Fenit Nirappil

@fenitn.bsky.social

4182 Followers 1825 Following

Deputy national politics editor at The Washington Post. Contact: fenitn.33 on Signal; fenit.nirappil@washpost.com

A yacht will never turn a profit, and it would be confusing to expect it to. But you know that your net worth is such that if the yacht never supports itself, you will still be proud to call yourself the yacht’s owner and will not suddenly say, “Well, perhaps if we just pivoted part of the yacht sharply to the right and knocked dozens of people off, the yacht would suddenly become self-sustaining.”
I couldn't string sentences together yesterday, Maybe that's a sign that I shouldn't have been spared when all my fantastic colleagues who unfairly lost their jobs pushed through their grief to write beautiful notes about their careers and the situation at The Washington Post. The health team lost 8 out of 13 reporters yesterday despite health listed as part of The Post's new pared down focus. Just six months after becoming an editor and having the honor to lead an all-star team covering federal health agencies and public health, I have to go back to reporting because there are barely any health reporters left to edit. I'll say more about the reporters we lost later today, but as a team, we did everything we were supposed to do under the vision for The Post to be a digital innovator that breaks news, offers hard-hitting accountability and directly address reader concerns. We landed exclusives on the CDC director's firing, plans to overhaul the childhood vaccine schedule, projections for steep ACA marketplace rate increases and more. We avoided dutiful iterative stories and covered storylines such as the expiration of enhanced ACA premiums with smart targeted angles that were widely read. We broke the mold of a traditional newspaper with clever formats including a pop-up newsletter and live chats to help readers navigate new restrictions on coronavirus vaccines, a quiz to understand new dietary guidelines and vertical videos to showcase reporter expertise. The Metro section where I started my career (and offers a clear reason for millions of potential subscribers to pay for us instead of or in addition to other national outlets!) is hollowed out. Reporters around the world wiped out after the owner set a vision for international relevance. A sports department home to journalistic legends shuttered. And so much more bleeding across the entire newsroom.
While there have been isolated reports of Africans conscripted by Moscow to fight, The Washington Post uncovered an extensive clandestine pipeline stretching from Nairobi to the forests of eastern Ukraine. Russian recruitment in Kenya is more widespread, and more deadly, than previously reported, and the effort extends across the continent. The Post spoke to recruits or their family members in South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania and Nigeria, and it heard anecdotal accounts of fighters in Ukraine from eight other African countries, including Ghana, Zimbabwe and Cameroon — hidden victims of the largest European conflict since World War II.
“The outrageous seizure of our reporter’s confidential newsgathering materials chills speech, cripples reporting, and inflicts irreparable harm every day the government keeps its hands on these materials,” The Post said in a statement. “We have asked the court to order the immediate return of all seized materials and prevent their use. Anything less would license future newsroom raids and normalize censorship by search warrant.”
During the Friday discussion, Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist who was recently named as the panel’s new chair, was overheard telling another panel member that he wanted to talk to “some of the higher-ups” about the panel’s work. “You know, I feel like, you know, it’s, sort of like we feel like a little bit like puppets on a string as opposed to really being an independent advisory panel,” according to a transcript of the exchange captured by videoconferencing software and obtained by The Washington Post. Asked about those remarks, Milhoan wrote in a text message, “There are pressures from many organizations: federal, industry, medical organizations that are trying to influence by ad hominem attacks, when we are trying to look at and ask for data.”
Kirk Milhoan The pediatric cardiologist is affiliated with the Independent Medical Alliance, formerly known as the Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance, which has promoted ivermectin as a coronavirus treatment, which medical experts and clinical trials have found is not effective. The Hawaii Medical Board filed a petition against him during the pandemic that resulted in no legal action, according to the Maui News. Milhoan told KFF Health News for a March article about mRNA vaccines: “We should stop it and test it more before we move forward.”
Cassidy's post says: I’m a doctor who has seen people die from vaccine-preventable diseases. What parents need to hear right now is vaccines for measles, polio, hepatitis B and other childhood diseases are safe and effective and will not cause autism. Any statement to the contrary is wrong, irresponsible, and actively makes Americans sicker. We need to understand the real causes of autism. Studies show there’s a genetic predisposition when a mom who’s pregnant is exposed to environmental toxins which can increase a child’s risk of autism. It’s deeply troubling that, according to HHS officials, they appeared to have canceled hundreds of millions in research on autism genetics. Redirecting attention to factors we definitely know DO NOT cause autism denies families the answers they deserve. We had two children die and many more hospitalized nationally from measles this year. Louisiana is experiencing its worst whooping cough outbreak in 35 years. Families are getting sick and people are dying from vaccine-preventable deaths, and that tragedy needs to stop.
Means did a YouTube video titled “Unbox My Genova Metabolomix+ Nutrition Test With Me! 🧪” about a test that can cost hundreds of dollars. Genova Diagnostics is a sponsor of her book tour and newsletter, according to her financial disclosures, for $20,000 and listed as a partner of her book launch on her website. She did not expressly disclose that connection in the video, but did note viewers could get 10 percent off in the description. She also did not disclose the partnership in a May 2024 newsletter when she promoted the brand.
Hell? Here?
For many Portlanders, the city is something closer to heaven. The trees stay green all year long. The coffee is good at every shop. You can get to a mountain or the Pacific Ocean in an hour, and if you don’t feel like traveling, there are bookstores and parks in every neighborhood, not to mention some of the best restaurants in the country.
An X post from Wakefield: President Trump adopts Wakefield recommendations on separating MMR and calls for major reforms in the childhood vaccine schedule. In a bombshell White House briefing President Trump summarized his position on putting an end to the autism epidemic. Alongside all his senior health officials and advisers Trump committed to identifying the causes of the current autism epidemic.
Retsef Levi, the ACIP panelist who leads the coronavirus vaccine work group and has previously called for a halt to mRNA coronavirus vaccines, said the group wanted to address communicating risks and uncertainties of the shots to patients more consistently. “We are going to focus on personalized risk-benefit analysis, and we’re going to very much stay away from the narratives or the statements about safe and effective,” said Levi, a professor of operations management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “We don’t believe that these are appropriate or scientific language to talk about the issues related to vaccination.”
Monarez also said Kennedy asked her speak to Aaron Siri, a lawyer for a top anti-vaccine organization and an ally to Kennedy. Siri previously petitioned the government to reconsider its approval of one of the polio vaccines.
More than 80 percent of parents who skipped or delayed vaccines said they were concerned about side effects. By comparison, 12 percent said the costs were too high or insurance did not cover costs.
Skipping or delaying vaccines is more common among parents who home-school children, are Republicans, are young, or are White and religious
In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday, Florida surgeon general Dr. Joseph Ladapo said the state did not perform any research or analysis on how many new cases of diseases could result from the state’s decision to lift vaccine mandates for schools. “Ultimately, this is an issue very clearly of parent’s rights,” Dr. Ladapo said. “Do I need to analyze whether it’s appropriate for parents to decide what goes into their children’s bodies? I don’t need to do an analysis on that.” “We’re not taking vaccines away from anyone. What we said was that if you want them, god bless you, you can have as many as you want. And if you don't want them, parents should have the ability and the power to decide what goes into their children's bodies.”
“I keep seeing these memes where Indians are bragging about taking our tech jobs,” said Ely, 36. “So I said, ‘Oh yeah? Well I’m going to work with these guys that are going to arrest you, slam your face on the pavement and send you home.’”
Jernigan said the last straw for him was being forced to work with David Geier, a proponent of the false claim that vaccines cause autism who was hired by HHS to review old vaccine safety data and study a possible link between the two. In recent weeks, an HHS official asked for Geier be given access to additional up-to-date vaccine safety data, which Jernigan said raised patient privacy and ethical concerns. “The current administration has made it very difficult for me to stay," Jernigan said. "We have been asked to revise and to review and change studies that have been settled in the past, scientific findings that were there to help guide vaccine decisions.”