Heather McSharry, PhD

This included updating my Andrew Wakefield episode—not to change the facts, but to explain something more important: How one fraudulent paper became a global belief. Because this story isn’t just about one man. It’s about the system that failed—and why that still matters. 🧵

Meningitis is not a debate. It is a timetable. You can be well at breakfast, critically ill by lunch, and dead by morning. The organism—Neisseria meningitidis—requires no permission, no podcast, and certainly no belief. It moves from throat to bloodstream to brain with a speed that makes “doing your own research” a rather final hobby. And yet, as young people are hospitalized and buried, we are told this is “nonsense.” One must admire the theater: dismissing a disease that can kill in hours while benefiting from the very vaccines that made it rare enough to forget. My son is 15 - you can get he is vaccinated, I'd love to meet my grandchildren (not too soon mind you)

@NicMunoz10 Thanks Nickster! I hope you enjoy it!

@PathogenScribe Great comment, lead me to see that you have a podcast. Looking forward to listening to it!

Not sure how something spreads? Wear a respirator. If it helps, great. If it doesn’t, you still avoided other pathogens along the way. There’s no downside to protecting yourself. People who are bothered by other people choosing to wear one are not worth giving any thought to.

@Fortune4Beth @KellyAnneBryan1 Great argument Beth! Love to hear it!

@PathogenScribe @KellyAnneBryan1 I don’t care what other people think about me wearing a mask. Last time I was sick was December, 2019. Nearly 6 and 1/2 years without even a single cold. Never getting sick is an awesome way to live.

This is … just ok so yeah this is a thing because there’s a big enough market for it. And these savvy folks stepped right in to protect the enabling systems. I think maybe we just need one purge.

The interesting thing with them is how even they're repulsed by the optics of so much they cheer for. The insurrection disturbed a lot of them not because of the act itself but because of how horrifying it looked. Hey, too bad. This is what they wanted.

These experts w/ real-world experience don't "think" anything about the sun...they KNOW exactly what sun damage looks like in their patients. They aren't lecturing people or selling anything here they are protecting themselves. How absolutely asinine to make this your takeaway.

17 year old in Spain 🇪🇸 is in intensive care with tetanus. TETANUS Because his parents didn't get him vaccinated Tetanus is deadly and horrific NO ONE should EVER get tetanus GET VACCINATED!!

Problems with pharma don't mean that quackery works. Problems in aircraft design don’t mean that magic carpets can actually fly. - Ben Goldacre

The war in the Strait of Hormuz will reach your local pharmacy within six weeks. Not because your pharmacist follows geopolitics. Because the active pharmaceutical ingredients in roughly half of America’s generic prescriptions begin as petrochemical derivatives manufactured in India, and India’s petrochemical industry begins as crude oil that transited 21 miles of water that closed on March 4. Nearly 70 percent of the active ingredients in US generic drugs are produced in India. India imports approximately 40 percent of its crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz. The crude feeds refineries that produce naphtha. The naphtha feeds petrochemical crackers that produce intermediates. The intermediates feed pharmaceutical plants in Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Hyderabad that produce the API, the active pharmaceutical ingredient, that is shipped to contract manufacturers in the United States, Europe, and across Asia. The chain from the strait to the tablet is six steps long. Every step requires the one before it. CNBC reported that the Hormuz closure puts America’s generic drug supply at risk. Fierce Pharma warned of longer-term effects on US manufacturing and generics. Think Global Health mapped the pharmaceutical supply chains most vulnerable to disruption. The consensus across trade publications, health policy analysts, and industry executives is identical: four to six weeks of current inventory exists in the pipeline. After that, shortages begin with the most complex formulations first. Cancer drugs are the highest risk. Biologics requiring cold-chain storage have the shortest shelf life and the longest replenishment cycle. Clinical trial medications depend on uninterrupted supply chains that are now interrupted. Insulin analogues, antivirals, and cardiac medications all contain intermediates sourced from Indian manufacturers whose input costs are rising with every day the strait remains closed. Air cargo is the emergency bypass. But air freight rates from India have climbed 200 to 350 percent on some routes since the war began, according to logistics tracking firms. Gulf air capacity is down 79 percent because airports in the UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar have been damaged or operate under restricted conditions. The Suez Canal route adds 10 to 14 days to maritime shipping times. The Cape of Good Hope route adds 21 to 28 days. Both alternatives assume the Red Sea remains navigable, which the Houthi threat has complicated since 2024. The World Health Organisation reported a 70 percent funding gap for its operational response in the region. Medical supply chains to Iran itself have been devastated, with hospitals reporting shortages of surgical supplies, blood products, and anaesthetics. But the downstream pharmaceutical effect extends far beyond the war zone. Every Indian manufacturer that pays more for crude pays more for naphtha, pays more for intermediates, and passes the cost forward into API prices that American generic drug companies absorb until they cannot absorb any further. The molecule does not know it is a medicine. The strait does not know it is a pharmacy. The petrochemical derivative that becomes a blood pressure tablet transits the same water as the petrochemical derivative that becomes a fertiliser pellet. Both are trapped. Both have shelf lives. Both have planting windows or prescription refill cycles that do not negotiate with blockades. Six weeks. Then the pharmacy starts calling patients about substitutions. open.substack.com/pub/shanakaans…

@lucasgonzalez @brownecfm Right? Love that.

@PathogenScribe @brownecfm I wear glasses. When and as needed.

🚨BREAKING: MAGA is outraged over an episode of “The Pitt”… claiming it “demonizes” ICE agents. Meanwhile… here in real life… A sitting Chicago elected official, Jessie Fuentes, walks into a hospital, sees Border Patrol detaining an injured man, and does something pretty radical… she asks a simple question: “Do you have a warrant?” That’s it. That’s the “crime.” Because seconds later, she’s grabbed, shoved, and put in handcuffs… inside a hospital… for asking if the Constitution still exists. Agents were holding a man in a hospital bed, trying to arrest him, when his leg was broken, needed surgery, and was still being detained by agents, while lawyers initially couldn’t reach him. An elected official asked for a judicial warrant, and instead of producing one, they arrested her. They didn’t explain the law she broke… because there wasn’t one. And MAGA is watching a scripted TV episode, calling that “unfair” to ICE? Be serious. The show isn’t “demonizing” ICE, it’s depicting what people are literally recording on their phones. They’re not mad because it’s inaccurate… they’re mad because it’s recognizable. Because once you see it, you can’t unsee it… and suddenly “it’s just a TV show” doesn’t hold up when reality looks exactly the same.

Bob Mueller was one of the finest directors in the history of the FBI, transforming the bureau after 9/11 and saving countless lives. But it was his relentless commitment to the rule of law and his unwavering belief in our bedrock values that made him one of the most respected public servants of our time. Michelle and I send our condolences to Bob’s family, and everyone who knew and admired him.

6 weeks to be FULLY protected. Meningitis B is endemic in the UK with outbreaks every year. This one is particularly large. It is cruel, and potentially fatal, to mislead this generation into fearing a vaccine that prevents such a horrific disease. Died 'bleeding from her eyes'

But…I develop low-cost often patent free vaccines that bypass big pharma and provide access to people who can’t afford them. In the past people who espoused freedom were learned and read books. Now they’re just lazy mindless dummies who think conspiracy sites pass for knowledge

The ivermectin grift was never just about the pill. It was about building a belief system where anecdotes outrank trials, every negative study is waved away, and “why would they lie?” replaces actual evidence. When patients are being recruited on Twitter into $1500 online consults, it should be obvious that the product is not just ivermectin. The product is access, identity, distrust, and a monetized alternative reality. Let me show how it works.

This is misinformation - if anything there is plenty of data showing that having #COVID19 may cause fertility issues by affecting sperm quality in men and ovarian activity or egg quality in women pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36588488/

Hi chemist here 👋 Oil and gas isn’t just fuel. It’s the backbone of modern life. Fertilizers → feed billions. Plastics → sterile medicine, safe food. Materials → phones, insulation, clothing.

The CDC depicts COVID data with a "cool blue" map that violates ethical norms for geospatial analysis. Their longitudinal graph uses a cool blue vertical axis, no numbers. Studies have shown the general public quickly interprets red as risk and blue as cool. #CalmMongering

1. A few points here. First, many people in Canterbury are making precisely that assumption, and they're wise to do so: meningitis can be deadly. Second, assumption of infection is the cornerstone of safer sex; in that context, people make this assumption all the time. Also wise.