US (no) Vaccine News

There’s plenty going on in the world of the anti-vaxxers over in that weird place, with Florida rolling back the years to the happier times of diphtheria, polio and chicken pox because of [checks notes] “slavery”.

Right.

And then a couple of days later, a voice of reason piped up with this line:

“I think those vaccines should be used. Otherwise, some people are going to catch it and they are going to endanger other people.”

And that voice of reason was [checks notes] [checks notes again] [and again]… er… it was Donald Trump.

What?

At a White House event, the president added: “You have vaccines that work. They just pure and simple work. They’re not controversial at all, and I think those vaccines should be used.”

He went on to say, “The polio vaccine I think is amazing. A lot of people think that Covid is amazing. When you don’t have controversy at all, I think people should take it.”

What?

I’m so confused right now.

Thankfully(?), he reverted to type a 4 days later, amplifying a post from anti-vaxxer and [wow, there’s a lot of note checking to be done today, sorry] vaccine advisor to the Department of Health, David Grier.

Trump posted an undated video clip on Truth Social of anti-vaccine activists Mark and David Geier discussing thimerosal in vaccines with the text on the clipped video reading: ‘They’re ALL poison. Every. Single. One.’ David Geier has been leading an inquiry within the Department of Health and Human Services, at the direction of Trump and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., into debunked assertions of a link between vaccines and autism.

Yes, David Grier that you read about here.

David Geier has written several papers on the alleged dangers of vaccines in causing developmental disorders in children, several of them funded by the non-profit Institute of Chronic Illnesses (ICI), Inc.

The CEO of the Institute of Chronic Illnesses (ICI), Inc. is one David Grier.

Everywhere else in America rolling back the years to happier time when kids died from measles. And the latest hotspot is Chicago. And the best bit about the latest patient in Chicago – an unvaccinated 4 year old – is that they had recently travelled through O’Hare Airport, which handles almost 300,000 passengers a day.

The public might have been exposed on Thursday, September 11 at O’Hare International Airport, at terminal 5 between the hours of about 7:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.

Fantastic news. It’s proper Outbreak stuff. But with less Ebola.

Elsewhere in the States, dyslexic anti-vaxxers are being blamed for a serious of attacks on beauty salons…

It’s a rubbish joke, but I still laughed, because otherwise, I’d still be crying.

What could possibly go wrong?

The measles outbreak in the USA has now killed at least two people, including a 6 year old girl, and has infected at least 430.

430 might not seem like a huge number, but it’s worth remembering that even if infection doesn’t cause death, it can result in deafness, blindness and brain damage, as well as having other serious long-term effects.

And we’ve been through some of the reasons that this outbreak is happening. Indeed, the parents of the little girl that died gave an interview after her death in which they said that they remained strongly anti-vaccination. And while you can argue that that’s their right (sadly, it is), maybe for some context we should add another of the things they said in the same interview:

“The measles wasn’t that bad.”

That ‘s them describing the disease that just killed their daughter.

Absolutely terrifying. Not least given that they have 4 other kids.

Of course, one of the other reasons (other than religion) that measles vaccination has waned is Andrew Wakefield’s long-disproven link between MMR and autism.

A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.

There are now many, many studies refuting Wakefield’s “work” – and it’s a horrible lesson in how incredibly damaging and dangerous spreading falsehoods can be.

It’s absolutely clear that Wakefield’s “study” was – at best – terrible science, and – at worst – completely fraudulent.

So it’s both weird and worrying that The Department of Health and Human Services in the US has decided to launch a study into… er… “the connection between immunisations and autism”, and even weirder and more worrying that [gosh] they’ve chosen a prominent anti-vaxxer to help run it.

David Geier has written several papers on the alleged dangers of vaccines in causing developmental disorders in children, several of them funded by the non-profit Institute of Chronic Illnesses (ICI), Inc.

The CEO of the Institute of Chronic Illnesses (ICI), Inc. is one David Grier.

He’s certainly never medically examined children even though he holds no medical qualification.

Grier and his father have long been grifting while pretending that there’s a link between vaccines and autism. They then tested and “treated” their patients at huge expense to the parents, while raking in money for representing them at (unsuccessful) legal hearings into their childrens’ disorders.

Anyway, he seems like the perfect guy to run an unbiased, objective, non-partisan study into this allegedly contentious and emotive non-issue.

What – I ask again – could possibly go wrong?