All posts tagged "measles"

Trump official's alarming health advice akin to saying 'smoke like a chimney': experts

Doctors were bewildered by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s directive for federal agencies to seek new measles treatments — including vitamins — instead of promoting long-established safe and effective vaccinations, according to The New York Times.

“This is akin to saying, ‘Go ahead and eat whatever you want, don’t exercise, smoke like a chimney — we’re going to invest all of our resources in heart transplants,’” the Times quoted Dr. Jonathan Temte, a former chairman of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory committee.

The nation is in the grips of the "largest single measles outbreak in 25 years," the Times reported. "On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 930 cases nationwide, most of which are associated with the Southwest outbreak" that killed two young girls.

"The decision is the latest in a series of actions by the nation’s top health official that experts fear will undermine public confidence in vaccines as an essential public health tool," wrote reporter Teddy Rosenbluth.

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And, even though RFK Jr. is a well-known anti-vaxxer, doctors found his position on measles "to contradict his longstanding focus on disease prevention instead of treatment," she wrote.

According to the Times report, current treatments revolve around "supportive care" to help make patients "more comfortable while the virus runs its course, like Tylenol to bring down their fever, supplemental oxygen and IV fluids."

“We don’t want to send the signal that you don’t have to get vaccinated because there’s just a way to get rid of it,” Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at the Brown University School of Public Health, told the Times.

HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said the decision to look for new treatments "is meant to help people who chose not to vaccinate," although, he added that "the CDC still recommends the measles, mumps and rubella shot as the most effective way to prevent measles."

Read The New York Times article here.

Health dept. head claims getting measles is good thing: 'Gives you lifetime of protection'

Health and Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has stopped short of recommending Americans be vaccinated against measles, is now suggesting everyone should get the virus to build up their immunity.

"It used to be, when I were a kid, that everybody got measles. And the measles gave you lifetime protection against measles infection,” Kennedy told Fox News' Sean Hannity as reported in The Daily Beast. “The vaccine doesn’t do that. The vaccine is effective for some people for life, but for many people it wanes.”

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Kennedy, who downplayed his anti-vaccine stance during his Senate confirmation, also told Hannity, "There are adverse events from the vaccine. It does cause deaths every year. It causes all the illnesses that measles itself cause, like encephalitis and blindness, etc., so people ought to be able to make that choice for themselves.”

Kennedy did admit, however, that the vaccine does “stop the spread of the disease.”

His comments come in the midst of a measles outbreak in Texas that has killed at least two unvaccinated people.

"More than 220 people in the state have been diagnosed with the infectious virus, and California, New York, and Maryland have also reported cases of late," according to the article. "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is sweating over the outbreak, warning health-care workers and travelers to 'be vigilant.'”

Read The Daily Beast article here.

'Does not bode well': Doctor slams Trump's response as child dies in measles outbreak

The Trump administration is hampering efforts to fight the measles outbreak that took the life of a an unvaccinated school-aged child this week in Texas, according to an MSNBC medical consultant Dr. Davita Patel.

The child's death was the first linked to an outbreak in West Texas that has infected more than 100 people. ABC News reported that most all of the cases "are in unvaccinated individuals or individuals whose vaccination status is unknown."

In an article Wednesday, Patel, a physician and health policy researcher, wrote, "The current Texas outbreak mirrors 2019’s surge in New York, where 1,274 cases nearly cost the U.S. its designation as a country that had eliminated the disease."

She continued, "Health experts stress that measles’ 90% transmission rate demands rapid, well-resourced responses. With hospitalizations rising and containment protocols delayed, the window to preserve this public health milestone is narrowing. Investment in immunization programs and disease surveillance remains critical to preventing measles from regaining endemic status.

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However, the Trump administration's reluctance to encourage vaccines while simultaneously cutting public health outreach efforts, "does not bode well for the next four years," she wrote.

"In a normal presidency, this would be a time for action, with federal support for local public health programs or maybe the president using the bully pulpit to encourage people to get their children a safe and effective vaccine that prevents a brutal disease that can cause deafness, intellectual disabilities or even death," Patel wrote.

Patel also laid blame with President Donald Trump's own "vaccine skepticism" that led the president to reinstate military service members who refused the Covid vaccine during the pandemic. Trump has also echoed concerns about vaccines espoused by his Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has spread conspiracy theories about vaccine safety.

In the piece, Patel wrote that, "Vaccination rates continue to decline nationally, with exemptions reaching record highs in 12 states." And, although a push to vaccinate would certainly save more lives, Patel concluded, "Unfortunately, we will not get the kind of response we need from the Trump administration soon."

Read the MSNBC article here.

All posts tagged "measles"

Trump official's alarming health advice akin to saying 'smoke like a chimney': experts

Health dept. head claims getting measles is good thing: 'Gives you lifetime of protection'

'Does not bode well': Doctor slams Trump's response as child dies in measles outbreak

MN measles outbreak traced to single child in Somali community fearful of vaccine myth

Anti-vaccine activists contributing to measles outbreaks around the U.S.