Newsroom | Defend Public Health

From Evidence to Power: Organizing for Public Health with Jon Shaffer, PhD

In this episode of the Infectious Dose podcast, sociologist–organizer Jon Shaffer, Ph.D., a member of DPH's Coordinating Committee explains why organizing—not just evidence—wins concrete, local public-health protections, and how Defend Public Health is training state teams to do exactly that.

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RFK Jr. is not healthy for children and other living Americans

Santa Cruz physician and Defend Public Health member Jeoffry B. Gordon warns that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new vaccine restrictions threaten public health, especially amid a growing U.S. measles outbreak. Kennedy’s limits on COVID-19 vaccine licensing exclude healthy children, pregnant women and many front-line workers, creating confusion and reduced access. He urges readers to get COVID-19 vaccines and to support California SB 144.

The Progressive Magazine

Grandparents for Vaccines Group Gains Traction

In this nationally syndicated column, DPH members Donna Gaffney and Teri Mills write, "We are grandparents. We are passionate, committed, and yes, radical. Make no mistake about what we stand for. In the 1960s and 1970s, we marched for civil rights, fought and protested wars, and demanded justice. Today, we march again. This time it’s personal: We are defending our grandchildren’s right to health, their right to vaccines."

defend public health

Defend Public Health Joins “24 Hours to Save AIDS Research”

Defend Public Health is joining a grassroots group of organizers for “24 Hours to Save AIDS Research,” a nonpartisan event taking place beginning Tuesday, September 16, 2025, starting at 11:00 a.m. ET that will promote the successes of HIV research and demand continued federal investments. The interactive event will feature presentations, panels, and dialogue with scientists, researchers, and advocates from around the world.

Governor Hobbs: Please don’t stop at the COVID vaccine

Defend Public Health members Dr. James Alwine and Dr. Elizabeth Jacobs thank Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs for making COVID19 vaccines more accessible, and suggest that the state join the West Coast Health Alliance along with California, Hawaii, Washington and Oregon to safeguard the health of Arizonans.

Welcome to the New Era of Covid Vaccine Tourism

Due to new restrictions imposed by HHS Secretary Kennedy, increasing numbers of Americans find they must travel out of state to get a COVID-19 vaccination. DPH Coordinating Committee member James Alwine tells Mother Jones, “Blue states are going to have to step up and make their own rules and allow people to get vaccinations at the pharmacies."

Without Vaccines, Long COVID Will Be Our Next Public Health Crisis

Defend Public Health member Dr. Beth Linas shares an often overlooked aspect of reducing access to COVID19 vaccines: the specter of more and more cases of Long COVID.

If Trump wants to cut health spending, he’s defunding the wrong agency

DPH Coordinating Committee member Miranda Yaver and colleague Alexander Sundermann examine budget cuts to a little-known agency, the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research, housed within the Department of Health and Human Services, that actually saves the healthcare system money. The cuts, they argue, will actually cost money in the long run.

RFK Jr's Whopper of the Week

Whopper of the week: 1.2 Million Americans Died of COVID19, but the Secretary of Health and Human Services has no idea

Although Kennedy claims that “no one knows” how many people died of COVID-19, the CDC used both classic and cutting-edge methods to determine death rates, triangulating robust data from multiple sources. Academic researchers, the World Health Organization, and other experts agree with the CDC’s conclusion that more than one million Americans died of COVID-19 during the first two years of the pandemic.

Do we have to recover from anti-vaccine misinformation the hard way, with suffering and death?

Defend Public Health member James Alwine shares his personal story of receiving the brand-new polio vaccine in the 1950's and his fears for the future of vaccinations in the United States with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in charge of HHS.

RFK Jr's Whopper of the Week

Whopper of the Week: Kennedy claims that vaccines cause autism

Defend Public Health's Whopper of the Week: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s claims that vaccines cause autism spectrum disorder.

Kennedy commission child health report ignores gun violence, the leading cause of child death

DPH Coordinating Committee member Bruce Mirken slams RFK Jr.'s "MAHA strategy" that's supposed to be about protecting child health for ignoring gun violence: “If you’re putting out a report that’s supposed to address how to help our children stay healthier, and you’re not even mentioning the No. 1 cause of childhood deaths, you ought to be embarrassed."