Lena Sun

Lena Sun

@lenasun.bsky.social

National health reporter, The Washington Post Lena.Sun@washpost.com; Reach me securely on Signal: LenaSun.04

4.5K followers387 following216 posts

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Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

Hearing that @CDCgov personnel on probationary list are getting termination letters this evening. If you’re one of them, you can reach me securely on Signal at LenaSun.04. I promise to keep your name confidential. We want to get a sense of who’s been cut. DMs ok too. Also lena.sun@washpost.com

Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

NEW: When Demetre Daskalakis quit the CDC last year to protest RFK Jr.’s vaccine policies, he had wrestled for months with a harder question: Could he do more to protect public health by staying inside? My story. 1/3 www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

washingtonpost.comHe left the CDC to fight RFK Jr. But was it better to fight from within?Demetre Daskalakis, CDC’s top immunization official, resigned in 2025 to protest Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., then became one of his loudest critics.
Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

Before Daskalakis left, he tried to limit damage from within, fighting to preserve vaccine access and CDC’s scientific process. Leaving meant giving up that influence. Staying meant risking complicity in policies he thought were dangerous. 2/3

Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

His story raises a question confronting career scientists across government: When political leaders override science is it better to stay and fight from within or leave and speak out? 3/3

Lena Sun reposted

Dan Diamond
@ddiamond.bsky.social

The White House struggled to find an FDA commissioner, but they have a pick — HEIDI OVERTON, who's been serving as one of Trump's domestic policy advisers. Many outside candidates turned them down. More TK with @rachelroubein.bsky.social

washingtonpost.comTrump expected to pick White House aide to lead FDAHeidi Overton works on the White House's Domestic Policy Council. She would replace Marty Makary, who resigned in May after months of turmoil at the agency.
Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

NEW: Our latest story about the cyclospora outbreak also details the scope of recalled product: 3.1 million pounds of recalled lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico. Roughly the weight of 25 Boeing 737s. W @rachelroubein.bsky.social @Caitlingilbert.bsky.social

Rachel Roubein@rachelroubein.bsky.social

FDA investigators are now in Mexico nearly a month after federal officials linked Taylor Farms’ lettuce to the nation’s largest cyclospora outbreak. Inspecting the processing plant now, fields next. w/ @lenasun.bsky.social @caitlingilbert.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

washingtonpost.comFDA in Mexico a month after linking Taylor Farms to cyclospora outbreakSenior FDA official confirms that inspectors were on-site at the Taylor Farms processing facility and plan to be in the fields next.

Lena Sun reposted

Fenit Nirappil
@fenitn.bsky.social

How did a false allegation lead to Pete Buttigieg's separation from his kids? Our exclusive reporting shows how authorities did not take steps to vet the caller who left her contact. We found the caller who said she wanted to thwart his White House ambitions. Gift link: wapo.st/45ok5XP

washingtonpost.comSource of false Buttigieg allegation appeared ‘mentally unstable,’ records showThe Michigan attorney general’s office is investigating how the accusation that prompted the ex-Cabinet secretary's separation from his 4-year-old twins was handled.
Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

UPDATE TAYLOR FARMS: Hours after company says it is voluntarily pulling lettuce from Mexico, Taylor Farms tells FDA it will initiate a recall. No additional details on what products. Our story updated 👇

Lena Sun@lenasun.bsky.social

BREAKING: Taylor Farms pulls all iceberg lettuce sourced in central Mexico from U.S. market in cyclosporiasis investigation. AND Sysco, a huge food supplier, has stopped distributing Taylor Farms processed iceberg lettuce products frm Mexico. Our story. 1/2 www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

washingtonpost.comTaylor Farms pulls all iceberg lettuce sourced in central Mexico from U.S. marketThe CDC and FDA advised consumers to avoid eating shredded iceburg lettuce from Taco Bell as it investigates a parasitic outbreak that has sickened thousands.
Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

With the terrible, horrible very bad air in so much of the US, here is a video I made showing how you can make your own air filter for cleaner air. At home. With just a few items. (I made it during pandemic but it works for any time you want cleaner air.) www.washingtonpost.com/video/scienc...

washingtonpost.comHow to make an air cleaner to get better indoor air qualityAn air cleaner can help remove indoor pollutants and reduce the spread of pathogens such as the coronavirus. Washington Post reporter Lena Sun demonstrates how to make a Corsi-Rosenthal box using MERV...
Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

BREAKING: Taylor Farms pulls all iceberg lettuce sourced in central Mexico from U.S. market in cyclosporiasis investigation. AND Sysco, a huge food supplier, has stopped distributing Taylor Farms processed iceberg lettuce products frm Mexico. Our story. 1/2 www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

washingtonpost.comTaylor Farms pulls all iceberg lettuce sourced in central Mexico from U.S. marketThe CDC and FDA advised consumers to avoid eating shredded iceburg lettuce from Taco Bell as it investigates a parasitic outbreak that has sickened thousands.
Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

Sysco’s products reach restaurants, hospitals, schools and other food-service providers across the country. Freshpoint, its premium produce distributor, claims several major restaurant, chains and hotels as customers, along with providers to convention centers, retirement, homes, and colleges. 2/2

Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

SCOOP: Federal and state health officials are investigating whether Taco Bell restaurants played role in one of the largest US outbreaks of cyclosporiasis, per my sources. Meanwhile Michigan says lettuce or salad greens are potential outbreak source. My story. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

washingtonpost.comAuthorities investigate Taco Bell and lettuce in multistate cyclosporiasis outbreakAuthorities have not yet identified a produce grower or supplier responsible for the outbreak that has hospitalized more than 80 people.
Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

“Maybe we’ll get it under control here in Utah, but other states will go through what we just experienced, and then it will come back here,” said Utah state epidemiologist, Leisha Nolen. Utah is now home to the largest active outbreak. “I have concerns that this could be the future for a while.” 2/3

Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

In a sign of how seriously physicians view the threat, 15 medical groups —the Measles Collaborative— launched an unusual effort to help prepare docs/hospitals for a disease many practicing physicians have rarely — or never — encountered but may now need to manage as part of everyday practice. 3/3

Lena Sun reposted

Andrew Pavia
@andrewpaviamd.bsky.social

As @lenasun.bsky.social reports, this article used well-accepted methods and stood up to peer review. Acting CDC Director Bhattacharya said he had concerns about the methodology but never explained them. He is an economist, not trained in epidemiology. wapo.st/4aMg6rc

wapo.stCDC’s chief blocked a covid vaccine study. Now it’s in a top medical journal.The study found that the vaccine reduced the risk of emergency department visits and hospitalizations among healthy adults by about half last winter.
Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

NEW: CDC’s chief blocked a covid vaccine study. Now it’s in a top medical journal. The study in JAMA Network Open used the same methodology that CDC’s Jay Bhattacharya criticized when the paper was not allowed to be published in CDC’s MMWR. My story. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

washingtonpost.comCDC’s chief blocked a covid vaccine study. Now it’s in a top medical journal.The study found that the vaccine reduced the risk of emergency department visits and hospitalizations among healthy adults by about half last winter.
Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

Summer solstice still life. Feeeze wiped out entire crop of sour cherries in our area (along with local peaches and nectarines). Some farms in Pennsylvania survived. These Montmarency aren’t as good as the Jubileum cherries one local farm has. Still, nothing says summer like tart cherries.

Lena Sun reposted

Liz Szabo
@lizszabo.bsky.social

Important story from @lenasun.bsky.social and @rachelroubein.bsky.social: Inside the push to keep RFK Jr.’s vaccine agenda alive The public effort to revamp U.S. vaccine policy has quieted. Behind the scenes is a different story. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

washingtonpost.comInside the push to keep RFK Jr.’s vaccine agenda aliveThe public effort to revamp U.S. vaccine policy has quieted. Behind the scenes is a different story.
Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

NEW: RFK’s public effort to revamp US policy has quieted. But outside public eye, RFK + allies are embedding his agenda in institutions that decide what vaccines get studied, who does the research, and how that becomes policy. @rachelroubein.bsky.social 1/2 www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

washingtonpost.comInside the push to keep RFK Jr.’s vaccine agenda aliveThe public effort to revamp U.S. vaccine policy has quieted. Behind the scenes is a different story.
Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

“The changes being made across the vaccine ecosystem — from [vaccine development] research not being conducted to efforts intended to question vaccine safety— are likely to have a long tail and impact both future vaccine development and use,” said Bruce Gellin, longtime vaccine expert. 2/2

Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

NEW: Congo outbreak could rival the largest Ebola epidemic on record, CDC warns. That epidemic in West Africa infected more than 28,000 people and killed more than 11,000 by the time it was over in 2016. My latest. 1/3 www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

washingtonpost.comCongo outbreak could rival the largest Ebola epidemic on record, CDC warnsIn one worst-case scenario projected, more than 20,000 cases would occur within three months if only 1 in 5 infected people are identified and isolated within two days.
Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

2/3 In one of the CDC’s worst-case scenarios for the current outbreak, more than 20,000 cases would occur within three months if only 1 in 5 infected people are identified and isolated within two days of developing symptoms.

Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

3/3 “Urgent action is needed to slow the spread of this outbreak and prevent it from becoming as large as, or larger than, the 2014 to 2016 West Africa outbreak,” CDC official said. “Without strong public health interventions, the modeling work suggests an outbreak of that scale is possible.”

Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

Passengers said they were told they had to agree to certain “expectations” before anyone could return home, incl 24 seven monitoring outside the residence, most likely in form of community health worker. “What is the reason for making us subject to stigmatization in our communities?” 2/2

Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

Forced to dance for Mengele at Auschwitz, she was called to help others heal. Obit of Edith Eger, what she endured, what she chose to become afterwards, expands your sense of what a human can survive without losing their humanity. @harrisondsmith.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...

washingtonpost.comForced to dance for Mengele at Auschwitz, she was called to help others healPsychologist Edith Eger, who has died at 98, treated veterans and abuse victims. She had to heal herself first, she said, to truly help her patients.
Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

Public health experts said RFK Jr’s handpicked federal vaccine advisory panel should have considered this type of evidence before making its decision last December to replace birth dose with rec to delay 1st shot until at least two months for babies born to hepB-negative moms. 2/2

Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

SCOOP: Two weeks ago, the head of the CDC delayed publication of a report showing covid vaccine cut likelihood of ER visits and hospitalizations by half. Now that report is no longer allowed to be published in CDC’s flagship scientific journal. My latest. 1/2 www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

washingtonpost.comCDC won’t publish report showing covid shots cut likelihood of hospital visitsThe report, which had cleared the agency’s scientific-review process, had been delayed. It now won’t be published at all, people familiar with the decision told The Post.
Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

2/2 The move, which has not been previously reported, has raised concerns among current + former officials that information about the vaccine’s benefits is being downplayed because they conflict with the views of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been an outspoken critic of the shots.

Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

Deep dive on RFK Jr’s new food stamp rules are v confusing. Hannah Hansen, single mom of four, said her food stamps didn’t cover sweetened wild cherry sparkling water or semisweet chocolate chips for baking, but paid for ultra-processed items like “chips and cookies.” @rachelroubein.bsky.social

Rachel Roubein@rachelroubein.bsky.social

KitKat, Gatorade or granola bars? Pushed by RFK Jr., what’s banned under new food stamp rules has been mixed, leading to maze of new restrictions. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

washingtonpost.comKitKat, Gatorade or granola bars? What’s banned under new SNAP rules is mixed.Many GOP states are enacting soda and candy bans for food stamp purchases amid MAHA’s healthy food efforts. Some retailers and SNAP users find the new rules complicated.
Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

ICYMI: The White House is considering Erica Schwartz, frmer deputy surgeon general in Trump’s first term, to be director of @CDCgov. Also weighing 3 others for senior team, incl Texas health commish Jennifer Shuford. @ddiamond.bsky.social and me. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

washingtonpost.comWhite House favors Erica Schwartz, former deputy surgeon general, to lead CDCSchwartz would be Trump’s third nominee to lead the agency. The administration is also said to be looking at three other people to serve in senior roles supporting her.

Lena Sun reposted

Dan Diamond
@ddiamond.bsky.social

NEWS - Erica Schwartz, former deputy US surgeon general, is favored candidate to lead CDC former Walmart exec Sean Slovenski favored as a top deputy still pending Trump's approval w @lenasun.bsky.social

washingtonpost.comWhite House favors Erica Schwartz, former deputy surgeon general, to lead CDCSchwartz would be Trump’s third nominee to lead the CDC. She left government in 2021, after the Biden administration passed her over for acting U.S. surgeon general.

Lena Sun reposted

The Washington Post
@washingtonpost.com

Cecillia Wang was born in Oregon after her parents legally emigrated from Taiwan, making her a U.S. citizen by birth. Now, she is set to appear before the Supreme Court to address a question fundamental to the nation and her family: Who deserves to be an American? https://wapo.st/4uU4bAd

Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

SCOOP: A key federal vaccine panel has abandoned an attack on covid-19 mRNA vaccines — a shift that comes as some GOP warn that any more changes to vaccine policy could damage midterm prospects. Me + @rachelroubein.bsky.com www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

washingtonpost.comRFK Jr.’s vaccine advisers drop proposal to revisit covid-19 shotSome members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel have publicly questioned the safety and manufacturing of the shots, including raising a debunked theory that DNA contaminants in the vaccines are harmf...

Lena Sun reposted

Andrew Pavia
@andrewpaviamd.bsky.social

Nice reporting by @lenasun.bsky.social and colleagues about the irrational and deceptive arguments that RFK Jr has used to take away the recommendation for routine influenza vaccine. Meantime, we have seen many unvaccinated kids with flu in the ICU, on ECMO, and who died. wapo.st/46jSng1

wapo.stInside RFK Jr.’s push against the flu vaccine that he links to his voice conditionTrump’s health secretary has halted federal flu vaccine promotions, citing personal beliefs about vaccine risks.
Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

Our deep dive on RFK Jr, his voice condition and flu vaccine. (with correct handles this time) @laurenweberhp.bsky.social and me and @caitlingilbert.bsky.social @washingtonpost.com

Lena Sun@lenasun.bsky.social

NEW: RFKJr seems to have a personal reason for his long-running campaign against the flu vaccine: He links it to his voice condition. Our deep dive on the science. 1/2 @laurenweber.bsky.social, me @caitlinsgilbert.bsky.Social @Washingtonpost.Bsky.Social www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

washingtonpost.comInside RFK Jr.’s push against the flu vaccine that he links to his voice conditionTrump’s health secretary has halted federal flu vaccine promotions, citing personal beliefs about vaccine risks.

Lena Sun reposted

Deb Houry
@drdebhoury.bsky.social

From @lenasun.bsky.social article: "Three top voice medical experts and Dysphonia International said there is no scientific basis for the claim that the flu vaccine is behind Kennedy’s condition; there is evidence to suggest a potential association between dystonias and certain drug use."

Lena Sun@lenasun.bsky.social

NEW: RFKJr seems to have a personal reason for his long-running campaign against the flu vaccine: He links it to his voice condition. Our deep dive on the science. 1/2 @laurenweber.bsky.social, me @caitlinsgilbert.bsky.Social @Washingtonpost.Bsky.Social www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

washingtonpost.comInside RFK Jr.’s push against the flu vaccine that he links to his voice conditionTrump’s health secretary has halted federal flu vaccine promotions, citing personal beliefs about vaccine risks.
Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

NEW: RFKJr seems to have a personal reason for his long-running campaign against the flu vaccine: He links it to his voice condition. Our deep dive on the science. 1/2 @laurenweber.bsky.social, me @caitlinsgilbert.bsky.Social @Washingtonpost.Bsky.Social www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

washingtonpost.comInside RFK Jr.’s push against the flu vaccine that he links to his voice conditionTrump’s health secretary has halted federal flu vaccine promotions, citing personal beliefs about vaccine risks.
Lena Sun
@lenasun.bsky.social

2/ “Having seen over 300 patients with this condition over the course of my 30 year career, no one else has ever claimed or felt that they developed this condition due to a vaccination of any kind,“ said Steven Bielamowicz, an expert.

Lena Sun reposted

Lauren Weber
@laurenweberhp.bsky.social

🚨 Inside RFK Jr.’s long-running crusade against the flu vaccine w/ @lenasun.bsky.social @caitlingilbert.bsky.social -links vaccine to his voice condition without evidence  -moved to kill a flu vaccine campaign his 2nd day on job -changed vaccine schedule www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/...

washingtonpost.comInside RFK Jr.’s push against the flu vaccine that he links to his voice conditionTrump’s health secretary has halted federal flu vaccine promotions, citing personal beliefs about vaccine risks.