How to Shut Down an Economy for Fun and Lost Profits

 

How to Shut Down an Economy for Fun and Lost Profits

RFK, Jr ‘s HHS Could Do Exactly That

PETER ON THE WRITERS’ HANGOUT PODCAST!

Anybody who thinks it’s good to shut down our economy when disease strikes is an idiot, unless that disease is very dangerous, exceptionally contagious and spreading like wildfire. When a single inoculation of the currently available measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is 93% effective and the two-stage vaccine is 97% effective, what’s the problem? Rare side-effects. For school children, who are forced to spend many hours in a confined class, if there is one case of measles in a particular classroom, soon there will be many… and the kids carry that disease home with them, insuring maximum spreading. The infection transmission rate of the current strain of measles is a multiple of the rate for COVID-19, back in 2020, but recent mutations of the COVID virus are comparable. And the measles threat is nowhere near the original COVID threat.

The problem with making vaccinations, for school children and workers who mix with lots of people in the course of their employment, a matter of “personal or parental choice” is that they are making a personal choice for everyone that the infected person is exposed to. Contrary to what RFK, Jr has said, measles had in fact been completely and officially eradicated in the United States since 2000. The recent outbreaks, beginning in Texas and New Mexico, emanated from the measles virus being reintroduced by travelers.

RFK, Jr and his henchmen at HHS are trying to figure out how to squelch the use of vaccines without actually banning them. So far, the obvious need to backtrack from anti-vaxx failure in addressing potential epidemics and pandemics is either to make vaccination purely a personal choice while beginning an HHS research study (with internally biased “scientists”) focused on the harmful effects and risks of vaccine use. But although RFK, Jr denies he has anything to do with a 2019 killer measles breakout in Samoa, as the July 24, 2024 edition of Mother Jones points out, that is baldfaced lie:

“Appearing in Shot in the Arm, a 2023 documentary about vaccine opposition, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was asked about the deadly measles outbreak that occurred in Samoa in 2019 and claimed the lives of 83 people, mostly children. Kennedy, a leading anti-vaxxer who had visited the Pacific island nation a few months before the outbreak, replied, ‘I’m aware there was a measles outbreak…I had nothing to do with people not vaccinating in Samoa. I never told anybody not to vaccinate. I didn’t go there with any reason to do with that.’

“Kennedy was being disingenuous, sidestepping his connection to that tragedy. Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit anti-vax outfit he led until becoming a presidential candidate, had helped spread misinformation that contributed to the decline in measles vaccination that preceded the lethal eruption. And during his trip to Samoa, Kennedy had publicly supported leading vaccination opponents there, lending credibility to anti-vaxxers who were succeeding in increasing vaccine hesitation among Samoans. Moreover, in early 2021, Kennedy, in a little-noticed blog post, hailed one of those vaccination foes as a ‘hero.’”

It doesn’t take much digging to find hundreds of cases of measles in the US today, including at least one fatality so far… with Texas being the original epicenter, soon joined by New Mexico… and now found in many states. A recent flight to Los Angeles revealed a highly contagious baby possible infecting dozens. Measles have now popped up in numerous states (from California to New York to Alaska, etc.), but the list of affected regions is growing too fast for me to present a definitive list.

We know that the Trump/Musk administration is not very accommodating to scientific research and medical facts. Musk cannot terminate research grants and cut federal workers in the healthcare field fast enough. There is no way for the MAGA GOP to implement their tax cut for the rich without going after those social programs from maintaining VA healthcare facilities, Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. Trump’s Senate confirmed appointments represent the least qualified candidates in modern history, but what may result is large number of Americans getting measles (this time around; there will be other mass infection risks entrusted to new HHS employees whose science skepticism renders them ineffective), which could be a pattern for future viral risks.

So, here’s a bit of information you should know about measles as reported by Kathy Katella in the May 11th Yale Medicine: “ ‘The problem with measles is that it is so contagious. It’s one of the most contagious diseases in existence,’ says Scott Roberts, MD, a Yale Medicine infectious diseases specialist, adding that a person’s geographical risk can change quickly… Dr. Roberts talked to us about three things everyone should know about measles and measles vaccination. [my edited summary:]

1. Measles is a highly transmissible disease.

Measles starts with a cough, fever, runny nose, and conjunctivitis (pink eye), surfacing seven to 14 days after infection. Three to five days after symptoms begin, the red measles rash appears, starting on the face and spreading down the body.

In the worst cases, the disease can lead to serious complications such as deafness, pneumonia, encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), and death. Children younger than age 5, people with weakened immune systems, and pregnant women are especially at risk for a severe case… If you survive measles, you are also at higher risk for subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), an incurable degenerative brain and nervous system disorder that causes symptoms such as depression, uncontrolled movements, and dementia.

2. The measles vaccine is safe and highly effective.

In addition to measles, the MMR vaccine protects against mumps and rubella. Mumps is characterized by painful swelling in the salivary glands, causing puffy cheeks and a swollen jaw. Rubella, which is also called German measles, causes a mild rash and fever, but if a pregnant woman is infected, it can cause birth defects to her unborn baby.

Most people get the MMR vaccine as children. It’s given in two shots, the first typically when a child is between 12 and 15 months of age, and the second when they are 4 to 6 years old. It’s a live vaccine, meaning that it contains a small, weakened dose of the virus. This trains a healthy immune system to recognize the measles, mumps, or rubella viruses if one tries to invade the body, and attack it, preventing an infection from developing.

3. Most people won’t need a booster, but you should check your vaccination status to be sure.

The good news is that most people have immunity to measles either through immunization or previous infection, Dr. Roberts says. The two MMR shots given to children are considered full immunization for life, and no additional vaccination is needed.

People born before 1957 are considered to have “presumptive evidence” of immunity, because nearly everyone born during this period got the disease during childhood. But health-care workers born before 1957 who don’t have proof of immunity should consider getting the vaccine.”

Simply put, RFK, Jr and his fellow HHS appointees are clearly a menace to society.

I’m Peter Dekom, but know for whom you voted and new risks you are facing from this huge MAGA mandate to “stop wasting” money on government’s responsibility for safety for its citizens.