Finally I'm launching this thing

It only took five years but nothing gets me going like an existential threat

I started this Substack in October 2020 to have a longer form venue for pushing back against pandemic and vaccine-related disinformation than what Twitter allowed. At the time, the COVID-19 pandemic was at its height, the revolutionary mRNA vaccines that would go on to save millions of lives were finishing clinical trials, and disinformation about vaccination and public health was rampant. However, I was working 12-14 hours, 7 days per week, and didn’t have the capacity for more work. Then I was recruited to my current position and moved my family and my research program to Canada. Consequently, the newsletter languished.

Who am I?

I am a virologist who studies how emerging viruses interact with their hosts to infect them and cause disease. Most of the viruses I focus on are zoonotic pathogens that are transmitted by animal hosts across species. When a virus infects its host, it is as much the host response to infection as the virus itself that causes the host to get sick. My lab studies this by combining experimental virology (in a lab) with computational modeling and AI/machine learning approaches. I study some of the most dangerous viruses because they pose the biggest threats to both human and animal health—hemorrhagic fever viruses (Ebola virus, Marburg virus, Lassa virus), emergent respiratory viruses with pandemic potential (SARS-CoV-2, MERS-CoV, and bird flu), viruses like mpox (monkeypox) virus that have recently crossed species and caused explosive outbreaks. Because my work with these viruses requires high level biocontainment, I also know a lot about biosafety and conducting virology and vaccine research safely and responsibly. I’m also the co-Editor-in-Chief of the journal Vaccine, so I know a lot about scientific standards for peer review and publications and I have read hundreds or maybe even thousands of research manuscripts on vaccinology and vaccine safety data, mechanism of action, platform technologies, clinical trials, history, uptake, communication, and policy. And because I have done a lot of press and have a lot of followers on Twitter, which these days looks like the aftermath of a Civil War battlefield, I also have a lot of experience calling out liars who misrepresent life-saving biomedical research to promote and enact their own agendas.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I discovered that I am also pretty good at communicating complex scientific topics effectively to a broad audience. I also discovered that I am intolerant of lies and exploitation, particularly when those lies are weaponized against the health, security, rights, and freedoms that were the distinguishing feature of American life until January 20th, 2025. As much as my goals as a virologist include making the world safer from dangerous viruses, my goals as an American include making my country safer from authoritarians who would destroy our democracy.

So why am I finally launching this now?

In 2020, I didn’t think that things could get much worse in terms of the disinformation landscape. I felt like I was playing whack-a-mole with an infinite array of bullshit stories: vaccines contain microchips for mind control, vaccines make you magnetic, they are activated by 5G wireless signals, mRNA is a deadly poison, vaccinated people can “shed” spike protein and transmit vaccines sexually, vaccines give you COVID-19, you can treat COVID-19 with supplements or anti-parasitic drugs like ivermectin, vaccines synchronize menstrual periods across populations, the pandemic was caused by Tony Fauci or one of my virologist colleagues, the pandemic was caused by a vaccine or a bioweapon, vaccines are not safe, vaccines cause (autism/diabetes/myocarditis/infertility/”tainted blood”/immune suppression/whatever), immunity from infection is superior to immunity from vaccination, the pandemic was a “plandemic” resulting from a global conspiracy, vaccines cause sudden death in otherwise healthy people, masks don’t work, masks work but vaccines don’t, COVID-19 is fake, viruses don’t exist, or (my personal favorite) SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, came from space via a meteor shower. Some of these were deeply stupid, but all were incredibly harmful lies that upended the information landscape.

Well..the disinformation landscape got worse. A lot worse. Now, nearly 5 years later, we elected a President who thinks he is a king and are increasingly being subjugated by a federal government that is openly hostile to public health. The Department of Health and Human Services is run by people who are openly anti-vax and who have made millions peddling fake cures. Propaganda is embedded into government websites and proclaimed by Cabinet secretaries. Dedicated career civil servants are being fired without cause. Research and public health grants that states depend upon to keep their citizens healthy and employed are being gutted in a massive illegal impoundment of funds lawfully appropriated by Congress to fund scientific research, food production, and health care. Universities are being forced into conformity through a combination of Executive Orders and blackmail via grant terminations. The Trump administration is attacking the fundamental structures that made America a world leader in scientific innovation for personal profit and to secure power for a fascist dictatorship. They are dismantling systems built over decades through incompetence and bureaucratic trickery, destroying things we take for granted like safe food, medicine that works, and research that has powered the American economy and saved millions of lives. For the price of American democracy, our federal government will steal our tax dollars and make us poorer, hungrier, dumber, and sicker. At least those who survive.

Science is not done by decree, but it can be undone by enough of them. Many of my US-based colleagues are not able to speak up on behalf of our profession and our people. Far too many more of my colleagues are choosing to stay silent, in the hopes that they will pass unnoticed, or are actively collaborating with the Trump administration to annihilate American science to further their own agendas. However, I am an American who lives and works in Canada and does not currently depend on US funding to support my lab’s research. I do not intend to sit idly by while my country is plundered by a clown car of quacks, extremist ideologues, and aspiring autocrats. So I am dusting this Substack off with a sense of purpose, a patriotic spirit, and a relentless determination to get these anti-American fascists the fuck out of our democracy. Let’s go.

Housekeeping

A few things about this newsletter:

• All content will be available for free to subscribers

• I will also offer paid subscriptions for those who want to support these efforts. Of these subscription funds, 75% will be put toward my trainees and staff to cover costs associated with conference travel, lab supplies and reagents, and salaries. I will provide an annual update about the projects and the scientists these funds support.

• Everything here is solely my own opinion, not my employer’s.

• I take requests for discussions of topics within my areas of expertise.

• I swear sometimes. Constitutionally protected freedom of speech is great.

• Bigots and fascists are not welcome here. It’s the first time I’ll say it in this newsletter but I doubt it will be the last: fuck off.