of vaccine benefits/risks. The clown show at the new ACIP is causing public distrust & confusion. Kudos to VIP, AMA, AAP and other orgs for stepping up to provide clear science-based recs.
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Dorit Reiss @doritreiss.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
Moderna’s president weighs in on FDA’s decision not to review its flu vaccine: completely unexpected, again FDA's prior representations, and cast doubt on industry's willingness to go into trials for vaccines and other products. www.statnews.com/2026/02/12/m... via @statnews.com
statnews.com
Moderna’s president weighs in on FDA’s decision not to review its flu vaccine
In an interview, Moderna President Stephen Hoge took questions on an FDA decision on the biotech's mRNA flu vaccine, as well as the impact on the company and others in the industry.
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
💯👇👇
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
The Moderna flu vax is under review for licensure in Canada, Australia and the EU. It will be widely used in many countries, but not in the US. Excellent summary by @melodyschreiber.com 👇
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
FDA launches a full-scale war on mRNA vaccines by refusing to review the clinical trial data for Moderna's flu vax 👇 www.statnews.com/2026/02/10/f... via @statnews.com
statnews.com
FDA refuses to review Moderna’s influenza vaccine
FDA refuses to review Moderna’s influenza vaccine, which could raise concerns about the agency’s posture toward vaccines and drug approvals more generally.
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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Wondering why there's such a fuss about pushing some #vaccine recommendations to "shared clinical decision making"? The term is being conflated with "informed consent," suggesting it's about empowering parents. This isn't that; good take here. yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/shared-dec...
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CIDRAP @cidrap.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
This year’s Pfizer #COVID vaccine estimated to be 57% effective against emergency, urgent care Estimated effectiveness was 54% against outpatient visits, although with considerable uncertainty. www.cidrap.umn.edu/c... Photo: Kenneth Abbate, US Pacific Fleet / Flickr cc
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
We've lost a giant in the field of global health. Bill Foege was an inspirational & selfless leader who played a major role in smallpox eradication. The world needs more leaders like him, esp at this time when public health is under attack. www.statnews.com/2026/01/25/w... via @statnews.com
statnews.com
Public health giant William Foege, who helped eradicate smallpox, has died at 89
‘I wish we could have spared him from seeing that’: Friends of Bill Foege on his legacy, and his anger over anti-vaccination.
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
💯👇👇
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
"If Covid was a fire alarm, our response, incredibly, has been to rip out the wiring. Instead of correcting the underbuilt public health systems that allowed thousands to die in the dark, we are choosing to institutionalize blindness." 👇 www.statnews.com/2026/01/18/t... via @statnews.com
statnews.com
What lingers in ‘The Pitt’ is heartache. What’s missing is outrage
“I am hungry, so hungry, for some depiction of Covid that tells the truth. That what was done to us was not just unbearable, but wrong,” an emergency physician writes of “The Pitt.”
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Liz Szabo @lizszabo.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Another study finds big benefits to getting a COVID vaccine during pregnancy. So why might the FDA add a black box warning to Covid shots? “I just don't think that these are ‘Oopsy!’ accidental leaks. They’re testing the waters to see how far they can go.” www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/pre...
cidrap.umn.edu
Pregnant women vaccinated against COVID-19 less likely to be hospitalized or deliver prematurely, new data show
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
💯👇👇
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Dorit Reiss @doritreiss.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Covid Vaccines Reduced Children’s Likelihood of E.R. and Urgent Care Visits, the C.D.C. Reported www.nytimes.com/2025/12/11/h... via @apoorvkh.com @nytimes.com
nytimes.com
Covid Vaccines Reduced Children’s Likelihood of E.R. and Urgent Care Visits, the C.D.C. Reported
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Dorit Reiss @doritreiss.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
Even ignoring Dr. Høeg's antivaccine views and obvious bias, she has no qualifications for the job. She does not know regulations, she does not know drug approvals, and she has no expertise in any relevant scientific area. No wonder people are resigning. www.cbsnews.com/news/fda-tra...
cbsnews.com
Appointment of controversial FDA official rocking agency like "an atom bomb," scientists there say
The Trump administration's elevation of Dr. Tracy Beth Høeg to lead a high-profile office within the Food and Drug Administration is raising alarm among multiple senior FDA officials.
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
Must-read review of the CDC ACIP meeting by @doritreiss.bsky.social 👇 "These people make decisions that impact people’s lives. Given that, the members’ lack of expertise, incompetence, and blatant anti-vaccine biases were dismaying" www.statnews.com/2025/12/06/a... via @statnews.com
statnews.com
RFK Jr.’s vaccine advisory panel is beset by incompetence, bias, and procedural chaos
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices' (ACIP) meetings used to be a geek’s dream: hours of long, maybe dreary presentation of extensive data
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Kai Kupferschmidt @kakape.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
“I want to reassure parents and clinicians that there is no new or concerning information about the hepatitis B vaccine that is prompting this change, nor has children’s risk of contracting hepatitis B changed. …this is the result of a deliberate strategy to sow fear and distrust among families.”
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Tara C. Smith @aetiology.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
One (of so so many) things that made me angry today was Retsef Levi suggesting people "ask their friends" as a way to gauge HepB prevalence in the community*, when a reason it's currently low is *all the effort we've put into vaccination over several decades*. I miss actual experts on ACIP.
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Ed Belongia MD @belongia.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
Kudos to Dr Langer—a real subject matter expert from the CDC hepatitis branch. His comments are a beacon of clarity in a confused and muddled discussion.
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