In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.
A number of posts discussed Trump's support for the discredited notion.
Another leading anti-vaxxer is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He has repeatedly compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust. Rolling Stone and Salon retracted an RFK article linking vaccines to autism. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.
Jonathan Corum and Teddy Rosenbluth at NYT:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 1,309 measles cases as of Tuesday, the highest number of annual cases since the United States declared measles eliminated in 2000.
That number includes 1,151 cases related to measles outbreaks and 158 isolated cases, typically linked to international travel.
With six months left in the year, the country has surpassed the case count from 2019 — the worst year until now — when measles infected 1,274 people around the country, including large outbreaks in Orthodox Jewish communities in New York.
Dr. Stacey Bartell wanted to offer vaccines to her patients. But at her small family medicine practice in a Detroit suburb, she could not find a way to make the finances work.
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So a few weeks ago, when Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary, claimed in an interview with Tucker Carlson that vaccine profits created “perverse incentives” for pediatricians to push immunizations, Dr. Bartell was confused.
Doctors widely consider vaccines to be a money pit. Research shows that most pediatricians either break even or lose money on shots. One 2017 study found that nearly a quarter of family medicine providers and 12 percent of pediatricians stopped purchasing vaccines because of prohibitive costs.
To many experts, suggesting otherwise not only ignored that data, but also sent a dangerous message: that patients should doubt their doctor’s motives in recommending vaccines.
“This idea that we vaccinate kids to make money honestly is misleading and dangerous,” said Dr. David Higgins, a pediatrician and preventive medicine expert at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.
Patricia Callahan at Pro Publica:
Five months after taking over the federal agency responsible for the health of all Americans, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to overhaul an obscure but vital program that underpins the nation’s childhood immunization system.
Depending on what he does, the results could be catastrophic.
In his crosshairs is the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, a system designed to provide fair and quick payouts for people who suffer rare but serious side effects from shots — without having to prove that drugmakers were negligent. Congress created the program in the 1980s when lawsuits drove vaccine makers from the market. A special tax on immunizations funds the awards, and manufacturers benefit from legal protections that make it harder to win big-money verdicts against them in civil courts.
Kennedy, who founded an anti-vaccination group and previously accused the pharmaceutical industry of inflicting “unnecessary and risky vaccines” on children for profits, has long argued that the program removes any incentive for the industry to make safe products.
In a recent interview with Tucker Carlson, Kennedy condemned what he called corruption in the program and said he had assigned a team to overhaul it and expand who could seek compensation. He didn’t detail his plans but did repeat the long-debunked claim that vaccines cause autism and suggested, without citing any evidence, that shots could also be responsible for a litany of chronic ailments, from diabetes to narcolepsy.