Your Voice Matters
Three Things Thursday
Three Things Thursday highlights three things I am paying attention to as an epidemiologist each week. This week started with the No Kings Protest on Saturday. I was proud to stand with more than 200 others in my small town (located in a very red community) to show our community what democracy looks like.
Given everything that is happening in public health and healthcare right now, protesting felt like a non-negotiable for me. I protested because the budget to support preventive healthcare is being cut. I protested because public health has been dismantled. I protested because health policy is being determined by mad men and not by science. I protested because of the reduction in force. I protested because processes that ensure the effectiveness and safety of vaccines and treatments are being ignored. And I protested because women are dying, and healthcare has been taken away from them.
It has been death by a 1000 cuts.
I protested because America needs public health.1
The public health news this week includes some not-so-good, bad, and ugly news.
Hoping this post helps to educate and empower you
to be healthy and create healthy communities.
“Razor Blade” Throat
{The not-so-good news} The newest COVID variant — NB.1.8.1, aka Nimbus — is causing a new (to the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus) symptom known as razor blade throat. Razor blade throat is what it sounds like — a really sore throat, as if a razor blade was in back there digging in. The sore throat is caused by the virus directly infecting the cells of the oropharynx, or the back of the mouth, resulting in the lining becoming inflamed.
The World Health Organization (WHO) currently lists Nimbus as a variant under monitoring -- meaning public health professionals are paying attention to it and tracking it due to its increasing prevalence around the globe.
The prevalence of COVID in the US is low. Test positivity is 3%, and less than half a percent (0.3%) of all ER visits are for COVID. And levels of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in wastewater across the country are very low.
Nimbus accounts for 37% of cases (and that percentage is increasing).
Nimbus does not appear to be more virulent (is NOT causing more severe disease), but it is spreading easily from person to person.
The combination of a new variant, summer travel, and waning immunity (from a fall 2024 vaccination or winter illness) is just what is needed for a summer spike in cases.
To reduce your risk of COVID-19 this summer, wash your hands regularly, consider masking in crowded/indoor spaces, and be sure you are up-to-date on your COVID vaccinations.
If you become sick, isolate yourself from others to prevent the spread of disease.
ACIP to Discuss Thimerosal
Last week, RFK Jr fired all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. New members of the committee have already been named (no screening was done; these are people who agree with RFK Jr). In a post on X (formerly Twitter), RFK Jr states these the new members of the Advisory Committee “includes highly credentialed scientists, leading public-health experts, and some of America’s most accomplished physicians.”
This is just NOT true.
More about the new members of the Committee was discussed on MedPage Today (please read so you can see my quotes).
Next week (June 25-26), the new Committee will meet for the first time to discuss and vote on recommendations for COVID, influenza, RSV, and MMR vaccines, among others (draft agenda). None of this is surprising. What has caused a stir is that the Committee is set to discuss “thimerosal-containing influenza vaccines.”
Thimerosal is ethylmercury (a far safer form of mercury than methylmercury, which is in fish) and used as a preservative in multi-dose vials of the influenza vaccine (to prevent bacterial contamination). Thimerosal has been the source of many of the antivaccination debates for decades. Here’s what you need to know —
Thimerosal is NOT associated with autism.
Putting this topic on the agenda for the Committee to discuss and vote on gives credibility to a debunked association between thimerosal and autism.
In essence, the agenda includes a presentation, a discussion, and a vote on a long-held conspiracy theory among those who do not believe vaccines are safe and effective.
This agenda item and its discussion will further undercut public health messaging about the importance of vaccines. The result will likely be fewer people getting vaccinated in the fall and an increase in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases.
This is NOT ok.
Please contact your elected officials now and demand that RFK Jr be removed from his position. Follow these instructions.
Shutting Down the LGBTQ+ Suicide Prevention Line
On Tuesday, the Trump Administration announced that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will shut down the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline’s LGBTQ+ Youth Specialized Services Program within 30 days, effective July 17, 2025. According to NPR, anyone who is experiencing suicidal thoughts can call/text 988 and be connected to a trained counselor. 988 has specially trained counselors, often with similar life experiences, for high-risk groups like veterans and LGBTQ+ youth.
SAMHSA launched the LGBTQ+ youth service as a pilot program in 2022. It has received nearly 1.3 million contacts from LGBTQ+ people (calls, texts, and online chats) since then. In the 36 hours following Trump’s reelection in November, there was an uptick in fears, concerns, and suicidal thoughts. The day after the election, the Trevor Project, an organization whose mission is to “end suicide among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning young people,” reported to STATNews that they had seen a 125% increase in contact volume, with many callers citing the election results.
The LGBTQ+ youth line (the press 3 option) will be shut off within a month.
Lives will be lost.
Jaymes Black, CEO of The Trevor Project, states —
“This is devastating, to say the least. Suicide prevention is about people, not politics. The administration’s decision to remove a bipartisan, evidence-based service that has effectively supported a high-risk group of young people through their darkest moments is incomprehensible.”
He adds —
“Congress can still act to reverse this fatal decision. We are asking everyone to join the overwhelming public support for evidence-based crisis services, and urge Congress to act. Learn more by visiting TheTrevorProject.org/ActNow.”
Please take a few moments, RIGHT NOW, to contact your elected officials about RFK Jr., and take action to keep the LGBTQ+ youth suicide prevention program up and running.
Your voice matters.
Make the call. Send an email. Do not sit idle and let politics trump health.
Now is the time for us to come together.
And fight for the health and safety of our communities.
This is my new benediction —
“The fight for public health and health equity will be a lifelong one. But for the next few years, we can look to our families, our communities, and our cities to help us stay healthy. We should not waver in the demand for safe and healthy communities as well as for evidence-based health information. Love each other, protect each other, and get vaccinated!”
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Send me your ideas & questions (drbeckydawson@gmail.com).
Epi(demiology) Matters is written by Dr. Becky Dawson, PhD MPH — an epidemiologist, teacher, mom, wife, and dedicated yogi. She is a tenured professor at Allegheny College, Research Director at a community hospital, and an exclusive contributor (all things health & medicine) at Erie News Now (NBC/CBS). Her goal is to create healthy communities for all. She writes Epi Matters — first & foremost because epidemiology does matter (to all of us), and she hopes that each post will help to educate and empower readers to be healthy and create healthy communities.
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