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Katelyn Jetelina

@kkjetelina.bsky.social
19K followers 246 following 124 posts

Epidemiologist, lover of the ocean and ice cream. Mom of two toddlers. Founder of “Your Local Epidemiologist”. https//yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com

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Reposted by Katelyn Jetelina
Edward Nirenberg @enirenberg.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Some of the studies I find the most interesting are those that look into how to make vaccines work better, and recently, we got a really good one: rdcu.be/for77 Let's go through it 🧵
rdcu.be
Human vaccine responses regulated by parallel cytokine pathways
Nature Immunology - Chen and colleagues identify that baseline IFNβ levels correlate with antibody responses to inactivated influenza vaccines in humans, and show that type I IFNs, IL-12 and...
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Kevin C Klatt, PhD, RD @kcklatt.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Sad events here at #ADA26 - ADA has chosen the side of this administration - pretending it's unsafe to an invited federal speaker to hand out an editorial - over supporting its own leadership who've dedicated countless volunteer hours to the org's right to protest. www.nytimes.com/2026/06/05/w...
nytimes.com
Police Remove Diabetes Experts From Conference for Distributing Critique of Trump Administration
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HigherFructose @higherfructose.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
This line from @kkjetelina.bsky.social 's latest substack regarding the ebola outbreak just hit me like a brick.
Text reads:

We have lost the animating belief that strangers’ suffering is our concern. That the provision of care is not decided by power but by compassion and collective empathy.

The cost is always paid by the same people
The most heartbreaking thing about all of this is that radical individualism doesn’t distribute its consequences equally. It always funnels suffering downward to the poor, the rural, and the people whose names don’t appear in the articles until they are counted among the dead.

End quote.
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Craig Spencer MD MPH @craigspencer.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
A year ago I warned what would happen if the US tore down our disease detection system around the world With Hantavirus & Ebola we are seeing VERY clearly what we’ve lost And why it matters Read my @theatlantic.com piece from last year outlining what happened www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
theatlantic.com
The Diseases Are Coming
Elon Musk’s slash-and-burn government tear will have lasting effects on global health.
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Edward Nirenberg @enirenberg.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Worth your time to read. From @kkjetelina.bsky.social
nytimes.com
Opinion | Our Public Health Agencies Have No Leaders. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
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Dorit Reiss @doritreiss.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Shared decision-making, informed consent, and the rhetoric of false empowerment: How HHS misrepresents SCDM, which is used by doctors in a very specific way - it does not mean "let's talk". open.substack.com/pub/yourloca... via @kmpanthagani.bsky.social
open.substack.com
Shared decision-making, informed consent, and the rhetoric of false empowerment
What these medical terms mean and how they’re fueling confusion about vaccines
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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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Dimitri Drekonja, MD, MS @dimitridrekonja.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Alex Pretti was a colleague at the VA. We hired him to recruit for our trial. He became an ICU nurse- I lover working with him. He was a good kind person who lived to help and these fuckers executed him. White. Hot. Rage.
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Jeremy @floregonian.com · 22/01/2026
Tonight you can use this link for one reason and one reason only: you have to say something nice about yourself. But it’s anonymous so go hog wild. No one will know you were bragging on yourself this hard.
ngl.link
Anonymous messages!
Anonymous messages!
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Helen Branswell 🇨🇦 @helenbranswell.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
That we're in a place, at a time, when someone has to write this headline, this article — it's almost unfathomable. Please do read @krutikakuppalli.bsky.social's take. www.statnews.com/2026/01/12/m...
statnews.com
Medical schools must prepare tomorrow’s doctors for yesterday’s diseases
Medical schools must now prepare tomorrow’s doctors for yesterday’s diseases.
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Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
The vaccine schedule change is "one of the most opaque & destabilizing public health decisions I’ve seen," says @kkjetelina.bsky.social "The result is painfully predictable: fewer children will be vaccinated, and children will be harmed" yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/a-unilater...
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com
A unilateral change to childhood vaccines: What it means for you
And why it matters
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Katelyn Jetelina @kkjetelina.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
As always, women get the job done!
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Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
A thing that serves me well: ALWAYS take very seriously anything @kkjetelina.bsky.social says; she's 1 of the most trusted epidemiologists If FDA thinks risks>benefits, she says, "transparency about their data & reasoning is essential. Closed-door analyses won’t cut it. Americans deserves better.”
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Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
"As of December 14, the U.S. has had 391 mass shootings—more than the number of days in the year—for the seventh consecutive year. Seventy-five of these occurred at schools"— @kkjetelina.bsky.social
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Governor Newsom Press Office @govpressoffice.gov.ca.gov · 16/12/2025
Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, an epidemiologist and one of the nation’s leading scientific communicators, will advise the CA Dept of Public Health on the critical need to maintain public confidence in the institutions that keep Californians safe.
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Edward Nirenberg @enirenberg.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Thank you for writing this, @meganranney.bsky.social.
theatlantic.com
First We Grieve
Then we must act.
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Katelyn Jetelina @kkjetelina.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
Here we goooo. YLE is live tweeting. Follow Ed below.
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Reposted by Katelyn Jetelina
Edward Nirenberg @enirenberg.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
I will be doing live coverage of the ACIP meetings tomorrow and Friday on Bluesky. Here's the agenda: www.cdc.gov/acip/downloa... And here is Your Local Epidemiologist and The Evidence Collective's prebunk: open.substack.com/pub/yourloca... Should be an interesting time
cdc.gov
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Katelyn Jetelina @kkjetelina.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
For the first time in my career, I can’t tell people to trust what the CDC website says. And that is an incredibly sad and devastating place for this country to be.
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Hayden Rooke-Ley @hayrook.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Teamed up with @kkjetelina.bsky.social for a post on the state of US health care—and why the ACA subsidy debate in Washington is too small. 1/x
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Governor Tim Walz @governorwalz.mn.gov · 09/10/2025
Can’t believe I have to say this, but in Minnesota you will continue to have the freedom to get your COVID and flu shots.
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Chris Hendel @chrishendel.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
School shootings, brace for vaccine headlines this week, Covid-19 vaccine access, another measles death, and more. by @kkjetelina.bsky.social yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/school-sho...
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com
School shootings, brace for vaccine headlines this week, Covid-19 vaccine access, another measles death, and more.
The Dose (September 15)
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Katelyn Jetelina @kkjetelina.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
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Abdul El-Sayed @abdulelsayed.bsky.social · 05/09/2025
We need a public health expert in the United States Senate to hold RFK Jr. accountable.
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PBS News @pbsnews.org · 04/09/2025
LIVE NOW: Join "Your Local Epidemiologist" author @kkjetelina.bsky.social for a Reddit AMA. www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comme...
reddit.com
From the IAmA community on Reddit: I am an epidemiologist and former Senior Advisor to three CDC Directors. Ask me anything.
Explore this post and more from the IAmA community
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Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
NEW: The CDC has been in crisis for months. After the firing of its director, resignations of senior leaders, staff + experts are bracing for what could be death knell for public health credibility. Me + @laurenweberhp.bsky.social + @davidovalle.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...
washingtonpost.com
The CDC is falling deeper into crisis. What it means for the nation’s health.
Months of upheaval at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have undercut the agency’s work, employees said, and put the future of vaccines into doubt.
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Katelyn Jetelina @kkjetelina.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
The amazing Dr. Deb Houry— former and recently pushed out Deputy and Chief Medical Officer of CDC— is ready to join the public conversation. Follow her at @drdebhoury.bsky.social !!
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Melody Schreiber @melodyschreiber.com · 29/08/2025
This is an extremely widespread view in public health. Daskalakis is one of the most respected health officials we have.
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lauren @lauren.rotatingsandwiches.com · 29/08/2025
only so many words you can put in a headline but the whole response is loud and proud support for the trans community and worth reading
Given the chance to respond to Leavitt’s remarks by Collins on the Thursday The Source, Daskalakis said, “I have for my entire career been an advocate for the LGBTQ community... I find it outrageous that this administration is trying to erase transgender people.”

“I very specifically used the term pregnant people, and very specifically added my pronouns at the end of my resignation letter to make the point that I am defying this terrible strategy at trying to erase people and not allowing them to express their identities,” he continued.

“So I accept the note from the press secretary, and counter that with: I don‘t care.”
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Katelyn Jetelina @kkjetelina.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
CDC employees standing up and walking out in light of the mass shootings, firings, and *waves hands in the air* everything else. #USAnotRFK Lets gooooo
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Meghan Kita @meghgrace.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
The most helpful info I've found on the Covid-19 vaccine at this point, from @kkjetelina.bsky.social, particularly point 12, "What should I do right now?" I'm interested to see what our pediatrician, who is extremely pro-vaccine, has to say about this...
open.substack.com
Covid-19 vaccine license change: 12 key questions answered
And an important note about the ousted CDC leaders
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Melody Schreiber @melodyschreiber.com · 28/08/2025
"CDC basically imploded yesterday and now it’s truly in shambles,” said @kkjetelina.bsky.social. Also: vaccines? My latest: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
theguardian.com
RFK Jr faces calls to quit as CDC chief fired and senior staff resign: ‘an embarrassment’
Susan Monarez’s ousting and four top resignations follow vaccine confusion, leaving US health agencies in turmoil
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STAT @statnews.com · 18/08/2025
“Kennedy would be less hazardous if he decided to do cardiac surgery. Then he would kill people only one at a time,” writes former CDC Director William Foege. www.statnews.com/2025/08/18/r...
statnews.com
Former CDC Director William Foege: How public health can fight back in a time of dangerous nonsense
“Kennedy would be less hazardous if he decided to do cardiac surgery. Then he would kill people only one at a time,” writes former CDC Director William Foege.
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LSR @lindsaysmithrogers.bsky.social · 16/08/2025
@kkjetelina.bsky.social Where "omg this is such a mess" meets "let's just press record and talk this out." tl;dr: Fall vaccines are anything but business as usual this year and all eyes will be on independent orgs and health insurance companies. Let's listen. open.spotify.com/episode/4C7p...
open.spotify.com
933 - Fall Vaccine Confusion with Your Local Epidemiologist
Public Health On Call · Episode
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Sarah Karlin-Smith @sarahkarlin-smith.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
"We are drowning in the abnormal, yet forced to carry on our 'normal' lives, living in a constant state of cognitive dissonance." @kkjetelina.bsky.social yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/public-hea...
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com
Public health in the face of trauma and violence
And what you can do.
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Jenny Splitter @jennysplitter.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
“Those bullet holes are a haunting, terrible metaphor for what public health has endured over the past six months—and the past six years.” @kkjetelina.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/yourloca...
open.substack.com
Bullets in the windows
Until now, it was only a metaphor.
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Katelyn Jetelina @kkjetelina.bsky.social · 09/08/2025
Four CDC buildings shot up. Employees under lockdown and in fear for hours. Public health is physically under attack, and the silence from the administration is deafening.
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Kristen Panthagani, MD, PhD @kmpanthagani.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
Public health has a communication problem, and we need to fix it. Excited to share our new piece in @nejm.org explaining the need to train more health communicators, with coauthors @meganranney.bsky.social, @kkjetelina.bsky.social, and @tedmelnick.bsky.social: www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
nejm.org
Training Health Communicators — The Need for a New Approach | NEJM
To prevent the spread of inaccurate information, academic and health care institutions will need to equip scientists and clinicians to engage effectively on nontraditional media platforms.
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Rebecca E ❌👑 @spoutiblegirl.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
@kkjetelina.bsky.social has been my "go-to" epidemiologist for. some time now. CA peeps....she's starting a CA sub stack! You can sign up for a free weekly update here. Your Local Epidemiologist in California yourlocalepidemiologistca.substack.com?r=9mc3r&utm_...
yourlocalepidemiologistca.substack.com
Your Local Epidemiologist in California | Substack
Translating the ever-changing science of public health for Californians so you can take action for your community’s health. Click to read Your Local Epidemiologist in California, a Substack publicatio...
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Kevin C Klatt, PhD, RD @kcklatt.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
It's exceedingly hard to argue that the administration & MAHA are committed to improving nutrition when they're simultaneously cutting everything from SNAP-Ed to innovative community nutrition work - cements the perception that food dyes are public health theatre. www.healthbeat.org/newyork/2025...
healthbeat.org
Q&A: Nutrition expert discusses pioneering program terminated by USDA
Here’s a Q&A with a nutrition expert who created an after-school program for NYC middle-schoolers who take on adult responsibilities, like meal preparation. This spring, the USDA terminated it.
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Harlan M. Krumholz @hmkyale.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
“...my biggest goal is to not turn people off that are curious… that means leading with a lot of empathy.” — @kkjetelina.bsky.social A powerful conversation on science, trust, and public health on Health & Veritas 🔗 insights.som.yale.edu/podcasts/hea... #PublicHealth #ScienceCommunication
insights.som.yale.edu
Katelyn Jetelina: A Visit from Your Local Epidemiologist
Howie and Harlan are joined by public health communicator Katelyn Jetelina for updates on COVID-19 and other issues, and to discuss how her emails to students and colleagues in the early days of the p...
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Harlan M. Krumholz @hmkyale.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
New Health & Veritas drops tomorrow! We’re joined by the incredible @kkjetelina.bsky.social — epidemiologist, communicator, & author of Your Local Epidemiologist. We talk public health, trust, & translating science for millions. @thehowie.bsky.social @yalesph.bsky.social @yalesom.bsky.social
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Whitney Robinson @whitneyepi.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
So…what’s the latest in health research in the US? Excellent overview from @kkjetelina.bsky.social & @sciencewhizliz.bsky.social Watching this play out, I’ve been too sad to write much myself. I’m grateful to them for continuing to tell what’s happening open.substack.com/pub/yourloca...
open.substack.com
NIH: The quiet engine of science is being dismantled
And what you can do
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Olivia Messer @oliviamesser.bsky.social · 12/07/2025
This week, @texasmonthly.bsky.social’s reporting on the floods in Kerr County has been so purposeful and so deeply empathetic. It was personal. This first person account is so, so horrific and so beautifully written. You’ll cry very hard. (CW: Child death.) www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...
texasmonthly.com
“The River House Broke. We Rushed in the River.”
The July 4 Texas flooding ripped our Kerr County home from its pillars, pulling us into the water and into the night. Then morning came.
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Chris Hendel @chrishendel.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
"Instead of moving towards a health system that lifts people up—towards more prevention and better access to services, free from debt—we are moving towards one that increases bills, debt, and makes people sicker." by @kkjetelina.bsky.social yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/medicaid-c...
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com
Medicaid cuts: The how and why
Plain language translation of what the heck happened and where this will go
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Katelyn Jetelina @kkjetelina.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Annnnddddd ❌Thousands of Louisianans will lose healthcare. ❌33 LA hospitals are at risk of closing ❌Thousands of children won’t get food Seems like a real winner.
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Robert Califf @robcaliff.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Sadly, I agree with most of this and it is nicely described and illustrated. Its clever to position the "hits" after the mid-term elections. This causes a challenge of how to describe the issue when its not being felt yet. yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/medicaid-c...
yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com
Medicaid cuts: The how and why
Plain language translation of what the heck happened and where this will go
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Bill Hanage @billhanage.bsky.social · 03/07/2025
Just a reminder that saying something is “Gold standard” is much easier than working to make it as good as it can possibly be
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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 01/07/2025
USAID is shutting its doors today--marking the end of democracy, diplomacy, and decency all in one fell swoop.
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Dan Chibnall @bookowl.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
Excellent interview by @danpfeiffer.bsky.social with @kkjetelina.bsky.social about the current status of vaccines in the U.S. Plus more on what the science really tells us about some of these bizarre MAHA claims. crooked.com/podcast/are-...
In This Episode
Health Secretary RFK Jr. has gutted the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, replacing its members with a mix of anti-vaxxers, COVID contrarians, and medical non-professionals. What do these sweeping changes to our vaccine infrastructure—and the rise of the ironically named MAHA movement, short for Make America Healthy Again—mean for the health and well-being of everyday Americans? Dan sits down with epidemiologist and data scientist Katelyn Jetelina to unpack the implications of Kennedy’s policies on flu season, COVID, and a broad range of preventable diseases. Katelyn also explains how the politicization of seed oils, food dyes, and fluoride distracts from the public health issues that actually matter—and shares what she learned from grassroots MAHA organizers about their uneasy alliance with MAGA.
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