TWiV 1286: Clinical update with Dr. Daniel Griffin

This Week in Virology

Vincent Racaniello

Virus, Science & Medicine, Microbe, Twiv, Racaniello, Infectious, Pathogen, Vincent, Virology, Infection, Medicine, Microbiology

4.8 • 2.2K Ratings

🗓️ 10 January 2026

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In his weekly clinical update, Dr. Griffin and Vincent Racaniello are bewildered and dismayed by RFK Jr’s announced changes in the routine childhood immunization schedule, though not unpredicted, and highlight the science and evidence which eviscerate these changes, then deep dives into recent statistics on the measles epidemic- in particular in South Carolina, RSV, influenza and SARS-CoV-2 infections, the Wasterwater Scan dashboard, Johns Hopkins measles tracker, estimated societal burden of COVID-19 illness, deaths and hospitalizations, benefit of maternal COVID-19 vaccination, where to find PEMGARDA, how to access and pay for Paxlovid, long COVID treatment center, where to go for answers to your long COVID questions, neurodevelopmental consequences of in-utero SARS-CoV-2 infection and contacting your federal government representative to stop the assault on science and biomedical research. Subscribe (free): Apple Podcasts, RSS, email Become a patron of TWiV! Links for this episode Childhood Immunization Schedule by Recommendation Group (US Health and Human Service) Recommended Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule for Ages 18 Years or Younger (American Academy of Pediatrics) Kennedy Scales Back the Number of Vaccines Recommended for Children (NY Times) There RFK Jr. Goes Again . . .(Wall Street Journal) Hepatitis B Vaccination is an Essential Safety Net for Newborns (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) Effectiveness and Impact of Maternal RSV Immunization and Nirsevimab on Medically Attended RSV in US Children (JAMA Pediatrics) Rotavirus (College of Physicians of Philadelphia) Hepatitis A in the Era of Vaccination (Epidemiologic Reviews) Meningococcal Vaccination in the United States: Past, Present, And Future (Ped Drugs) Meningococcal Vaccination: Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, United States, 2020 (CDC: MMWR) N.Y. DOH says childhood vaccine recommendations remain unchanged despite CDC’s update (Spectrum 1 News) Wastewater for measles (WasterWater Scan) Measles cases and outbreaks (CDC Rubeola) Tracking Measles Cases in the U.S. (Johns Hopkins) South Carolina measles cases rise by 26 to 211, state health department says (Reuters) Measles vaccine recommendations from NYP (jpg) Weekly measles and rubella monitoring (Government of Canada) Measles (WHO) Get the FACTS about measles (NY State Department of Health) Measles (CDC Measles (Rubeola)) Measles vaccine (CDC Measles (Rubeola)) Presumptive evidence of measles immunity (CDC) Contraindications and precautions to measles vaccination (CDC) Adverse events associated with childhood vaccines: evidence bearing on causality (NLM) Measles Vaccination: Know the Facts(ISDA: Infectious Diseases Society of America) Deaths following vaccination: what does the evidence show (Vaccine) Influenza: Waste water scan for 11 pathogens (WastewaterSCan) US respiratory virus activity (CDC Respiratory Illnesses) Respiratory virus activity levels (CDC Respiratory Illnesses) Weekly surveillance report: cliff notes (CDC FluView) Influenza Vaccine Composition for the 2025-2026 U.S. Influenza Season (FDA) RSV: Waste water scan for 11 pathogens (WastewaterSCan) Respiratory Diseases (Yale School of Public Health) RSV-Network (CDC Respiratory Syncytial virus Infection) Vaccines for Adults (CDC: Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection (RSV)) Economic Analysis of Protein Subunit and mRNA RSV Vaccination in Adults aged 50-59 Years (CDC: ACIP) COVID-19 deaths (CDC) Respiratory Illnesses Data Channel (CDC: Respiratory Illnesses) COVID-19 national and regional trends (CDC) COVID-19 variant tracker (CDC) Estimated Burden of COVID-19 Illnesses, Medical Visits, Hospitalizations, and Deaths in the US From October 2022 to September 2024 (JAMA Internal Medicine) The Role of Vaccination in Maternal and Perinatal Outcomes Associated With COVID-19 in Pregnancy (JAMA) Where to get pemgarda (Pemgarda) EUAfor the pre-exposure prophylaxis of COVID-19 (INVIYD) Infusion center (Prime Fusions) CDC Quarantine guidelines (CDC) NIH COVID-19 treatment guidelines (NIH) Drug interaction checker (University of Liverpool) Help your eligible patients access PAXLOVID with the PAXCESS Patient Support Program (Pfizer Pro) UnderstandingCoverageOptions (PAXCESS) Infectious Disease Society guidelines for treatment and management (ID Society) Molnupiravir safety and efficacy (JMV) Convalescent plasma recommendation for immunocompromised (ID Society) What to do when sick with a respiratory virus (CDC) Managing healthcare staffing shortages (CDC) Anticoagulationguidelines (hematology.org) Daniel Griffin’s evidence based medical practices for long COVID (OFID) Long COVID hotline (Columbia : Columbia University Irving Medical Center) The answers: Long COVID The COVID generation: the neurodevelopmental consequences of in-utero COVID-19 exposure (Brain, behavior and Immunity) Reaching out to US house representative Letters read on TWiV 1286 Dr. Griffin’s COVID treatment summary (pdf) Timestamps by Jolene Ramsey. Thanks! Intro music is by Ronald Jenkees Send your questions for Dr. Griffin to [email protected] Content in this podcast should not be construed as medical advice.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This Week in Virology, the podcast about viruses, the kind that make you sick.
0:10.3	From MicrobTV, this is Twiv, this week in Virology, episode 1286, recorded on January 8th, 2026. I'm Vincent Rackeniello, and you're listening to the podcast
0:25.2	All About Viruses. Joining me today from Rome, Italy, Daniel Griffin. Hello, everyone.
0:34.0	What's the temperature there? It's got to be warmer than here, right? You know, it actually, it is warmer than New York, only in that New York has been bitter, cold.
0:43.5	But it's a little chilly here.
0:45.7	You know, it was low 40s Fahrenheit for our Fahrenheit folks, which is, what, four or five degrees Celsius.
0:53.3	So it's, you know.
0:54.5	It's about the same. It got above freezing here the last two days. Okay.
0:58.6	Yeah, we had a bit of rain, a little, a little bit of wind. So it's a little colder than we
1:03.6	expected. But what a, what a fabulous place. Really? I envy you. It's great. Rum is lovely.
1:10.4	All right. Well, we're going to have a very interactive
1:12.7	session tonight, so, or whenever you're listening to it, but tonight as we're recording it at 11 p.m.
1:19.2	at 5 o'clock New York, because it's some things I think we need to discuss. But let me start off with
1:27.1	what I thought was very appropriate quotation
1:30.8	attributed to Julius Caesar. Men willingly believe what they wish.
1:39.4	Well, it's appropriate that you quote Julius Caesar, right? Being in Rome, and I think also with the fact that people just believe whatever they want,
1:49.3	right? They don't really seem to be bound by facts or...
1:53.0	You know, I was thinking of this. I think of your scientists, you're bound by facts, what
1:58.8	science finds. You don't believe what you want, right?
2:01.6	Well, I think that's what we're going to be talking about tonight because there is a group
2:05.9	down that's sort of taken over the CDC and other sort of parts of the government-controlled
2:13.0	health and human services.
	...

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