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| 1977 CDC vaccination campaign poster |
On Thursday night I signal boosted that CDC scientists aren't in control of public-facing websites ahead of the Friday news that RFK Jr. says he personally directed CDC's new guidance on vaccines and autism. My heart goes out to the 5 staffers contributing to "Embarrassing" and "Horrifying": CDC Workers Describe the New Vaccines and Autism Page. It's also worth reading the opinion of We are former CDC officials. RFK Jr.s change to vaccine guidance is propaganda. Personally, I prefer almost 50-year-old Star Wars CDC information about vaccines instead of this current malarky.
I've been saying this since August; Can we in good faith still promote US government-produced health resources as the "best available information"? Since September the warning signals were clear as everyone from the former Surgeons General to the World Health Organization were calling for CDC's protection, and now here we are.
I also promised to share more about my Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Medical Library Association November 6 presentation (I requested no recording). Back then I didn't know if I'd still be employed after January 15th (I'm now employed until July 15th), and I made it clear that I was speaking not as a representative of any of my former or current job positions/organizations, but 100% as the obnoxious smartass opinionated straight talker I am.
The truth is I've already shared most of what I said there over here for months, just distilled it into 10 minutes of tips & tools. I'll batch this entry together the same way I did then though, and there are a few updates along the way along with 2 clear public health communication resources to counter last week's 'guidance.'
Alternative Access Resources
My guess is most of you already know and use these resources by now. In my presentation I included my teaching language, why we need to keep centering populations who are missing from resources now, and an emphasis on shifting gears from national .govs directly to trusted local, tribal, county/state health and professional organizations for health information.
Archive.org - for snapshots of websites over time, pop a URL in and see what info it used to have
MedlinePlus Population Groups (I had a lot to say about this in June)
NNLM Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Guide - gone but not forgotten
Another Way - thanks Erika!
Alternative Access Resources - non-partisan entry points
Think Topically - need suggestions on the trusted organizations? Here's some to start from
- Vaccine Education Center from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)
- Every Stage Health from the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists (ACOG)
- Infectious Diseases from the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID)
PubMed? (the what-ifs in June & continuing in September, getting real needs to start now)
- LSTRC for MEDLINE terminated
- OLSPub (the initial project didn't receive funding, another proposal has been submitted)
- Hilda Bastian & Tracking Shutdown Impact and Changes at PubMed, October 10, 2025
Clear Communication
I have learned so much from 5 years of public health workforce training development work, especially these really valuable communication resources that are focused on current trending and/or hot health topics.
Librarians and public health communicators have identical goals: Communicating clearly about unbiased health information in plain language. Please consider referencing them frequently now & in the time ahead - they will not deviate from real science and evidence-based resources.
Public Health Communications Collaborative
- CDC webpage update includes false autism claims, fueling confusion (Nov 19, high impact)
- Trending - for other hot topics as they emerge with suggested communication guidance
Infodemiology
- CDC updates webpage to include false autism claims, fueling confusion (Nov 20, scroll down for talking points)
- Infodemiology - also for hot topics including dashboards
FrameWorks
- Boosting Public Discourse: Reframing Childhood Immunization toolkit
- Our Resources/Issues/Health - loads of other research-based framing
- Framing Fundamentals - I can be extremely snarky, and I am learning in these times that the choices I make in what I say and how I say it make a significant difference. My goal is for that to be for a greater good even when it's much easier to snark.
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