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 presidential candidate 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.
He is now Trump's secretary of HHS.
Teddy Rosenbluth at NYT on the Texas measles outbreak:Vaccine fears have run deep in these parts for years, and some public health experts worry that the current outbreak is a glimpse at where much of America is headed. Researchers think of measles as the proverbial canary in a coal mine. It is among the most contagious infectious diseases, and often the first sign that other pathogens may be close behind.
“I’m concerned this is a harbinger of something bigger,” said Dr. Tony Moody, a pediatric infectious disease expert at the Duke University School of Medicine. “Is this simply going to be the first of many stories of vaccine-preventable disease making a resurgence in the United States?”
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Ansley Klassen, 25, lives in Seminole with her husband and four young children, three of whom are fully unvaccinated. She considered bringing her children to a vaccine clinic when measles cases first started popping up.
Mrs. Klassen, who is about five months pregnant, knew she didn’t want to risk getting measles. She had been scrubbing counters with Lysol wipes and keeping her children away from others as much as possible.
But on social media, she had seen a deluge of frightening posts about the side effects of vaccines: stories of children developing autism after a shot or dying from metal toxicity. (Both claims have been debunked by scientists.)
“There are stories that you can read about people multiple hours after they got the vaccine having effects, and that’s scary to me,” she said. “So I’m like, is it worth the risk? And right now I can’t figure that out.”
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Zachary Holbrooks, the local public health official for four Texas counties, including Gaines, said that type of mandate would be deeply unpopular in the state, where individual freedom is a strongly held value.
Texas public schools require children to have received certain vaccines, including the M.M.R. shot. But in this state, as in many others, parents can apply for an exemption for “reasons of conscience,” including religious beliefs.
In January, as the first cases of measles began spreading in Gaines County, state legislators introduced several bills designed to weaken school vaccination requirements.
“I don’t want to see a baby’s lips turn blue because they can’t breathe,” Mr. Holbrooks said. “I don’t want anybody to suffer from long-lasting disability because they got measles.”
“But if you choose to live in Texas,” he added, “you can exercise that option.”
