He’s gonna need to be fact checked!

Jeffrey Barke Is Talking About Vaxelis

In fact, the only thing he gets right about Vaxelis is that it is a six in one combination vaccine that helps children get protected against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Hib, and hepatitis B with a single injection.

Other than that, he tries to scare people by reading from the vaccine insert.

Specifically, he reads that:

• Epinephrine hydrochloride solution and other appropriate agents and equipment must be available for immediate use if you are going to be giving this vaccination. - which is just Section 5.1 and is listed in the insert for many vaccines, even though anaphylactic reactions after getting vaccinated is very rare.

• A review by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) found evidence for a causal relation between tetanus toxoid and both brachial neuritis and Guillain-Barré syndrome. - while this is listed in the vaccine insert for Vaxelis, it is very important to note that both brachial neuritis and Guillain-Barré syndrome are extremely rare in young children. The risk would be less than 1 in 100,000 vaccinations.

• Apnea following intramuscular vaccination has been observed in some infants. - The vaccine insert actually says that “Apnea following intramuscular vaccination has been observed in some infants born prematurely. The decision about when to administer an intramuscular vaccine, including VAXELIS, to an infant born prematurely should be based on consideration of the infant’s medical status and the potential benefits and possible risks of vaccination.” And know that Vaxelis has been studied in preterm babies, was found to be safe, with researchers concluding that “findings support vaccination with DTaP-IPV-Hib-HepB vaccine in healthy premature infants.”

• There is not a single randomized controlled study with an inert placebo. It’s only tested against other vaccinations. - This is true, but only because it would be unethical to do such a study with a saline placebo! Still, know that Vaxelis was well studied though and has been found to be safe and effective.

• 319 micrograms of aluminum is used as an adjuvant. That is, it stimulates the immune system to wake up to the antigens in this vaccine. - Well, “wake up” is not the right word, as our immune systems are never really asleep. Adjuvants do help, so that we can use fewer antigens in our vaccines though, which is a good thing! Also know that the 319 micrograms of aluminum in Vaxelis is much less than you get than if you opt to get each vaccine separately. It’s also less aluminum than kids got from the vaccines on the 1960 immunization schedule!

• Other ingredients. Formaldehyde. Bovine serum albumin. That’s albumin or protein that comes from cows. Then they put some antibiotics in here. Neomycin. Streptomycin. Polymyxin B. What could possibly go wrong? - hopefully by now you understand that the ingredients in vaccines are safe and are in there for good reasons.

• And of course my favorite part. Section 13.1. It’s right here. I’m not making this up. Vaxelis has not been evaluated for carcinogenic or mutagenic potential or impairment of fertility. - All necessary pre-clinical or nonclinical testing was done on Vaxelis and its components. Vaccines are appropriately evaluated for mutagenicity, carcinogenicity and impairment of fertility, when necessary, as a part of pre-clinical or nonclinical studies that occur even before the first phase one studies on people.

And not surprisingly, he ignores all of the post-marketing safety studies that have already been done!

“During the period of this study, a total of 2 million doses of DTaP-IPV-Hib-HepB were distributed in the US. Our review of reports submitted to VAERS following DTaP-IPV-Hib-HepB, included automated analysis of all reports, clinical review of serious reports, selected AEs of interest, and data mining analyses to assess for disproportionate reporting. For most of the AEs observed in this study, which were nonserious, we noted these were consistent with safety findings from prelicensure trials for this vaccine.”

Postmarketing Safety Surveillance of a Hexavalent Vaccine in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System

Postmarketing safety studies which confirm that Vaxelis is a safe vaccine for our children.

What else?

Jeffrey Barke describes Vaxelis as new, instead of telling you that over 2 million doses have already been safely given in the United States.

He also doesn’t mention that Vaxelis has been safely used in many countries, including most of Europe, since 2016.

Nor does he mention that diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Hib, and hepatitis B are all life-threatening diseases. And that the only reason we don’t still see many deaths from these vaccine-preventable diseases, is because most children are vaccinated and protected,

Bottom line - Vaxelis is safe, and you should ignore anything and everything posted by Andrew Bridgen and Jeffrey Barke, as it is almost certainly going to be pure propaganda to scare you away from getting vaccinated and protected.

More on Vaxelis

• Escaping From an Anti-Vaccine Echo Chamber

• How to Become a Real Vaccine Skeptic

• Is It Rational to Be Anti-Vaccine?

• The Science Behind the Anti-Vaccine Movement

• What Is Free-Riding?

• Safety and immunogenicity of a fully-liquid DTaP-IPV-Hib-HepB vaccine (Vaxelis™) in premature infants

• Postmarketing Safety Surveillance of a Hexavalent Vaccine in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System

• Video misleads about safety of 6-in-1 vaccine Vaxelis

• Fact Check: Vaxelis Vaccine Does NOT Contain ‘Toxic’ Levels of Formaldehyde, Aluminum

• The Federation of State Medical Boards vs. COVID-19 misinformation: A losing battle so far

A flu outbreak that has grown to 284 cases, including one death.

Making Sense of Summer Flu Outbreaks

A flu outbreak that began after Pete Hegseth discarded the mandatory flu vaccine requirement for the US military.

A flu outbreak that did begin when flu activity was low in the United States.

A flu outbreak that began when flu activity was already picking up in several countries in the Southern Hemisphere though!

Why is that important?

Well, if someone from one of those countries in the Southern Hemisphere had the flu and traveled to the United States, they could easily have gotten someone else sick, right?

“Influenza viruses do not respect borders. The global spread of flu is influenced by human travel, migration patterns, and climate variations. Flu viruses circulate year-round in tropical regions but tend to peak seasonally in temperate zones during fall and winter months.”

Understanding Flu Strains: What Changes Each Year?

And that could have started an outbreak if they were all around a lot of other people who weren’t vaccinated and protected, like new recruits on an Air Force Base.

Or maybe U.S. Congressman Joaquin Castro made the whole thing up and there is no flu outbreak…

What do you believe?

Oh, there is another reason all of this is important!

Since our flu vaccines have expired, until we have updated flu vaccines, it might make sense to import, grant temporary expanded access, and use already available flu vaccines for the 2026 Southern Hemisphere influenza season.

Is that what Sec. RFK, Jr and Pete Hegseth are going to do?

Bottom line - the easiest way to understand the summer flu outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas is to realize that it isn’t summer everywhere!

More on Understanding Flu Season

• How Next Year’s Flu Epidemic Might Affect Our Military

• Understanding Flu Season

• I’m Not Anti-Vaccine, I Just Don’t Believe in Flu Shots

• The History of Flu Vaccine Recommendations

• About Those Charts That Show 60 Years of Failing Flu Vaccines

• Flu Season Predictions

• US Rep. Castro connects Air Force trainee death to flu outbreak at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland

• PRESS RELEASE: 37th Training Wing Mourns the Loss of Basic Military Trainee

• US military races to vaccinate new recruits before flu shots expire

• WHO - Global respiratory virus weekly updates

• Global circulation patterns of seasonal influenza viruses vary with antigenic drift

• Understanding Flu Strains: What Changes Each Year?

• Recommendations announced for influenza vaccine composition for the 2026 southern hemisphere influenza season

You can be sure they will need a fact check!

A Quick Polio Fact Check

A fact check nearly every time they open their mouths…

In this interview with Alex Clark, the 'cuteservative' host of a cult apothecary wellness podcast takes turns with Peter McCullough pushing misinformation and propaganda about polio, including that:

• Peter McCullough: the polio vaccine was only 60 to 70% effective in the field trials - Not true. Salk’s polio vaccine, in the 1954 Poliomyelitis Vaccine Field Trial, was found to be 80-90% effective against paralytic polio!

• Alex Clark: polio was on its way out when we introduced the vaccine. - Not true. Although polio cases did peak in 1952, this simply represents the cyclical natural of polio, with larger epidemics every 3–5 years. If polio had been on its way out, cases would not have been higher in 1954 than they were in 1953.

  

• Peter McCullough: polio hasn’t been in the western hemisphere, not natural polio for a couple decades now. It’s actually been more than a couple of decades. - In fact, the last imported case of wild polio in the United States was in 1993 and the last endemic case of wild polio was in 1979 among an unvaccinated group of Amish. That’s a lot more than just a couple of decades…

• Peter McCullough: the polio vaccine failed to protect people during an outbreak in 1979 in Sarajevo. - Not true. In fact, Bosnia and Herzegovina saw its last reported case of polio in 1974 and celebrated reaching its polio-free status in 2002. And all polio outbreaks around the world in 1979 were in unvaccinated groups of people.

• Peter McCullough: Mitch McConnell imagined having polio as a child. - Another ridiculous claim by Peter McCullough, which he makes because he believes there were no outbreaks in Alabama at the time that Senator Mitch McConnell was sick. This is despite the fact that Mitch McConnell received treatment for his residual muscle issues at Warm Springs, which was established by President FDR as polio rehabilitation center. Oh, and then there is the simple fact that there were thought to be a normal number of cases of polio in the summer of 1944 in Alabama when Mitch McConnell got sick… A normal number of cases that ended up being the worst year for paralytic polio in the United States since 1916.

  

• Peter McCullough: polio was grossly overdiagnosed. - Not true, especially for cases of paralytic polio.

  

• Peter McCullough: polio was never an epidemic. - Polio was most certainly an epidemic, as cases spread across the United States in the first half of the 1900s. This is unlike an outbreak, which would have been limited to just a few cities or regions of the country. At the peak of the polio epidemic, in 1952, there were almost 60,000 cases of polio, just over 21,000 cases of paralytic polio, and 3,100 deaths. And they were almost all kids.

• Peter McCullough: the number of kids paralyzed or died with polio is far smaller than the number of kids with profound autism today. - This is a fallacious argument (false equivalence) and simply fits with Peter McCullough’s world view that vaccines are associated with autism. It has nothing to do with autism, vaccines, or polio.

• Peter McCullough: we don’t have a polio risk. - Most of us don’t have a risk because we are vaccinated and protected and most people around us are vaccinated and protected, but because polio isn’t yet eradicated, there is still a risk both from wild polio and vaccine associated polio if you skip or delay getting your polio vaccines, especially as herd immunity levels of protection drop (no more free-riding).

Did Peter McCullough and Alex Clark get anything right about polio?

He did say that it is a safe vaccine.

He gets that right!

Of course, he misses that polio vaccines are necessary too! They helped eliminate polio in the United States and have us on our way to eradicating polio.

At least they will if everyone gets vaccinated and protected and stops listening to these kinds of anti-vaccine influencers.

More on Polio Facts

• Charts That Prove the Polio Vaccine Work

• Myths About Polio and Acute Flaccid Paralysis

• The Myth That Polio Only Went Away Because They Changed the Way It Was Diagnosed

• Is There a DDT-Polio Connection?

• Polio on TV and the Movies

• The history of Polio – from eradication to re-emergence

• Senator Mitch McConnell on His Experience Contracting and Living with Polio

• For McConnell, virus carries echo of his boyhood polio

• Polio survivor Mitch McConnell sole GOP Senator to oppose RFK Jr.

• What do polio, pesticides, and cell phone radiation have in common?

• 68 Years of Oral Polio Vaccination

• Debunking Polio Vaccine Myths (w/ Dr. Vincent Racaniello)

Using their suffering and deaths to promote their ideas that everything bad that ever happens to anyone, must be caused by any vaccines that they have ever received.

How Anti-Vaccine Influencers Exploit Children Who Are Sick or Have Died

And also exploiting their parents, working to recruit grieving parents to their cause as their children are sick or have recently died.

How do they do it?

Anti-vaccine influencers and their disciples look for posts about sick children or about children who have recently died and make comments suggesting that vaccines must be the cause.

“A prolific Twitter account posted Anastasia’s name and smiling dance portrait in a tweet with a syringe emoji. A Facebook user messaged her mother, Jessica Day-Weaver, to call her a “murderer” for having her child vaccinated.”

‘Died suddenly’ posts twist tragedies to push vaccine lies

Even when, as in the case of 6-year-old Anastasia W., their death had nothing to do with vaccines.

She died secondary to complications of chronic diseases, including prematurity, asthma, and epilepsy.

Even when they may have been unvaccinated when they died, their deaths are still blamed on vaccines!

The New Normal – Blame Everything On Vaccines

It’s the new normal.

Blame everything on vaccines.

Someone dies - they claim that it was a vaccine.

Someone is sick - they claim that it was a vaccine.

Someone has cancer - they claim that it was a vaccine.

If a baby dies from shaken baby syndrome - they claim it was a vaccine!

Of course, none of this is true. Vaccines are safe, with few risks, and rarely cause serious adverse effects.

More on Anti-Vaccine Influencers

• Death of Twins Not Related to Vaccines

• How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Takes Advantage of Dead Children and Their Parents

• How Robert F Kennedy, Jr Exploits Dead Children

• Have 50+ Mississippi Babies Died Following Routine Vaccines?

• “Died Suddenly”: Resurrecting the old antivax lie of depopulation

• The tragic death of Evee Clobes: How antivaxers recruit grieving mothers to their cause

• A tragic as yet unexplained death, exploited by antivaccinationists

• A sad, premature death cynically exploited by antivaccinationists

• No, vaccines almost certainly did not kill Elijah Daniel French

• Did Gardasil kill Colton Berrett? The answer is almost certainly no.

• ‘Died suddenly’ posts twist tragedies to push vaccine lies

• 18-year-old Idaho bull rider dies from rare disease

• Bodybuilder Died from COVID-19, Not the Vaccine as Social Media Posts Claim

• The Age of Autism hits another low: excusing shaken baby syndrome

Anti-vaccine influencers sure tried hard to make sure you knew about it!

Death of Twins Not Related to Vaccines

They pushed the story even though police were investigating the parents as soon as the deaths were announced, saying that ‘foul play is suspected.’

Of course, anti-vaccine influencers dismissed the idea of foul play or that the deaths could be a homicide and went straight to the idea that their deaths must be related to vaccines. Because, of course, to them, everything bad that ever happens is caused by vaccines!

An idea that does not seem to be true, as a Payette County grand jury has indicted their mother on two counts of first-degree murder in connection with their deaths.

Why?

We don’t yet know the details of the charge, but it would hopefully be unusual for them to pursue a first-degree murder charge without good evidence.

What’s next?

Her trial.

More on Vaccine Deaths

• How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Takes Advantage of Dead Children and Their Parents

• How Robert F Kennedy, Jr Exploits Dead Children

• Have 50+ Mississippi Babies Died Following Routine Vaccines?

• How Common are Vaccine Deaths?

• Vaccines and Sudden Unexplained Death in Children

• Update on Dravet Syndrome

• Mother indicted on murder charges in deaths of her twin toddlers, Payette police say

• “Died Suddenly”: Resurrecting the old antivax lie of depopulation

• The tragic death of Evee Clobes: How antivaxers recruit grieving mothers to their cause

• A tragic as yet unexplained death, exploited by antivaccinationists

• A sad, premature death cynically exploited by antivaccinationists

• No, vaccines almost certainly did not kill Elijah Daniel French

• Did Gardasil kill Colton Berrett? The answer is almost certainly no.

• Damar Hamlin: How anti-vaxxers exploited player’s collapse

But that doesn’t mean that you can forget about vaccinating and protecting your kids against measles and other vaccine preventable diseases.

More Kids Drown Than Die With Measles...

Of course, it means that you work to protect them from both of these hazards and all of the other risks your kids face!

Risks that include vaccine preventable diseases, especially when we are losing herd immunity levels of protection in many communities, and we are reaching record-breaking levels of measles.

Still, the idea that anyone is ignoring drowning is ridiculous.

Drowning and other safety hazards are always in the news.

Pediatric providers routinely educate parents about how to keep their kids safe from drowning and other safety hazards.

Again, it is ridiculous to suggest that we shouldn’t talk about measles because 900–1000 kids die from drowning each year in the United States.

It is an example of the relative privation fallacy and is a common tactic of anti-vaccine influencers, who often try and confuse people by bring up other things when talking about measles.

Why?

To make you think that you can ignore measles because there are other things that you should be worried about…

It is also misleading to compare drowning and measles, as they are very different types of risks.

Lastly, we do a great deal to protect kids from drowning, from teaching them to swim at a young age, to encouraging the use of life jackets and supervision around water, and enforcing laws about fences around pools, etc.

All things that have helped to greatly decrease the number of drownings in the United States.

Would you ask anyone to stop talking about any of these safety measures, which would likely work to increase drownings again?

Of course not!

But that is essentially when anti-vaccine influencers are doing when they say we shouldn’t talk about measles.

They are working to bring back measles epidemics and the pre-vaccine era, when hundreds of kids used to die with measles each year.

More on Anti-Vaccine Arguments

• How Many People Have Died in Recent Measles Outbreaks?

• Alex Berenson Is Having Fun With Measles

• Using Statistics to Hide the Rate of Measles Deaths

• When Measles is Allowed to Run Its Usual Course, Kids Can Die

• How the anti-vaccine movement is downplaying the danger of measles

• Logical Fallacies and Vaccines

• Why bad arguments sound convincing: 10 tricks of logic that underpin vaccine myths

• Skepticism and the Fallacy of Relative Privation

• Top Ten Anti-Vaccine Myths Debunked, Again

A death that occurred during a flu outbreak at the Air Force base earlier this month at the base.

Flu Death at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas

A flu outbreak that began after Pete Hegseth dropped the mandatory flu vaccine requirement in the military.

“The Air Force confirmed that trainee Keon McDaniel died from the flu during the outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. This is a tragedy that could have been prevented were it not for the reckless actions of Secretary Hegseth.”

Congressman Joaquin Castro

A vaccine requirement that has since been reinstated, at least for new recruits.

A vaccine requirement that should be reinstated for all recruits, as historically, flu deaths in the military are rare.

“Only nine influenza-associated deaths among US military personnel have been documented during the past 16 years (1998–2014), three of these nine occurred during the 2009–2010 pandemic period (Potter R, personal communication).”

Influenza in the US Military: An Overview

And of course, military personnel should be protected against all vaccine preventable diseases, not just flu, especially with measles cases at record breaking levels.

More on the Air Force Flu Outbreak

• How Next Year’s Flu Epidemic Might Affect Our Military

• Which Vaccines Do You Get When You Join the Military?

• Castro, Houlahan, Cisneros Slam Pentagon for Lackland Flu Outbreak, Push for Flu Vaccine Requirement

• US Rep. Castro connects Air Force trainee death to flu outbreak at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland

• PRESS RELEASE: 37th Training Wing Mourns the Loss of Basic Military Trainee

• A historical analysis of vaccine mandates in the United States military and its application to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate

• Influenza in the US Military: An Overview

• Flu and Military Families: Keeping Loved Ones Healthy on the Move

Children that are going to suffer and die without the help from USAID.

They Are Blaming HIV on USAID Now Too!

And that’s why you are seeing reports that USAID funded terrorist groups and gain-of-function research.

And the latest conspiracy theory about gain-of-function research and USAID funding…

That’s right, Liz Churchill believes that HIV, which has been around since at least the 1930s, was created using ‘gain of function’ research, funded by USAID, even though USAID didn’t even yet exist!

Wait, what?

Yeah, USAID was created through Executive Order 10973 by President JFK on November 3, 1961.

That doesn’t really fit the timeline for how HIV might have been created in a lab, now does it?

Nor does it answer how Anthony Fauci could be connected to the creation of HIV in this mythical USAID lab, as he was still in college in the early 1960s!

“Dr. Fauci played a vital role in the early 1980s in the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, acting as a leading researcher on the discovery, diagnosis and treatment of patients with HIV/AIDS.”

Anthony Fauci biography and career timeline

Not that Anthony Fauci doesn’t have some connection to HIV…

“The HIV/AIDS pandemic has so far caused about 35 million deaths, while 34 million individuals currently live with HIV. Even if this will have no impact on the course of the epidemic, understanding the factors that allowed the successful emergence of HIV-1 is important, first as a moral obligation towards the victims, but also to draw lessons that could ultimately help mankind avoid facing similar threats in the future.”

The origins of AIDS: from patient zero to ground zero

But not the kind of connection that conspiracy theorists would like, after all, the origin of HIV is now well known.

HIV did not come from a lab leak.

HIV was not created at a U.S. military laboratory at Fort Detrick and then tested on prison inmates.

HIV was not created as a form of population control.

HIV did not come from contaminated polio vaccines.

HIV did not come from contaminated smallpox vaccines. - this was actually propaganda started by the KGB!

HIV did not come from intentionally contaminated hepatitis B vaccines, as part of secret experiments by U.S. Government scientists…

And yes, HIV does exist!

Bottom line - stop listening to anti-vaccine influencers!

More on Lab Leak Theories

• The Tulsi Gabbard Bombshells About Anthony Fauci Are All Huge Duds

• Conspiracy Theories about Vaccines

• Is the Lab Leak Theory Official?

• The Tucker Carlson Lyme Disease Lab Leak Conspiracy Theory

• The Science Behind the Anti-Vaccine Movement

• The Many Theories Behind Vaccine Injuries

• Anthony Fauci biography and career timeline

• 40 Years of AIDS: A Timeline of the Epidemic

• Snapshots of an Epidemic: An HIV/AIDS Timeline

• Origins of HIV and the AIDS Pandemic

• History of HIV/AIDS

• The origins of AIDS: from patient zero to ground zero

• HIV pandemic’s origins located

• HIV/AIDS denialists digging themselves in deeper

• HIV/AIDS denialist Christine Maggiore is dead

• Steven Crowder thinks AIDS was a hoax

The usual suspects…

How Much Money Was Spent on Chronic Diseases When JFK Was President?

According to RFK, Jr, the amount of money spent on chronic diseases when JFK was president is “zero.”

Of course, he also believes that there weren’t any chronic diseases around at the times…

Do you believe him?

You shouldn’t!

Not about this.

Not about anything.

Specifically, when JFK was president:

• The Federal Government provided the financial support for nearly two-thirds of the $1-5 billion in public and private expenditures for medical and health-related research in this country.

• JFK recommended additional appropriations in the 1964 budget of 1980 million for support of the National Institutes of Health

• the Community Health Services and Facilities Act of 1961 authorized up to $10 million annually in special project grants to public and nonprofit organizations for studies, experiments, and demonstrations of new or improved methods of providing health services outside hospitals, primarily for chronically ill or aged persons.

• an Institute of Child Health and Human Development was established and elevated to Institute status. Why? It was found to “to investigate human development throughout the entire life process, with a focus on understanding disabilities and important events that occur during pregnancy.” Interestingly, it was renamed for RFK, Jr’s aunt, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, in 2007. And yes, many of their grants were cut by DOGE and their budget was cut by President Trump.

• he amended the Social Security Act to assist States and communities in preventing and combating mental retardation through expansion and improvement of maternal and child health and crippled children's programs, through provision of prenatal, maternity, and infant care for individuals with conditions associated with childbearing which may lead to mental retardation, and through planning for comprehensive action to combat mental retardation.

• authorized $150 million during the 3-year period beginning July 1, 1964, for formula grants to be allocated among the States to pay 33 1/3 to 66 2/3 percent of the costs of constructing public and other nonprofit community mental health centers.

• authorized $47 million over the 3 years beginning July 1, 1963, to extend and strengthen the existing programs for training teachers of mentally retarded children and deaf children and to expand these programs to include the training of teachers of other handicapped children such as the visually handicapped, the speech impaired, and the emotionally disturbed.

• authorized $6 million over the 3 years beginning July 1, 1963, to finance grants for research or demonstration projects relating to the education of the handicapped.

So yes, President JFK spent money on chronic diseases.

And yes, people had chronic diseases when JFK was president!

And no, you can’t blame a ‘chronic disease epidemic’ on vaccines, a common tactic of anti-vaccine influencers like RFK, Jr.

An anti-vaccine influencer who is once again proven to be lying. This time about his uncle, President JFK, who also signed the Vaccination Assistance Act in 1962 (Section 317 of the Public Health Service Act), which started as a three-year program to help get kids vaccinated against polio, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis!

A program that has been continuously reauthorized ever since and has helped get millions of children vaccinated and protected.

A program that is often described as a turning point in US health, as it greatly increased access to vaccines, and helped control many vaccine-preventable diseases.

A program that was expanded by Sen Ted Kennedy, as it was turned into the Vaccines for Children program.

And then there is Sec RFK, Jr, whose claim to fame is going after pediatricians and vaccines, bringing back measles, not finding the cause of autism, taking away blue and brown M&Ms, and turning the food pyramid upside down - a food pyramid that no one was using because it had been replaced 15 years ago by the MyPlate plan, when Barack Obama was president…

More on RFK, Jr

• A Top Ten List of Vaccine Misinformation from RFK Jr

• Comprehensive List of Lies Told by RFK Jr About Vaccines

• Why You Shouldn’t Listen to RFK Jr Talk About Autism

• Why Are Anti-Vaccine Influencers Obsessed With the Movie Rain Man?

• False or Misleading Vaccine Statements by Secretary RFK Jr

• Special Message to the Congress on Improving the Nation’s Health.

• Legislative Summary: Health

• RFK Jr.’s MAHA Commission: A battle plan to dismantle federal science and health

• The real Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

• Kennedy’s Coalition of Quacks Wants to Feed America a Diet of Lies

• A Timeline of RFK Jr.’s Mixed Messaging on the Measles Vaccine

• RFK’s cuts to FDA are a threat to public health and safety

• How RFK Jr. Broke 60 Years of Vaccine Decision-Making Process

The usual suspects…

Connecting the Dots Between Bill Gates, Vaccines, and the Alpha-Gal Problem

Not surprisingly, anti-vaccine influencers are all in on the idea that vaccines are somehow associated with the current alpha-gal problem that we are seeing after some people get a tick bite.

What else?

They are all pretty sure that Bill Gates is behind it all!

How?

They think that Bill Gates somehow created GMO ticks that can cause people to develop alpha-gal syndrome.

And their evidence?

“Technology that has been used to control mosquitoes and fall armyworm will now be applied to solving the world’s cattle tick problem under a new $1.283 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.”

Gates Foundation funds research to control cattle ticks through biotechnology

What they think is their evidence is the fact that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation did actually award a grant to study controlling the spread of ticks - the southern cattle tick.

Wait…

Southern cattle ticks aren’t the ticks that give you alpha-gal, are they?

Nope.

Those are lone star ticks!

So, how is Bill Gates involved in causing alpha-gal syndrome then?!?

Well, of course, he isn’t!

And no one is releasing tick boxes on farms…

Also, Lyme disease was not created in a lab and released during some kind of leak…

What else?

None of this is related to a potential new Pfizer Lyme disease vaccine that may be approved soon.

So why are we seeing more cases of alpha-gal syndrome?

It is likely because of the explosion in the white-tail deer population, on which lone star ticks feed.

Also, lone star ticks have expanded their range, as it has become warmer, allowing them to move further northward. Plus, they are more likely to survive winters that aren’t as intense as they used to be.

Alpha-Gal Syndrome and Gelatin Containing Vaccines

What about gelatin containing vaccines and alpha-gal syndrome?

Well, you can be reassured that gelatin containing vaccines don’t cause alpha-gal syndrome.

“Our results did not reveal increased hypersensitivity reactions in states endemic to the Lone Star Tick. Under the hypothesis that there are more patients sensitized to alpha-gal in states endemic to the Lone Star Tick, it can be inferred that gelatin-containing vaccines do not hold increased risk in alpha-gal sensitized patients.”

Are gelatin-containing vaccines safe to give in alpha-gal sensitized patients?

Gelatin-containing vaccines are also thought to be safe for most people with alpha-gal syndrome, which is not a contraindication to getting vaccinated.

Since there have been rare case reports of anaphylaxis after a gelatin containing vaccine in people with alpha-gal syndrome, if you are concerned, talk to your allergist.

“In general, if someone is able to tolerate dairy, they are very likely to be fine with gelatin and medications. If they lose tolerance to dairy, then I take it on a case-by-case basis.”

Alpha-gal allergy, medications and vaccines

This is especially important if you have alpha-gal syndrome and can not tolerate dairy or you have a severe gelatin allergy.

Bottom line - Avoid ticks if you want to avoid alpha-gal syndrome. And know that it is not associated with vaccines or Bill Gates.

More on Alpha-Gal Conspiracy Theories

• The Tucker Carlson Lyme Disease Lab Leak Conspiracy

• What to Do If a Tick Bites Your Child

• What is a Lyme-Literate Doctor?

• Are gelatin-containing vaccines safe to give in alpha-gal sensitized patients?

• Alpha-gal allergy, medications and vaccines

• Delayed Diffuse Hives After Vaccines in Adolescent With Positive Alpha-Gal Ige and Gelatin Skin Test

• As lone star tick spreads in North America, posts baselessly blame ‘climate agenda’

• Are Bill Gates’ Ticks Making Us Vegan?

• Is Bill Gates behind the spread of ticks that cause red meat allergy?

• No connection between Gates-funded modified ticks, meat allergy

• Gates Foundation funds research to control cattle ticks through biotechnology

• Fact Check: Lyme Disease Was NOT Invented In A Lab In 1975 -- Its Bacteria Is Thousands Of Years Old

• Potential of reactions to RSV vaccines made in alpha-gal sensitive subjects

• Hesitancy in Administering Gelatin-Containing Vaccines to Alpha-Gal Sensitized Patients

Questions for which they don’t really want answers.

How Many People Have Died in Recent Measles Outbreaks?

But if they did, here we go.

Because, of course, people have died and suffered complications during these measles outbreaks.

In fact, since the start of the these big measles outbreaks last year, we have seen:

• two deaths in unvaccinated children in Texas (2025)

• one death in an unvaccinated adult in New Mexico (2025)

• one SSPE death (2025)

• at least one infant with meningoencephalitis who was born to an unvaccinated mother with measles (2025)

• at least one unvaccinated child with measles encephalitis (2026)

• at least 379 hospitalizations, the majority of which have been children, with very few of them known to be completely vaccinated with two doses of the MMR vaccine

So yes, people have died.

People, including pregnant women, newborn babies, infants, children, teens, and young adults, etc., have suffered.

And we will continue to see suffering and deaths until these measles outbreaks are brought under control and stopped.

Measles outbreaks that can be easily controlled and stopped if everyone would get vaccinated and protected.

More on Measles Complications and Deaths

• When Measles is Allowed to Run Its Usual Course, Kids Can Die

• What We Know About the Hospitalized Measles Patients in the Texas Outbreak

• The Utah Measles Outbreak Sets a New Record

• Measles Deaths in England

• That Time a Chiropractor in Texas Got Measles

• Anguished parents. Doctors in tears. Utah’s long measles outbreak takes a toll.

• How the anti-vaccine movement is downplaying the danger of measles

• I’m absolutely shocked,’ southern Utah hospitals caught in the center of measles outbreak

They are listening to the usual suspects…

Pertussis Deaths Were More Than 7,000 Percent Higher Just as We Got the DPT Vaccine!

Instead of listening to these kinds of anti-vaccine influencers, to really understand how well the pertussis vaccine is working, everyone should understand that:

• pertussis deaths were more than 7,000 percent higher just as we got the DPT vaccine

• pertussis deaths have fallen by about 98.6% since we got the DPT vaccine

• for every pertussis death last year, there were about 70 in 1950, around the time we got the DPT vaccine

And while pertussis isn’t gone, the 28,783 cases and 16 deaths last year (2025) are much lower than we used to have in the pre-vaccine era.

In 1950, we had 120,718 cases of pertussis in the United States and 1,118 deaths.

So much for the idea of a pertussis vaccine failure!

Sure, the pertussis vaccine isn’t perfect, but it works well to protect against severe cases of pertussis and death.

At least it does when we get vaccinated and protected.

More on Pertussis Deaths

• Let’s Talk About Pertussis Deaths

• Measles Deaths Were More Than 22,000 Percent Higher Just Before We Got a Measles Vaccine!

• Can Vaccinated Children Be Asymptomatic Carriers of Pertussis?

• Does Getting the DTaP Vaccine Make You More Susceptible to Pertussis?

• Is Your Risk of Death from the Pertussis Vaccine Higher Than from the Disease?

• Are Reported Pertussis Cases up by 114% Since 1967?

• Whooping cough vaccine during pregnancy carries no risk of autism

• Idaho pertussis outbreak claims first life in Central District Health region

• South Dakota Department of Health Reports Pertussis Death

• Third infant in Kentucky dies of whooping cough as national cases stay high for second year in a row

• Louisiana Took Months To Sound Alarm After Two Babies Died in Whooping Cough Outbreak

• Mississippi Baby Dies of Whooping Cough, the State’s First Pertussis Death in 13 Years

• Fact Checked: DTaP Vaccine Stops Spread of Whooping Cough

How high is it?

What Is Your Risk of Getting Measles in the United States?

Well, of course your risk depends on many factors.

Like what?

Well, are you vaccinated with two doses of the MMR vaccine?

Are you around a lot of people who are unvaccinated?

Do you live in or travel to an area where there is an active outbreak?

There are many things that can increase your risk of getting sick with measles, just as getting vaccinated can lower your risk.

And of course, those who are too young to be vaccinated, and those who can’t be vaccinated, are also at risk when case counts are high.

What Is Your Risk of Getting Measles in Other Countries?

What about in other countries?

In general, your risk is related to the number of cases in that country.

And your vaccination status!

So to be safe, be sure that you are fully vaccinated and protected if you are traveling out of the country, which means:

• two doses of the MMR vaccine for older children and adults

• an early MMR for infants who are at least six months old, with a repeat dose, their first official MMR, when they are 12 months old

• an early second MMR for toddlers and preschoolers at least one month after their first MMR

After all, you don’t want to get sick on your trip, do you?

And you certainly don’t want to return from an overseas trip and start an outbreak!

What Is Your Risk of Dying With Measles?

If you choose to skip or delay getting vaccinated, you should also know you or your child’s risk of dying with measles.

Your risk isn’t close to zero as Bob Sears has always been fond of saying.

Your risk of dying with measles isn’t just 1 in 106 million. That’s a statistic that has been made up by anti-vaccine influencers.

And you are certainly not more at risk to die from a reaction to your MMR vaccine than from measles!

The risk of dying if you or your child get sick with measles is the traditional 1 to 2 deaths for every 1,000 people with measles, even if you or your child are otherwise healthy. Plus, you are also at risk for complications, like pneumonia, encephalitis, and immune amnesia, and SSPE.

Bottom Line - don’t let anti-vaccine influencers scare you away from vaccinating and protecting yourself and your family. Don’t get measles and don’t start a measles outbreak.

More on Measles Risks

• Measles Protection Questions and Answers

• What to Do If Your Child Is Exposed to Measles

• Do You Need Another Dose of the MMR Vaccine?

• Using Statistics to Hide the Rate of Measles Deaths

• Alex Berenson Is Having Fun With Measles

• Two Texas Children Did Not Have to Die of Measles

• Measles Scenario-Based Human Health Risk Assessment

• Measles Updates for Immunocompromised Patients

• Protecting Your Baby From a Measles Outbreak

• RFK Jr. Misleads on Vitamin A, Unsupported Therapies for Measles

• Measles are back; blame complacency

• Increased Measles Activity: How to Protect Your Family

“In March 2015, Brazil reported a large outbreak of rash illness, soon identified as Zika virus infection and, in July 2015, found to be associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome.”

Zika virus disease outbreak 2015-2016

Do you remember the epidemic it triggered?

Over the course of 2016, the virus spread to at least 58 countries and territories; outbreaks occurred in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Florida and Texas, and pregnant women infected with the disease during travel were identified in 44 states. Last year in the U.S., 77 Zika babies died in the womb, while 51 babies were born with Zika-related birth defects. Each of the surviving children will cost an estimated $10 million to care for during their lifetimes.

As Zika Season Nears, States Brace for an End to CDC Funding

An epidemic that started in 2014, hit 92 countries and territories, caused congenital birth defects, and peaked in 2016.

What Happened to the Zika Epidemic?

An epidemic that hasn’t returned, even though we still don’t have a Zika vaccine…

So how was the Zika epidemic brought under control, and how has it been kept at bay without a vaccine?

No, it wasn’t that everyone started taking ivermectin…

“In early 2016, WHO declared Zika virus-related microcephaly and other neurological disorders a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. By that time, the virus had caused an estimated 750 000 infections in the Americas. The name congenital Zika syndrome was coined to identify children with severe, specific manifestations of congenital Zika virus infection, including: severe microcephaly with partly collapsed skull; thin cerebral cortices with subcortical calcifications; macular scarring and focal pigmentary retinal mottling; congenital contractures; and marked early hypertonia.”

A decade later, what have we learned from the Zika epidemic in children with intrauterine exposure?

One reason, of course, is that a lot of people got sick with Zika and built up immunity to the virus.

“Most experts say the sharp decline in Zika cases is due, at least in part, to herd immunity. When enough people become immune to a virus, whether through vaccination or natural immunity, then that disease can't easily travel from person to person.”

Why did Zika disappear?

That’s right, herd immunity is not just about vaccines.

“Our analysis suggests that once the current epidemic is over, herd immunity will lead to a delay of at least a decade before large epidemics may recur.”

Countering the Zika epidemic in Latin America

There is a big problem with this kind of natural herd immunity though - it doesn’t last, as everyone who is born after the epidemic won’t have any immunity and that will eventually trigger another outbreak. In fact, those are the same epidemic cycles that we saw in the pre-vaccine era.

Besides herd immunity, there are other likely other reasons that Zika hasn’t returned.

“By July, 2017, Zika virus cases had dropped considerably in Brazil, which was concurrent with a rise in the number of Chikungunya cases. The shorter incubation period in the mosquito vector and declining temperatures during autumn favoured the rise of Chikungunya cases over Zika virus in endemic settings. This observation suggests that other arboviruses can eventually outcompete Zika virus in endemic areas.”

A decade later, what have we learned from the Zika epidemic in children with intrauterine exposure?

Interestingly, it is actually thought that other viruses can outcompete Zika virus.

Plus, interventions to control the mosquitoes that transmit the Zika virus to us likely helped a little.

Will Zika Return?

What else should people know about the Zika virus?

“The ZIKV pandemic has waned, but the virus still poses a public health threat, as shown by continued reports of outbreaks in Asia, India, and Africa. Although at present we do not have the tools to predict where and when the next large epidemic will happen, the large numbers of susceptible persons residing in aedes-infested regions make a reemergence of ZIKV likely.”

Zika isn’t gone.

“Many of the shuttered USAID programs have been working to address disease outbreaks in their home countries, improving the health of the people who live there, and limiting risks to travelers. For example, the US government, in collaboration with private donors (such as the Gates Foundation in the US, Wellcome Trust in the UK, and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation [Fiocruz] in Brazil) supported efforts by the World Mosquito Program to combat dengue, Zika, and chikungunya viruses in Latin America by targeting the mosquito that transmits these viruses, and achieved striking success.”

The Domestic Consequences of Defunding Global Health

And the measures taken by Donald Trump and RFK, Jr. to dismantle our public health systems will likely help Zika return, including that they reduced funding and staff for international outbreak detection.

Plus they cut USAID funding for mosquito control programs that help combat Zika!

What Happened to a Zika Vaccine?

Considering the scope of the last Zika epidemic, it should be no surprise that a Zika vaccine had been in development.

So what happened?

“Many hurdles remain, however, before a vaccine will become available. The limited number of cases occurring globally limits the ability of studies to evaluate the protective effects of vaccines in phase 3 human trials.”

Progress toward discovery of Zika virus vaccines and therapeutics

Not enough cases happened…

“Multiple vaccines, including inactivated, live-attenuated, DNA, mRNA, virus-vectored, and recombinant peptides, have progressed to clinical studies while there are also others at different development stages.”

An updated review of Zika virus vaccine development

While it is very good that there aren’t a lot of people getting sick with Zika, it does mean that there aren’t enough people for Zika vaccine trials. After all, you can’t test if a vaccine is effective if they can’t be exposed.

Bottom line - because of funding cuts to public health, we won’t be ready for the next Zika epidemic.

More on Zika

• The Importance of Public Health Experts During Outbreaks

• Zika virus disease outbreak 2015-2016

• Zika epidemiology update - May 2024

• Zika information for travelers

• Why did Zika disappear?

• An updated review of Zika virus vaccine development

• A decade later, what have we learned from the Zika epidemic in children with intrauterine exposure?

• Zika has all but disappeared in the Americas. Why?

• Their children can’t eat, speak or walk - so forgotten Zika mothers raise them together

• Years After Epidemic, Zika Continues to Impact Lives

• Gone or forgotten? The rise and fall of Zika virus

• Zika Virus Infection — After the Pandemic

• The Domestic Consequences of Defunding Global Health

• As Zika Season Nears, States Brace for an End to CDC Funding

• How cuts to CDC are dismantling its capacity to protect Americans’ health

• US CDC: a public health agency in critical condition

• Regional Investment in Health is Key for Sustainable Development

Deaths in children that were reported to VAERS.

Let’s Talk About Those 10 Deaths in Children Probably or Possibly Related to COVID Vaccines

Deaths in children which are still not proven to be caused by a COVID vaccine.

And deaths which occurred among children who had received 80 million doses of COVID vaccines!

Which means that there was a risk of 1 death for every 8 million doses.

Or a risk of death of 0.0000125% per dose.

Contrast that with the fact that nearly 2,400, mostly unvaccinated children, who died because they were sick with COVID, and the risk vs benefit analysis is strongly in favor of getting vaccinated.

That’s not even counting the kids with COVID who later developed MIS-C… and died with MIS-C.

Or the kids who developed long COVID.

Also know that Ron Johnson and Tracey Beth Høeg are reporting this as new information, but it was released by Vinay Prasad last December.

Lastly, know that the updated COVID vaccines didn’t have a risk of myocarditis in teens and young adults, which would have reduced any possible risk of death even further!

So don’t hesitate to get your child a COVID vaccine if they have any risk factors for a severe COVID infection, or you just want that extra protection.

And ignore anti-vaccine influencers who are still trying to push the idea that COVID vaccines are more dangerous than COVID.

More on COVID Deaths in Children

• Pandemic Revisionism Can’t Erase How Many Kids Died With COVID

• Did Tom Shimabukuro Say COVID Vaccines Were Causing Debilitating Illnesses?

• The New Normal - Blame Everything On COVID Vaccines

• The OpenSAFELY Myocarditis Study

• This is What Happened During the COVID Vaccine Rollout in Gibraltar

• The CDC Did Not Redact Every Single Word of a 148-Page Myocarditis Study

• https://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/2026-06-16-RHJ-to-HHS-CDC-FDA3.pdf

• Unpacking the FDA’s Black Friday Vaccine Memo

• A Threat to Evidence-Based Vaccine Policy and Public Health Security at the FDA

• Myocarditis seven times more likely with COVID-19 than vaccines

• CIDRAP Op-Ed: The COVID vaccine myocarditis signal was real but is now resolved. ACIP’s March agenda pretends otherwise.

• Fear of Myocarditis No Reason to Skip COVID Vaccine

• Benefits of COVID-19 Vaccination Outweigh the Rare Risk of Myocarditis, Even in Young Males

• COVID-19 is a leading cause of death among children, but that doesn’t stop some of my colleagues from arguing against vaccinating them

How many of their conspiracy theories came true?

What Happened to the Hantavirus Predictions?

From talk of gain-of-function lab leaks, forced hantavirus vaccines, and use of hantavirus as a bioweapon, let’s check in on all of their conspiracy theories.

Hantavirus conspiracy theories that, not surprising, were all hype.

Like the idea that hantavirus infections are caused by COVID vaccines because they are listed as a side effect on the vaccine insert? That’s not true. Hantavirus is not actually listed in the vaccine insert for the COVID vaccine, but is only in the appendix of adverse events, and includes all events that occurred during the reporting period of the clinical trial, and don’t mean that they are associated with the vaccine. Nearly all were not.

Like the idea that hantavirus was created as a bioweapon… it wasn’t!

That the hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship was being used to create panic to make people put on masks, start social distancing, and beg for a vaccine… they didn’t!

That the NIH funded hantavirus gain-of-function research and this created a highly infectious hantavirus variant that caused the cruise ship outbreak… this wasn’t true!

What about the idea that hantavirus killed Kyle Busch? This one was promoted by Peter McCullough and Rob Finnerty (Newsmax) and was of course, not true!

None of the conspiracy theories about hantavirus were true.

Fortunately, the outbreak was quickly contained and limited to 13 cases. Tragically, there were three deaths.

It should be very clear though that public health experts were not trying to create panic over the hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship…

During a Q&A with CIDRAP News, he explained how and why superspreaders are key to understanding the Andes strain of hantavirus, why close proximity is only part of the consideration, and why he doesn’t think this outbreak is the next “big one.”

Osterholm on hantavirus: We’re missing ‘main point of this outbreak’

All of which is a great reminder that folks should stop listening to anti-vaccine influencers!

More on Hantavirus

• How to Become a Real Vaccine Skeptic

• The New Normal – Blame Everything On COVID Vaccines

• WHO - Hantavirus outbreak linked to cruise ship travel, Multi-locations

• Osterholm on hantavirus: We’re missing ‘main point of this outbreak’

• Hantavirus cruise outbreak sets off wave of online conspiracy theories

• 5.3.6 Cumulative Analysis of Post-Authorization Adverse Event Reports of Pf-07302048 (bnt162b2)

• Do COVID vaccines cause hantavirus?

• Antisemitic Hantavirus Conspiracy Theories Are Spreading—and the Platforms Are Hands Off

• Hantavirus Conspiracy Theories Are Already Spreading Online

• Ebola and hantavirus outbreaks prompt raft of conspiracy theories in divided US

• Staged claims and Israeli hoaxes: Debunking viral conspiracy theories about hantavirus

• From ‘Covid 2.0’ to ‘crisis actors’: How hantavirus myths spread

• Some Hantavirus Updates: Focus on Misperceptions and Miscalibrations

And apparently, many people are talking about herd immunity without understanding what it is!

The Herd Immunity Myths You Can Safely Ignore

So that you don’t get misled by anti-vaccine influencers pushing these herd immunity myths, let’s review these herd immunity myths, such as that:

• Herd immunity through vaccination does not exist. - That vaccine induced herd immunity doesn’t exist is a ridiculous statement that has been proven wrong a thousand times. It is now on par with the idea that viruses don’t exist.

  

• You need 95% vaccination levels to reach herd immunity levels of protection. - Herd immunity is not a one size fits all thing. It is different for each disease and for each vaccine. For measles, herd immunity levels of protection is thought to be when at least 95% of people in the community are vaccinated. For other vaccine preventable diseases though, like chickenpox, smallpox, rubella, polio, mumps, and diphtheria, it might be just 85%.

• Natural immunity can lead to herd immunity levels of protection. - If natural immunity could lead to herd immunity, then why didn’t all of these diseases, like measles, rubella, chicken pox, pertussis, and Hib, etc., die out long ago? Of course, it is because new people will always be born, who will be susceptible to getting sick.

• Outbreaks shouldn’t happen if you have herd immunity. - Outbreaks happen, even when you have herd immunity levels of protection, because we live in open communities and people constantly travel in and out that can introduce diseases. Having herd immunity levels of protection does help ensure that these outbreaks are easy to control though.

• The MMR vaccine does not provide maternal immunity. - This is from RFK, Jr. and it isn’t true. Neither is RFK, Jr.’s idea that the MMR is a leaky vaccine.

  

• I can just hide in the herd, free-riding on the protection of everyone else who is vaccinated. - While this is essentially what everyone who is intentionally unvaccinated is doing, it only works if the majority of people are vaccinated. Once anti-vaccine influencers get too popular, and we lose herd immunity levels of protection, the free ride ends.

• Vaccination destroys natural herd immunity. - This is from Andy Wakefield… He thinks it is better for kids to get vaccine preventable diseases when they are young, despite the fact that thousands of kids died each and every year in the United States when we did that.

• It is mathematically impossible for the United States to lose our measles free status. - This is from Steve Kirsch, who despite getting a degree from MIT, gets this vaccine issue wrong despite it only involving very basic math.

  

• Vaccination makes herd immunity worse. - This idea is being promoted by another MIT grad, Stephanie Seneff. Surprisingly, her idea isn’t about shedding, which might at least make a little sense. Instead, it is about vaccines promoting the creation of new variants, missing that non-vaccine preventable diseases also have variants.

One thing is clear, even as we continue to hear these myths about herd immunity.

And that is the very simple fact that anti-vaccine influencers simply do not understand herd immunity.

More on Herd Immunity

• Let’s Talk About Vaccine Preventable Disease Deaths

• Which Part of the Herd Gets Protected by Community Immunity?

• Dr. Bob Puts the Nail in the Coffin of the Herd Immunity Argument

• What Is Herd Immunity? Clarifying Common Misconceptions

• How Herd Immunity Works

• Andrew Wakefield claims “natural Herd Immunity” is better than anything vaccines can do, never mind all that suffering

• Herd Immunity: How Does It Work?

• Is herd immunity a myth? A response to Russell Blaylock, Part 1

• A Rough Guide to Herd Immunity

It is especially not true when you have measles - measles can still kill you - even after you survive having measles!

When Measles Doesn’t Kill You, It Can Still Leave You Weaker

You do know what happens when you have measles, don’t you?

At best, a typical case of measles, without complications, is a good week of a high fever - up to 104°F (40°C) to 105°F (40.6°C), deep cough, red, watery eyes that cause a dislike for bright light, sore throat, and irritability.

Then there is the risk of complications, like pneumonia and encephalitis, both of which are life-threatening.

And if you survive all of that, there is still the later risk of dying with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE)!

But wait… there’s more!

In addition to all of that, if you survive measles with no complications, you will still likely have immune amnesia!

“The risk associated with measles infection is much greater than the sum of its observable symptoms. The immune memories that you have acquired are priceless, built over many years and from countless exposures to a menagerie of germs. Measles virus is especially dangerous because it has the ability to destroy what’s been earned: immune memory from previous infections.”

Measles and Immune Amnesia

That means that measles can wipe away your immune system’s memories of having developed immunity against previous infections.

“One of the most unique—and most dangerous—features of measles pathogenesis is its ability to reset the immune systems of infected patients. During the acute phase of infection, measles induces immune suppression through a process called immune amnesia.”

Measles and Immune Amnesia

And this immune amnesia leaves your immune system weaker and at risk to get sick from other infectious diseases, including those that you may have already had.

“Examination of child mortality rates in the U.S., U.K., and Denmark in the decades before and after the introduction of the measles vaccine revealed that nearly half of all childhood deaths from infectious disease could be related to MV infection when the disease was prevalent. That means infections other than measles resulted in death, due to the MV effect on the immune system.”

Measles and Immune Amnesia

Worst of all, the immune amnesia can last for up to 3 years!

What about the natural immunity to measles you gain from a natural infection?

Isn’t that a strength?

Sure.

After surviving a week of high fever and other symptoms, a risk of pneumonia and encephalitis, a later risk of SSPE, and three years of immune amnesia, if you survived, then you have earned your natural immunity.

Of course, you could have gotten that same immunity with two doses of the MMR vaccine with very little risk, either to yourself, or to others.

More on Measles Complications

• Complications of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases

• That Time a Chiropractor in Texas Got Measles

• Let’s Talk About Measles Encephalitis

• Why Do We Include SSPE When Counting Measles Deaths?

• Another Child Has Died From a Complication of Measles This Past Year

• Measles and Immune Amnesia

• The benefits of the measles vaccine go beyond just protecting against measles, 2019 edition

• Measles Is Harmful, Contrary to Flimsy Social Media Claims of Long-Term Benefits

• Malicious Measles Myths: Memory-Holing a Monster

• Measles is NEVER (ever!) Beneficial

You likely won’t be surprised…

Anti-Vaccine Influencers React to the Air Force Base Flu Outbreak

As usual, instead of connecting the dots and realizing that the flu outbreak at Lackland Airforce Base in Texas is very likely related to the decision of Pete Hegseth to make annual flu vaccines optional in the military.

A decision that went into immediate effect on April 20.

A decision that was soon followed by a flu outbreak among trainees in Basic Military Training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas.

A flu outbreak that is worsening, with 275 confirmed cases at the base, up from the initial 160 servicemen that had gotten sick.

A flu outbreak among recruits with flu vaccination rates that had dropped to just 40%!

So yeah, there is a very good chance that the majority of the new recruits that got sick with flu were unvaccinated…

But even though so many of them are unvaccinated, how did a flu outbreak start at the base this time of year?

After all, it’s summer and flu activity in the United States is very low!

Very low, but not totally gone!

That still leaves room for some people to get sick with the flu, especially since these new recruits in basic training are likely coming from all over the country.

What else?

Lackland Air Force Base is home to the Inter-American Air Forces Academy.

Why is that important?

Well, students from across the Western Hemisphere attend basic training at the Inter-American Air Forces Academy.

If you haven’t yet connected the dots as to why this is relevant, remember that the Western Hemisphere includes many countries that are in the Southern Hemisphere.

And these Southern Hemisphere countries have begun their winter/flu seasons!

Do you get it now?

In addition to the simple fact that military personnel might end up traveling overseas where there are flu outbreaks, they could be exposed at home, or when someone brings flu to the base from overseas.

And of course, recruits may have traveled before starting basic training!

That means there are plenty of ways that they can get the flu and start an outbreak.

And that means there are plenty of reasons that they should be vaccinated and protected with a flu vaccine!

More on Flu Outbreaks

• I’m Not Anti-Vaccine, I Just Don’t Believe in Flu Shots

• What Are the Benefits of the Flu Shot?

• Flu outbreak sickens 200 trainees at Lackland Air Force Base

• WHO - Global respiratory virus updates

• PRESS RELEASE: 37th Training Wing Mourns the Loss of Basic Military Trainee

• Castro Update on Number of Flu Cases at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio

• Castro Statement on Flu Outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio

As usual, it’s anti-vaccine propaganda.

Measles Deaths Were More Than 22,000 Percent Higher Just Before We Got a Measles Vaccine!

I know, because measles deaths were more than 22,000 percent higher just before we got a measles vaccine!

And this is all on the CDC website!

What else?

Measles cases and deaths have fallen by more than 99.5% since the recent high just before we got our first measles vaccine in 1963.

And yes, that’s because vaccines work.

Sure, improved sanitation, hygiene, nutrition, and advances in medicine led to a big drop in deaths in the earlier part of the 1900s, but it is very important to realize that the effect plateaued by the 1940s.

That’s why there still so many measles deaths in the 1950s!

But not just measles deaths!

There were also a lot of deaths from pertussis, diphtheria, tetanus, polio, mumps, and many other diseases that are now vaccine preventable.

Deaths that anti-vaccine influencers try to hide to make you think that vaccines don’t work.

Don’t believe them!

Vaccines work. And they are safe, with few risks, and are very necessary.

More on Measles Deaths

• That Time Aaron Siri Lost to Stanley Plotkin

• Using Statistics to Hide the Rate of Measles Deaths

• From a Few Cases to Thousands - The Role of Patient Zero in Recent Measles Outbreaks

• How Many Lives Has the MMR Vaccine Saved?

• Did the Measles Vaccine Have Only a Meager Effect on Deaths?

• Escaping From an Anti-Vaccine Echo Chamber

• RFK Jr. Misleads About Measles Vaccine in Hannity Interview

• Measles, a disease that should not be underestimated

• Measles Is Harmful, Contrary to Flimsy Social Media Claims of Long-Term Benefits

• How dangerous is measles?