I don’t want to fixate on the coming crisis, but honestly, it’s getting exasperating, always having to track down my eyeballs rolling around on the floor, because once again they’ve popped clean out of my head. We won’t go after RFK Jr. again, at least not immediately. It’s his confederates, his allies, that are driving me crazy lately.
I’m sure you’ve already heard about Bobby’s lawyer, Aaron Siri, asking the FDA to revoke its approval of…the polio vaccine. That story broke Friday. Today the WashPost looks at Dave Weldon, Trump’s nominee to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and his curious obsession with linking vaccines to autism:
Weldon’s past record of promoting the disproven link between vaccines and autism in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence attesting to the safety and efficacy of vaccines raises concerns among some public health experts about his ability to run the CDC. If confirmed, Weldon could undermine confidence in the lifesaving shots at a time when infectious-disease threats such as measles and whooping cough are on the rise, they say.
A Washington Post review of Weldon’s public comments, media appearances and congressional letters along with accounts of those who worked with him reveal a portrait of a politician and physician who emphasized the experiences of individuals while dismissing dozens of studies based on data from hundreds of thousands of patients that showed no link between vaccines and autism.
He has no interest in data, not when, what? Some mother wrote him a tear-stained letter about how her toddler was fine until the MMR shot, and he immediately started walking on his toes and never smiled again?
“He appeared to have a closed mind on the issue,” said Sharfstein, now a vice dean for public health practice at Johns Hopkins University and a former top official at the Food and Drug Administration. “He didn’t seem to understand that the core tool of population data analysis is one of the pivotal aspects of the work of CDC.”
We are going to a dark, dark place, aren’t we? And as Sherri points out, the people who will suffer the most won’t, in the main, deserve it. Babies too young to be vaccinated for pertussis, etc. How is this possible? How are we moving backward so swiftly?
As so often happens in our modern world, we can pin much of the blame on social media:
Here, an influencer named Kendra Needham, known to her 369,000 followers as the Holistic Mother, recommends a red-light-therapy gadget for pain and thyroid problems. There, Carly Shankman, who posts as CarlyLovesKale, evangelizes about the healing powers of hydrogen-rich water and a probiotic oral-care regimen. Courtney Swan, the host of a health-trends podcast called Realfoodology, links to a menstrual-cycle-tracking app and her own line of immunity boosters in minimalist-chic packaging.
This is a piece about the influencer moms, who grift openly, but no one seems to mind. Why is this country so goddamn stupid?
OK, enough. The weekend was nice enough for what it was, i.e. the last uncommitted one before the holiday. Saw friends, saw Kate, who got some good news — a big gig I probably shouldn’t reveal yet, but will in time. I’ve reached the point of making lists of stuff I have to do before D-Day, and they’re getting a bit long.
How about you?
Sherri said on December 15, 2024 at 9:29 pm
We assume that doctors are scientists, because they have to take some science classes to get into medical school. And some doctors are scientists. But not all doctors, not by a long shot. Those doctors don’t think like scientists, don’t care about evidence, and are prone to all sorts of nonsense.
And, like in any field, some are just outright frauds, which was the case with Andrew Wakefield, who perpetuated the vaccine-autism link on the world.
I’ve been wondering whether we ought to get out measles immunity tested. There’s some question about whether people vaccinated in the 60s still have immunity, because the the dead virus vaccine was not as effective as the live virus. I have a vague memory of some sort of vaccination happening in school and my doctor providing documentation that I didn’t need it, which might be that I got the live virus measles vaccine.
But measles is really, really contagious.
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Suzanne said on December 15, 2024 at 9:36 pm
I am old enough that I actually had the measles. I was a baby and apparently the vaccine wasn’t available yet. I also had mumps.
These anti-vaccine people are nuts. Even when their kids are dying, they won’t get it.
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Jerrie in MidMd said on December 15, 2024 at 9:51 pm
Sherri, I never had the measles but after contracting the chicken pox in law school, I had the MMR vaccine in 1978. I’ve been concerned about immunity so my doctor gave me a referral to have the MMR titer test at Labcorp. I’m relieved that my immunity to all 3 is still high, particularly to the mumps, which I had in first grade. Definitely get tested.
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alex said on December 15, 2024 at 10:01 pm
Speaking of stupid, I can’t believe ABC settled with Trump for $15 million in a bogus defamation suit. ABC and other legacy media should be the ones suing Trump for defamation. I guess the “enemies of the people” will be withholding their tepid criticism from now on.
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Deborah said on December 15, 2024 at 10:03 pm
Our neighbors in the condo unit next to ours were going to host a building holiday party for all of the residents, which is like 9 people when we’re in Santa Fe. The wife wasn’t feeling well so we volunteered to have it at our place which meant cleaning and cooking/baking yesterday and today. WE are all ready for it now, I hope somebody shows up.
Yesterday we had brunch at a restaurant with some friends of ours from Taos and they brought another couple with them. Everyone was an architect/designer so we had a lot in common and had a great time. We probably pissed off the restaurant people because we stayed so long and hogged a table.
On Tuesday we’re meeting with some Abiquiu friends at a Japanese restaurant at a place in Santa Fe connected with the spa called Ten Thousand Waves. We usually go to one or the others place for this holiday gathering but this year we decided to do something different because we’re all getting older and hosting is a bit of a chore with cleaning and cooking.
…I started this comment before our neighbors in our condo building arrived and had to pause while our party was happening for a few hours at our place. It turned out great, the food was good and company was even better. A good time was had by all.
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Mark P said on December 15, 2024 at 10:05 pm
Alex — What were they thinking to settle? Go to trial! Imagine how interesting discovery could have been.
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Julie Robinson said on December 15, 2024 at 10:12 pm
Back in the ancient times of 1979, the state of Indiana required blood tests for a marriage license. I think it was to check for syphillis and the like, but women also got a measles titre. Mine was inconclusive despite my mom reporting them when I was a year old, so I was re-immunized.
I also had mumps and I remember many days of misery. Who would want their children to experience that pain, plus the possibility of life long side effects?
Indiana also experienced a measles outbreak while our daughter was in grade school, and it was recommeded children get a second MMR, which we did. I think later the second one became standard. In fact, the county came around to the schools a month or two later to give the shot to anyone who hadn’t been able to get it yet.
Immunizations have been standard medical practice for generations. I still don’t get how anyone could question them. We are about to have epidemic after epidemic.
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Sherri said on December 15, 2024 at 10:25 pm
I had both the mumps and the chickenpox before my brother was born, so before I was 2 and a half. I don’t remember either. I remember my brother getting the chickenpox on Christmas Day when he was 7, and getting the mumps vaccine when he was about 12 because he hadn’t had the mumps, which probably would have been the MMR.
I’ve read that if you were born before 1957, you’re assumed to have been exposed to measles, and if you’re young enough to have been given the MMR, introduced in 1971, you’re good, it’s the in between that’s ambiguous.
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Deborah said on December 15, 2024 at 10:57 pm
Born in October of 1950. Had measles, chicken pox and mumps at some point, don’t know about whooping cough, don’t remember that. I had mumps very badly and remember the Dr after a home visit giving my parents a stern warning to make sure that I ate anything, I was sick as a dog and seriously malnourished apparently. They got me Hershey bars and whipped cream to try to get something in to me and I couldn’t get it down. I was weak as a kitten for weeks after that, I was maybe 9 or 10 then. I also had anemia as a kid, I was not nourished properly as a kid and feel that I am paying for that with muscular skeletal issues now as an oldster. Feed kids properly is my message, if it takes free lunches in school do it. It catches up with you later.
LB was born in January of 1975, she had chicken pox and whooping cough, I have no memory of the vax schedules but I’m sure we kept up with them.
I so remember getting the polio vax as a kid, standing in line getting a small cup of something sweet and swigging it. My parents were so relieved. I knew about polio, to this day I personally knew 3 people who had it as kids, they have all died by now.
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BigHank53 said on December 16, 2024 at 4:05 am
How appropriate that your 12/16/2014 post was also about vaccines. We’re really about to stupid ourselves to death, aren’t we? Never mind all the comparisons to Weimar Germany—I’m starting to wonder if we got tickets to the revival of the Fall of the Roman Empire.
Deborah, a whole lot of people like to forget that the school lunch program started getting pushed by the Defense Department. Captain America’s super-serum was invented for the comic book, but Steve Rogers being 4F sure wasn’t. There were a lot of WW2 rejects due to straight-up malnutrition, and the DoD didn’t like it at all.
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David C said on December 16, 2024 at 6:25 am
Right now I have insurance that pays for any and all vaccinations. It’s United, but the company is self insured and United only does the paperwork. So I imagine the company has told them to pay for it. But I get any jab the doctor recommends and I ask him at my annual if I’m due for anything. My doctor recommended an MMR booster so I’m up to date on that and had all the “harmless” childhood diseases including measles. Measles took 75% of the hearing in one ear. My aunt Kathryn lost 90% of the hearing in both ears. Harmless, my ass. So whatever the dipshits do, I should be OK until, I hope, this nightmare is over.
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SusanG said on December 16, 2024 at 8:46 am
The anti-vaccs drive me up the wall.
I was born in 1949, a time when polio terrified every parent. My mother canvassed the neighborhood for the March of Dimes. Children were given STRICT instructions not to gawk at classmates who were paralyzed by that dreaded disease. We had the Salk vaccine as soon as it came out. When the cube arrived, we went to Portage Jr High after church to get it. No influencer moms in that crowd.
What’s it going to take to shake this insanity? I figure the needless death of two to three thousand innocent babies. Think of it as collateral damage.
Oh, and here’s some Ft. Wayne nostalgia from that era. http://contentdm.acpl.lib.in.us/digital/collection/coll3/id/1452/
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Bitter Scribe said on December 16, 2024 at 9:36 am
Hey, look on the bright side. At least we’ll be able to make lots of jokes along the lines of “Siri, what does a total breakdown of government look like?”
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Jeff Borden said on December 16, 2024 at 9:44 am
The story of Jonas Salk is so remarkable. He dedicated his life of research to finding a polio vaccine, then refused to patent it so that anyone could manufacture the vaccine. He saved millions, perhaps tens of millions, from a horrific disease and took no profit from it. Can you imagine that happening today?
Yes, we are sailing into stormy seas next month and, even after surviving the first term of this malicious sack of weasel shit, we won’t be fully prepared for the madness to come. Seeing that pack of mendacious assholes –including Elmo Musk– enjoying the Army-Navy game Saturday in the company of the guy who choked another man to death on an NYC subway demonstrated the sheer arrogance of the incoming “administration.”
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alex said on December 16, 2024 at 9:59 am
I first became aware of polio when I was a kid with a newspaper route. One of my customers was woman who got around by crawling. She had a pair of short crutches that were made to hold up her upper body as she dragged her lifeless lower body behind her. Her legs were skinny and all shriveled up just like the Wicked Witch of the West after Dorothy threw water on her. I always left her paper inside the storm door and I would see her every two weeks when I came to collect money. I assume she never left the house.
Both my brother and I were born in the ’60s and we both had mumps and chickenpox, but I remember receiving the rubella measles vaccine. I think it was in the form of a sugar cube. I remember other mass vaccinations as well, and I still have a depression in the skin where I received the polio vaccine.
I get all of the recommended vaccinations and I reckon that I’m safe from infectious disease. I want to bury my head in the sand, though, over all this hysteria about gas stoves, lead pipes and microplastics.
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Suzanne said on December 16, 2024 at 10:19 am
I vividly remember lining up to get the sugar cube polio vaccine. I think I was maybe 4 or 5. I also had the smallpox vax and still have a light scar from that.
When I was going through cancer treatments and my liver went psycho, I had all kinds of liver related tests. Apparently I either had hepatitis A or had a vaccine for it because I showed immunity for it. Have no clue as I don’t remember ever being sick from it or having a vaccine.
Thankfully, my liver is now functioning properly and I know all the liver diseases that I don’t have!
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Icarus said on December 16, 2024 at 10:58 am
In my first semester of freshman year of high school (1983), I got chicken pox or measles—I don’t remember which. I missed a few weeks of school, and it set me back academically until Junior year. I thought I had every available vaccination, but it is possible my mom decided I didn’t need “so many vaccines at once”.
Alex thanks for that Beef burgundy recipe. Looks a tad bit complicated for my skill set.
also, for some reason, this post reminds me of how Jeb Bush didn’t let Terri Schiavo’s husband pull the plug. And the other Bush wouldn’t advance stem cell research even when “Just Say No” Nancy Reagan begged him because something a lot of people deal with finally affected her.
all because they wanted to appeal to their base.
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Dexter Friend said on December 16, 2024 at 11:52 am
Chicken pox parties. Moms took kids to a party at the house of a kid with the pox to infect them. It was a common thing in the 1950s.
I had the pox, measles, and mumps. With measles, I felt myself rising toward the ceiling, thinking I was dead. Mom came and held my hand to calm me down. I was sick as hell.
I was ecstatic to learn of the MMR vaccines, so happy my kid was not going to suffer as my generation did. My 2 stepdaughters already were vaxxed when I met their mother.
Well, America, collectively, we voted for all this bullshit coming. We wanted Kennedy, knowing his history. We wanted the rapist 34 count convicted felon, we voted for him. We wanted Kash Patel to jail journos and censure media. We wanted Liz Cheney to be first to be imprisoned.
We is an awful pronoun here. Personally, likely only one of us here wanted any of this corrupt putrid future. BOHICA.
Bend Over Here It Comes Again.
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Heather said on December 16, 2024 at 12:40 pm
Mumps can cause sterility in men, so something for all those right-wingers who want to re-populate the U.S. with more white people to think about.
Sherri @1, I saw a post on Bluesky yesterday that said something like “just wait until 20 years from now when doctors who did all their homework with AI start graduating from medical school.”
I got in an “argument” with someone on social media about vaccines and they said something like “I guess your science is different from my science.” Ohhhkay.
Spent all yesterday getting a bunch of little things done in advance of a week of deadlines plus I’m having people over on Saturday. I actually managed to change my toilet seat myself and must admit I am pretty proud of myself. It wasn’t all that hard, but squishing under there to unscrew the old one was tricky.
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LindaG said on December 16, 2024 at 1:05 pm
Born in 1941, I had vaccinations for whooping cough, diphtheria, and (maybe) tetanus as a child. Seems lots of children died of whooping cough before the vaccine. We seldom hear of these diseases now.
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Mark P said on December 16, 2024 at 1:16 pm
Heather, if someone said their science is different from my science, I would say, “If your science is different from my science, then your science isn’t science.”
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