This is an adapted excerpt from the April 7 episode of “The Rachel Maddow Show.”
On Saturday, thousands across the country took to the streets to protest the actions of the Trump administration. Among the many signs at the nationwide “Hands Off” demonstrations, a whole subcategory was devoted to measles. In Chicago, one protester held a sign that read: “Got measles? Me neither! Thanks, science!” and in Seattle, another read: “You wanted cheap eggs but … got measles instead!”
Dozens of free measles vaccine clinics have been canceled because of the Trump administration’s massive funding cuts to local health departments.
Right now, the United States is contending with its worst measles outbreak in decades. President Donald Trump has slashed billions of dollars in funding from not just federal, but also local and state health departments. The president also installed as the nation’s top health official a man who made a career out of demonizing vaccines — including falsely claiming that, among other things, vaccines were causing a “holocaust” in America.
On Sunday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — that is still an unbelievable phrase — traveled to the epicenter of the measles outbreak in Texas for the funeral of the second unvaccinated child to die of the disease there in the last few weeks, an 8-year-old girl. After the funeral, a social media post from Kennedy included the line: “The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine.”
That sentence from Kennedy is true and scientifically accurate, so, for a moment there, we were all on the same page. However, just a few hours later, shortly after attending the funeral of this unvaccinated 8-year-old girl, Kennedy put up another post, praising two Texas doctors as “extraordinary healers” for treating measles patients with quack remedies unsupported by any scientific evidence.
One of the doctors Kennedy referenced released a podcast earlier in the outbreak describing mass infection as “God’s version of measles immunization.” The other was once disciplined by Texas medical regulators for inappropriate use of certain treatments.
But even if you wanted to listen to version one of Kennedy, the guy who earlier in the day recommended the measles vaccine, well, getting one just got a lot harder in Texas. Dozens of free measles vaccine clinics have been canceled because of the Trump administration’s massive funding cuts to local health departments.
Mina ended his piece with a warning: “This outbreak may still seem small. But that’s exactly how it starts. Each case is a spark. And the fuel is all around us.”
That means we may soon find out just how quickly decades of public health success can be undone. As epidemiologist and immunologist Dr. Michael Mina wrote in The New York Times last week, “Measles is among the most contagious viruses known. A single case can cause dozens more in places where people are unvaccinated. Infants too young for vaccination, immune-compromised people and the elderly are all at risk.”
“Measles isn’t just a fever and rash,” he continued. “It can cause pneumonia, brain inflammation, permanent disability and death. The virus can go dormant in the body only to re-emerge a decade or so after infection and cause rapid and fatal brain tissue deterioration.”
Mina ended his piece with a warning: “This outbreak may still seem small. But that’s exactly how it starts. Each case is a spark. And the fuel is all around us.”
