‘Dire implications’: Experts warn Trump could spark global health crisis with latest idea
Over the weekend Donald Trump said he is considering a ban on not just vaccine mandates, but vaccines themselves—an extension of his embrace of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The ex-president also said he is considering RFK Jr.'s declaration that he would immediately ban fluoride treatments in public water, which protect about two out of three Americans, according to the CDC.
NBC News' Dasha Burns spoke with Trump on Sunday. She reports, "I asked if banning certain vaccines might be on the table. Former President Trump said, 'I'm going to talk to him,' meaning Kennedy, 'talk to other people and I'll make a decision, but he's a very talented guy and has strong views.' So it could really have a massive impact on how our government functions in terms of health should the former president win and give Kennedy a big role here."
Trump, as of publication time, has a 53-47 chance of winning the White House, FiveThirtyEight reports. He is expected to put RFK Jr., a known AIDS denialist and anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist and purveyor of vaccine misinformation who has likened the use of vaccines to the "holocaust," in charge of all public health agencies and public health policies, should Trump win election this week.
Kennedy in 2021 said, “I see somebody on a hiking trail carrying a little baby and I say to him, better not get them vaccinated.”
One week ago Sunday, at Trump's now-infamous Madison Square Garden rally, the ex-president promised to let RFK Jr. “go wild.”
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“I’m gonna let him go wild on health. I’m gonna let him go wild on the food. I’m gonna let him go wild on the medicines,” Trump told supporters. Two days later, Kennedy said: “The key that President Trump has promised me is control of the public health agencies, which are HHS and its sub-agencies, CDC, FDA, NIH, and a few others, and then also the USDA.”
Across the board, modern-day vaccines have eradicated or nearly eradicated diseases that have killed millions. How would putting an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist in charge of determining public health policy for a nation, and the world, work out?
Felix Richter, a data journalist for Statistia in 2022 wrote, "Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows just how effective vaccines have been in all but eradicating major diseases in the United States. In 2021, there were no reported cases of small pox, diphteria and paralytic polio for example, compared to an annual average of 29,005 cases, 21,053 cases and 16,316 cases in the 20th century, respectively."
"And even though progress in eradicating measles has stalled in recent years (due in part to growing vaccine skepticism), its morbidity is nowhere near the annual case load seen in the 20th century, when half a million people were infected in an average year. Its prevalence has fallen by more than 99 percent due to vaccinations, along with a whole host of other diseases such as pertussis (whooping cough), mumps and rubella."
Kennedy had a history of gravitating to areas where vaccines have been controversial.
In 2015, The Sacramento Bee reported, "prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. arrived at the Sacramento screening of a film linking autism to the vaccine preservative thimerosal and warned that public health officials cannot be trusted." His appearance came as "lawmakers [were] preparing to vote on a bill blocking parents from skipping vaccinations for their children," which "was prompted by soaring exemption rates in some schools districts and outbreaks of long-dormant diseases like measles and whooping cough."
Last year, The Associated Press called Kennedy's anti-vaccine group, Children’s Health Defense (CHD), "a multimillion-dollar misinformation engine."
In that deep-dive report, the AP also revealed that "Kennedy’s role in legitimizing anti-vaccine activism has not been limited to the U.S. Perhaps the most well-known example was in 2019 on the Pacific island nation of Samoa."
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"That year, dozens of children died of measles. Many factors led to the wave of deaths, including medical mistakes and poor decisions by government authorities. But people involved in the response who spoke to AP said Kennedy and the anti-vaccine activists he supported made things worse," the AP reported. "In June 2019, Kennedy and his wife, the actress Cheryl Hines, visited Samoa, a trip Kennedy later wrote was arranged by Edwin Tamasese, a Samoan local anti-vaccine influencer."
"Vaccine rates had plummeted after two children died in 2018 from a measles vaccine that a nurse had incorrectly mixed with a muscle relaxant," the AP noted, but Kennedy "was treated as a distinguished guest, traveling in a government vehicle, meeting with the prime minister and, according to Kennedy, many health officials and the health minister. He also met with anti-vaccine activists, including Tamasese and another well-known influencer, Taylor Winterstein, who posted a photograph of herself and Kennedy on her Instagram."
"A few months later, a measles epidemic broke out in Samoa, killing 83 people, mostly infants and children in a population of about 200,000. Public health officials said at the time that anti-vaccine misinformation had made the nation vulnerable."
Last year, The Autism Science Foundation (ASF) reported: "There is no correlation between autism and vaccines. This has been confirmed through dozens of scientific studies examining different types of vaccines and different vaccine timing schedules. Researchers have also studied thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative used in many vaccines, to see if it had any relation to autism. The results are clear: The data show no relationship between vaccines, thimerosal and autism."
There are other ways to look at how anti-vaccine polices and beliefs affect populations.
Lat month, The Associated Press reported that "Whooping cough is at its highest level in a decade for this time of year."
"There have been 18,506 cases of whooping cough reported so far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. That’s the most at this point in the year since 2014, when cases topped 21,800." In Wisconsin, for example, "there have been about 1,000 cases so far this year, compared to a total of 51 last year."
An Idaho public health department has banned its practitioners from administering the COVID vaccine.
Last week the AP reported that a "regional public health department in Idaho is no longer providing COVID-19 vaccines to residents in six counties after a narrow decision by its board."
"Southwest District Health appears to be the first in the nation to be restricted from giving COVID-19 vaccines. Vaccinations are an essential function of a public health department," the AP added. "Demand for COVID vaccines in the health district has declined — with 1,601 given in 2021 to 64 so far in 2024. The same is true for other vaccines: Idaho has the highest childhood vaccination exemption rate in the nation, and last year, the Southwest District Health Department rushed to contain a rare measles outbreak that sickened 10."
The UK's award-wining i newspaper warns if the U.S. bans vaccines, it could spark an international health crisis.
"A US ban on vaccines would have 'dire implications' for Americans and could put vulnerable Britons at greater risk of harm, a leading UK-based expert has said."
"For example, the resurgence of diseases like measles and polio, which had been largely eradicated in the US, could occur. The 2019 measles outbreaks, fuelled by vaccine hesitancy, serve as a stark reminder of this risk," Kirsty Le Doare, Professor of Vaccinology and Immunology at St Georges University of London, told the i.
“Internationally, countries like the UK could see increased vulnerability. If the US stops vaccinating, it might lead to a rise in infections that could cross borders, impacting global health. For instance, a decline in US vaccination rates could affect herd immunity in neighbouring countries, leading to outbreaks that strain resources and public health systems," Professor Le Doare added. “A US ban could disrupt supply chains and funding for vaccine research, impacting vaccination efforts in developing nations where access is already limited. This could ultimately stall progress on global health initiatives."
Banning vaccines and fluoride are just two of the possible looming attacks on Americans' healthcare under a Trump presidency. Last week, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said he and Trump want to "take a blowtorch to the regulatory state," and the entire U.S. healthcare system needed to be deregulated, and a "free market" system implemented. When asked by an attendee at a Pennsylvania event for a local GOP candidate if that meant "No ObamaCare?" Johnson replied, “No Obamacare," explaining how Trump wants to “go big” in removing regulations. He later tried to backtrack, by saying that killing ObamaCare was not what he meant, but Trump has repeatedly not only said he wants to repeal ObamaCare, he has tried several times.
Dr. Syra Madad, an epidemiologist, told CNN putting RFK Jr. in charge of Americans' health is "dangerous."
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