20250812 STAND Newsletter – Sound Science Saves Lives
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What’s new with STAND
STAND at a pub coming up soon at Marlay House – see you there on August 20th.
Our August general meeting will be replaced by a documentary viewing on September 6th. Take a look at the flyer.
Action NOW!
On August 16th, STAND and its allies will host Sound Science Saves Lives. I need four quick things from you to make it successful:
1. Like and share our facebook event
2. RSVP with Mobilize (they will promote with a few more signups)
3. We have some members in need of transport – please let me know if your willing to assist and are comfortable with Uber
4. Show up with your best sign supporting the CDC, public health, Medicaid, or scientists, and your armbands on! We’ll see you at 10th and Peachtree from 10:30-11:30am.
Dear Friends,
I’ll admit to you today that as I write the newsletter this week, I’m angry. The attack on the CDC was personal for me. I have colleagues who were in CDC buildings as they were shot, colleagues at Emory whose children were locked down for hours at their daycare, and an employee who was walking to CVS to buy something as the gunman ran out the door. Since January, the science lab that I run has had to functionally halt our mRNA vaccine research to rapid divestment by the government, with former collaborators laid off seemingly at the behest of government officials. As a COVID-19 researcher working on next-generation mRNA vaccines, it’s become pretty clear from reporting that the gunman on Friday was probably looking for folks like me.
Beyond that, on Friday, we learned that all federal grants that we now submit (our primary funding sources) must be reviewed by government appointees who will decide if they "demonstrably advance” the president’s agenda. Specifically, they may not go toward programs based on “race, that support transgender individuals, that facilitate illegal immigration or that otherwise compromise ‘American values’”. Those appointees have been advised that they must not defer to others in making final decisions, but instead “use their own independent judgment." This kind of policy making is no longer for shock value. This is about power and control, and science is being rapidly dismantled to achieve it.
I try not to talk much about my lab because I usually think that there are more important things happening to discuss. But in a moment where the National Guard is being called in to patrol the streets of Washington DC, it seems relevant that academics are being asked to submit their work to government appointees for purity testing before being able to carry it out. The trajectory of this is clearer now than it ever has been.
Our colleagues at the CDC need our support. Our healthcare providers need our support. Our scientists need our support. Our community members that rely on government programs for healthcare need our support. We have an opportunity to do that on Saturday. From 10:30-11:30am, we will be on the corner of Peachtree and 10th waving signs and attracting attention to the damage being done to our public health and science infrastructure.
Please RSVP here, and let me know if you are willing to hop in an Uber with some folks that need transportation downtown.
Thank you for STANDing with me,
Matt
