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The Doctor is Not In [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-03-29
Measles is the first medical crisis (aka disaster) that we have under Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Unfortunately, given his medically-contested biases and what he is doing to HHS, it will not be the last. The doctor clearly is not in.
As of March 28, 2025, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 483 people in 19 states with measles. The increase from last week of 105 cases makes this the largest weekly increase for this outbreak. Is this the sign that the embers are now a wildfire? These are confirmed cases. The CDC also tracks probable cases but does not report them. The vaccination status was 97%, either unvaccinated or unknown. Fourteen percent of the people infected have been hospitalized, but that includes 25% of children under the age of five. Worse, a 6-year-old child and an adult have died. (Source:
https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html) Thank you, RFK, Jr.
Measles does not have a season like the flu, but it is most prevalent in winter and early spring when children are in school. The current number of cases is the highest since 2019, when there were 1,276 cases, which was the highest since 2010. (Source:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/graphics/2025/03/25/measles-cases-growing-map-charts/82633780007/) Measles is a very contagious disease. While Texas has the most significant outbreak with 400 cases, Kansas has identified 23 cases, and Ohio has 10. The case tally by NBC News is 523. (Source:
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/texas-measles-outbreak-grows-us-cases-rcna198557)
The outbreak started in Gains County, Texas, which has a school vaccine exemption rate of nearly 18%. Because of this and a lukewarm response to vaccinations, Katherine Wells, Director of Public Health in nearby Lubbock County, believes it could take a year to control the outbreak. (Source:
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/texas-measles-outbreak-grows-us-cases-rcna198557)
But are there reasons for hope? NO! In his confirmation hearing, RFK, Jr. said, “News reports have claimed that I am anti-vaccine or anti-industry. I am neither. I am pro-safety.” (Source:
https://transcripts.cnn.com/show/ctw/date/2025-01-29/segment/02) This statement under oath belies his work for the last 20 years. As Daniel Payne writes, “He has said the measles vaccine causes autism, the polio vaccine might have “killed many, many, many, many, many more people than polio ever did” and the Covid shot was “the deadliest vaccine ever made.” (Source:
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/01/29/congress/kennedy-vaccines-confirmation-hearing-00201216) That sounds anti-vaccine.
In a Call to Action (CTA) published on March 2, 2025, RFK, Jr., who was sworn in as Health and Human Services Secretary on February 13, 2025, finally addressed the measles outbreak that began the week of January 5, 2025. (Source:
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/robert-f-kennedy-jr-measles-outbreak-call-action-all-us) In the CTA, he said, “We have a shared responsibility to protect public health. This includes ensuring that accurate information about vaccine safety and efficacy is disseminated.” (Ibid) In the next paragraph, he extolled the benefits of Vitamin A “under the supervision of a physician.” (Ibid) At the time, there were 146 cases. The outbreak has more than tripled in four weeks.
RFK, Jr. then said, “The decision to vaccinate is a personal one.” (Ibid) Of course, it is, which is why we have a measles outbreak. The vaccination rates for measles have dropped far below the 95% level that creates herd immunity. In fact, in children under the age of five, one study found that the MMR vaccination rate was 71.8%, which is both ridiculous and extremely dangerous. (Source:
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/measles-vaccination-rates-may-lower-thought-risking-us-elimination-sta-rcna198259) RFK, Jr. should have said, “While the decision to vaccinate is a personal decision, I strongly urge everyone to get the MMR vaccine because it is the only way we can stop this outbreak.” On March 3rd, the outbreak was in one state, Texas. Now, it is in 19 states. This is not a state issue; it is a national one because the anti-vax campaign over the last 20 years has been remarkably successful because of the efforts of RFK, Jr., and others. Rather than improving the health of Americans, the new HHS Secretary has done real harm.
In a Fox News interview the next day, RFK, Jr. again recommended vaccination as a personal choice, but he also touted alternative therapies like Vitamin A tablets and Cod Liver Oil. (Source:
https://www.foxnews.com/health/rfk-jr-recommends-measles-vaccines-community-immunity-while-supporting-personal-choice)
Teddy Rosenbluth reports, “In the weeks after the Fox News interview, drugstores in West Texas struggled to keep vitamin A and cod liver oil supplements on their shelves.” (Source:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/health/measles-kennedy-vitamin-a.html)
And then! And then, children began showing up in clinics and the hospital, some with measles, some without, but all with vitamin A toxicity, which can result in serious liver damage. What did RFK, Jr. think? Give vaccine-hesitant parents the choice between (A) the MMR vaccine or (B) Vitamin A tablets or Cod-liver Oil. B wins every time. Now, they may have permanently damaged their children’s liver. How will they live with that? Not well! How will RFK, Jr live with it? Not a problem! Which indicates his lack of concern with the health of America.
Consider the following.
On January 20, 2025, Trump signed Executive Order 14155, entitled “Withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO).” His reason: “The WHO continues to demand unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries’ assessed payments.” Source:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/withdrawing-the-united-states-from-the-worldhealth-organization/) He did the same thing in his first term.
On February 7, 2025, the Trump administration announced that it was cutting $4 billion in funding for medical research at universities, hospitals, and other scientific institutions. (Source:
https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/trump-administration-cuts-4-billion-medical-research-funding)
On March 9, 2025, HHS employees received an email offering them a buyout option of $25,000, but they had to agree to the offer by 5:00 pm on Friday, March 14, 2025. (Source:
https://apnews.com/article/hhs-employee-buyouts-kennedy-cdc-nih-medicaid-bf5a746518b2b3fe967ab95a8e2a1a65)
On March 26, 2025, HHS canceled about $12 billion in federal grants to states that started during the COVID-19 pandemic. The grants were used to address infectious diseases like measles and bird flu. They were also used for mental health services and addiction treatment. (Source:
https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-government-pulls-back-over-11-billion-funding-state-health-departments-2025-03-26/) Trump’s concern for fentanyl at the border does not translate to addiction treatment.
On March 27, 2025, HHS announced that it would lay off 10,000 employees. With the previous reduction in force, the agency’s 82,000 employees will be decreased to 62,000, which is a 24.4% decrease. (Source:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/us/politics/health-department-job-layoffs-rfk-jr.html) Employee losses include CDC, 2,400, FDA, 3,500, NIH, 1,200, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 300. The current 28 divisions will be consolidated into 15 divisions. The current ten regional divisions will be reduced to five.
RFK, Jr. said, “We’re going to do more with less,” although it will be “a painful period for H.H.S.” (Source:
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5217175-hhs-workforce-reduction-kennedy/) Of course, HHS will not do more with less. All of the cuts above will likely result in cutting the effectiveness of HHS by at least half. The consequences of this are incalculable.
The less will be decreased by potential cuts to Medicaid. On February 25, 2025, the House of Representatives passed a budget resolution that directed the Energy and Commerce Committee to cut at least $880 billion over the next decade from their budget. This is impossible to do without huge cuts to Medicaid. Currently, 71,778,950 people are enrolled in Medicaid, and 7,255,116 people are enrolled in Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP), which totals 79,034,066. The total number of children enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP is 37,517,916 people were enrolled in CHIP or were children enrolled in the Medicaid program in the 50 states and the District of Columbia that reported child enrollment data for November 2024, representing 47.5% of total Medicaid and CHIP program enrollment. The federal government covers 29% of Medicaid expenditures. (Source:
https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/program-information/medicaid-and-chip-enrollment-data/report-highlights) States, especially red states, will be unable to fill the hole created by federal decreases in Medicaid funding. This will harm seniors, those with disabilities, and children.
Given all of the cuts by Trump since his inauguration, America is now on life support in the Intensive Care department, and that is about to be discontinued. RFK, Jr. has just posted “Do Not Resuscitate” on HHS. He is oblivious to the admonition, “Do no harm.” Confirmation of this came in the March 28, 2025 resignation letter of Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA’s top vaccine official, who wrote, “However, it has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.” (Source:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/03/28/rfk-jr-fda-vaccine-scientist-peter-marks/)
The dismantling of public health infrastructure under RFK, Jr.’s leadership, coupled with his long-standing anti-vaccine rhetoric, has created the perfect storm for preventable disease outbreaks. By promoting unproven treatments and allowing dangerous levels of vaccine hesitancy to spread, he has abandoned his duty to protect public health. The consequences of these policies extend beyond measles—future outbreaks of other preventable diseases are likely inevitable. Without immediate intervention, the damage may be irreversible.
Got measles?
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