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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."

Trump Defends RFK Jr. for Out-of-Box Thinking

The decidedly pro-Trump outlet NewsMax puts a positive spin on his recent comments about HHS Secretary Kennedy and vaccines, but notes our warnings not to trust what Kennedy says about vaccines and autism.

Trump backs Kennedy on vaccines despite health, political risks

While some news outlets suggest that President Trump is distancing himself from RFK Jr., this story suggests he's standing by him for now -- quoting DPH Coordinating Committee member Gregg Gonsalves saying of Trump and Kennedy: "They made a marriage of convenience and now it's a marriage that's going to have unprecedented and disastrous results for public health, healthcare and biomedical research."

Elizabeth Jacobs on RFK Jr. and Public Health

On "CounterSpin," a national radio show produced by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, DPH Coordinating Committee member Elizabeth Jacobs discusses the many misdeeds of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, what Defend Public Health is doing about it, and how his tenure has been treated by the media.