Dr. Stephanie Psaki

Former U.S. Coordinator for Global Health Security at the White House. Opinions mine, but based on science.

[Dr. Stephanie Psaki @spsaki]

We lay out 4 things the admin can do to protect Americans from a flu pandemic (or a bad flu season):

1) Staff/prepare the government
2) Invest in vaccine platforms that can scale quickly
3) Plan/practice a response with state leaders
4) Track global threats and plan with allies

[Health Affairs @Health_Affairs]

In their new Forefront article, @spsaki and @BethCameron_DC of @Brown_SPH discuss how, after a summer hiatus, bird flu cases are once again ticking up in the United States, and we are flying blind in the face of a potentially catastrophic pandemic threat. https://t.co/SwtKisA0C6

[Rachel Cohen Booth @rcobooth]

new paper finds rising housing costs to be a major causal driver of declining fertility.

Benjamin Couillard finds higher rents lead to 11 percent fewer US births (~13 million kids) since 1990. That's just over half of the decline in total fertility rate in that time period

[Dr. Stephanie Psaki @spsaki]

New piece in @voxdotcom - for the first time in history we have the tools to stop the next pandemic. I explore what it would take to get that done.

Hint: It’s not as hard as you may think!

[Vox @voxdotcom]

The end of pandemics is within reach. Why aren’t we acting like it? https://t.co/qkNFcEAPQZ

[Ashish K. Jha @ashishkjha]

The declining birth rate in the US (and around much of the world) is a serious problem in need of serious solutions

In this excellent @time piece by @spsaki

Stephanie makes a key point:

“The real divide on this issue isn’t between left and right; it’s between those who think women must choose between careers and children, and those who believe they shouldn’t have to”

Count me in the latter camp

[Dr. Stephanie Psaki @spsaki]

The birth rate is dropping in the U.S. because Americans can't afford to have families. Pushing women out of the workforce will only make that worse.

New piece in @TIME

https://t.co/5NmAiNAolB

[Jessica Valenti @JessicaValenti]

I know everyone is consumed with other news, but this is a big fucking deal: The Trump administration says that IUDs and the Pill are actually abortions.

Here's what USAID told the NYT about the $10m in birth control they plan to destroy:
https://t.co/eCOrBep3sM

[Dr. Stephanie Psaki @spsaki]

@jburnmurdoch Agree on progressives needing to talk about birth rates! Jess Marcella and I shared our take in TIME recently:

https://t.co/2ccsIx5wEy

[Ashish K. Jha @ashishkjha]

Demetre Daskalakis is one of the premier physicians and public health experts in the country

He ran the national center for immunization and respiratory diseases

He just resigned today

Here is his resignation letter

[Craig Spencer MD MPH @Craig_A_Spencer]

What's happening at the CDC should frighten every American

Regardless of whether you are MAGA, MAHA, neither, or don't give a damn about labels or politics.

It's unclear whether the CDC director—confirmed just weeks ago—has been fired or not. Absolute shitshow.

And incredible career professionals resigned tonight, sounding a massive alarm.

This is pure chaos that leaves the country unprepared.

Imagine cases of Ebola in the U.S. right now?

We would be an absolute mess.

It's easy to tune this all out, to celebrate what you might see as 'cleaning house', or just not care what's happening.

But I promise you, when confronted with the next serious health threat, we will quickly see everything we've lost.

We will regret this. I promise, we will regret this.

[Dr. Stephanie Psaki @spsaki]

@PTBwrites Appreciate the thoughtful read - and critique @PTBwrites - some common ground is possible!

[Patrick T. Brown @PTBwrites]

A new piece at TIME from @spsaki and Jessica Marcella is a very interesting look at what progressive pro-family approaches might look like. They say:
- "Choice, not control, in parenthood"
- "Marriage, on your terms"
- "Working Americans should be able to support their families"

[The Atlantic @TheAtlantic]

The White House inherited a system for handling outbreaks. No one left knows how to use it, @spsaki, @BethCameron_DC, and Jon Finer argue. https://t.co/2ZjUVmYJfE

[Dr. Stephanie Psaki @spsaki]

Reality check:

The U.S. became party to the IHRs in 2005, in the Bush admin, to protect Americans amidst fears of a bird flu pandemic.

The U.S. initiated the amendments after COVID to address the failures.

The amendments make us safer.

Rejecting them makes us less safe.

[Secretary Kennedy @SecKennedy]

The proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations open the door to the kind of narrative management, propaganda, and censorship that we saw during the COVID pandemic. The United States can cooperate with other nations without jeopardizing our civil liberties, without undermining our Constitution, and without ceding away America’s treasured sovereignty.

[Dr. Stephanie Psaki @spsaki]

These vaccine doses are fully paid for, and a plan is in place to transfer them as soon as countries are ready to receive them.

All the Trump admin needs to do now is say yes, let's help save lives.

Ship those 220K doses!

https://t.co/vzr6BSloK4

[Craig Spencer MD MPH @Craig_A_Spencer]

Everyone’s saying cutting GAVI funding means more diseases will come to the U.S.—and that's true.

Others are pointing out a LOT of kids will die—also true!

But everyone’s missing the most important part of this video—this is RKF Jr taking his anti-vaccination crusade global 🧵

[Atul Gawande @Atul_Gawande]

This is a travesty and a nightmare. The US was a founder of @Gavi. It lowers vaccine costs for the world, has vaccinated 1B children, and averted 19M deaths. This pull out will cost 100s of thousands of children's lives a year -- and RFK Jr will be personally responsible.

[Ashish K. Jha @ashishkjha]

Terrible but totally predictable

@SecKennedy decides the US will renege on its pledge to @gavi

Gavi helps poor kids around the world get vaccinated against polio and measles and other life threatening diseases

This is just mind bogglingly awful

https://t.co/isLp3POjzK

[Nicholas Kristof @NickKristof]

Trump and Musk talked about waste in humanitarian aid--and I found it. In a warehouse in West Africa, I found millions of doses of valuable American medicines meant to prevent river blindness and other ailments. But Trump canceled distribution, so now they're just gathering dust; when they expire, they will have to be destroyed at great expense. The financial and human cost I saw on this trip -- it was a tragedy caused by the administration's cancelation of USAID, and kids are already dying as a result. So are moms in childbirth. Babies are again being born with AIDS. So when Musk and Rubio say no one has died from aid cuts, I challenge them to join me on a trip like this, and I'll show them how their policies are killing kids. My column: https://t.co/mbCJa7jOJX (with suggestions for readers who want to help)

[Atul Gawande @Atul_Gawande]

Lenacapavir, a twice-yearly shot that almost completely prevents HIV, is now approved. It could shut down the HIV pandemic. It needs to roll out in at risk groups. But Trump has gutted HIV prevention at home and abroad. https://t.co/TA8yDfo2qz

[Dr. Stephanie Psaki @spsaki]

Foreign aid can save lives and ALSO advance U.S. interests in the world. Its not an either/or.

I argued in @ThinkGlobalHlth that foreign aid builds soft power when it is:

✅ Visible
✅ Altruistic
✅ Effective
✅ Aligned with country priorities

https://t.co/fan3v10uRA