WTF Is Happening With Vaccines In America?

Written By Leeja Miller

Sources:

Transcript:

Yesterday, September 4th, RFK Jr the secretary of Health and Human Services sat for a 3 hour Senate hearing to discuss Trump’s HHS budget proposal. Most of it was spent harping about RFK Jr’s abysmal record so far, the upheaval at the CDC in the last week, and especially RFK Jr’s views and actions regarding vaccines. We are heading into the fall, which is typically the time people are getting vaccinated, to go back to school and to prep for the winter when diseases tend to spread more readily. With all this upheaval I wanted to just do a little primer on what the fuck is going on at HHS, the CDC, with RFK Jr and with vaccine access in the US, so that we all understand what’s going on behind the headlines and also how to keep ourselves and our families safe going into the winter, especially here in Minnesota where I won’t be seeing the sun again for another eight months. Which reminds me I need to order my vitamin D supplements.

Just right off the bat though let me address the MAHA trolls and anyone who’s dipped a toe in the anti-vax movement: there has been no causal link found between vaccines and autism. The conspiracy theory is based on a single journal article from the 90s that has since been retracted and numerous studies since then have debunked it. Mainstream health professionals do not believe there is a causal link. Just because more people are being diagnosed with autism doesn’t mean more people HAVE autism than they did 100 years ago, it just means we’re better at diagnosing it. You think your mom’s 2000 piece mini spoon collection that she won’t let you touch is just a “fun quirk”, Karen? Get real. And even if there was a causal connection, the fact that you would rather your child LITERALLY DIE from measles than have autism says a lot about you and how much you fucking hate disabled people and I suggest you do some serious soul searching because that actively makes you a horrible fucking person and you should feel bad. Okay? Great. Now that the losers have scrolled away, let’s get into it.

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Often, the way news outlets report on a story differs depending on the bias of the publication. And it’s hard to know how YOUR own perception of bias influences your interpretation of the news. This headline from PBS Newshour caught my eye “In tense hearing, RFK Jr. challenged on vaccine views and trust in health agencies.” Using the Ground News browser extension, I can see that in the US PBS Newshour is considered “left leaning.” To get a fuller picture of the story on all sides of the political spectrum I can click on Full Coverage, which will show me coverage of the same story from publications across the political spectrum.

My partner on today’s video, Ground News, uses 3 independent monitoring organizations to assess the bias rating for each publication. Each news monitoring organization has their own methodology - including editorial reviews, blind bias surveys, independent reviews, and third party research. These are legit INDEPENDENT organizations, but they are limited by the data available to them: their analysis is done in the context of the U.S. political system. Our overton window has shifted so far right that PBS Newshour is considered “left leaning.” That tells you a lot about the context within which the media you’re consuming operates. And thanks to Ground News, I get even more context, including how factual each publication is and who owns it, giving me a well-rounded idea of the motivations, biases, and accuracy of the news I’m consuming. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone in America had that much information about the news they consume??

Because depending on where you or your family members get the news, you’re going to get very different takes on the same story.

This is where Ground News comes in - and why I've been using them for over a year. Today’s partner Ground News is an app and website that offers tools to help you critically analyze the news you read, providing context to understand the full picture. I feel better equipped to make sense of what’s happening in the world without being influenced by just one perspective. And listen I’m not the only one who loves Ground News, the Nobel Peace Center even called it "an excellent way to stay informed, avoid echo chambers, and expand your worldview.”

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Okay, here’s what you need to know about vaccines, especially COVID vaccines. Back in June, RFK Jr fired all 17 members of the CDC’s advisory committee on immunization practices, which is the independent non-partisan body that advises the CDC on how to use vaccines. The advice of this panel, based on careful review of data, expert debate, and voting, is incredibly influential. Whatever vaccines they recommend, insurance companies and government programs like Medicaid are required to cover. The experts were all replaced by RFK Jr’s picks, many of whom have expressed vaccine skepticism and are aligned with the MAHA movement. The newly reconstituted committee met in June, a meeting which included citations to fabricated sources, presentations that had not been vetted by experts, and a lot of tittering over concerns about a preservative used in a few flu vaccines that have been shown to not cause harm. Which is par for the course for MAHA-movement types—freak out over preservatives that may or may not harm you while allowing deadly and previously eradicated diseases to run rampant. So much of public health is about harm reduction. What can be done to reduce the most amount of harm. The problem with the MAHA movement is that it is based on the like wealthy stay at home moms who are concerned with plastics leeching into their kids’ foods. That is important. But from a public health policy perspective, making cereals have natural food dyes while simultaneously undermining access and trust in vaccines that save millions of lives every year is not sound policy. And that thinking was exhibited in that meeting of RFK Jr’s quote unquote “experts” hand wringing over a preservative that may or may not cause harm when discussing flu vaccines which prevent an estimated 7000 flu-related deaths in the US each year, not to mention the money saved in lost productivity from flu-related illnesses and hospital visits. Studies show that flu vaccination among adults reduces the risk of being admitted to an ICU with flu by over 80%. But we’re concerned about a preservative in a couple flu vaccines that likely isn’t harmful. Again, when we’re talking about public health you cannot overlook the low hanging fruit. I would LOVE to not be filled with microplastics, and desperately wish we were in a place where that was our biggest public health concern. Unfortunately it is not, and so while I also agree that blue lake 40 should have no place in my breakfast cereals, it’s not exactly a win that RFK is banning artificial dyes while simultaneously undermining trust in essential public health measures like vaccines that have extended life expectancy from 35 to 80 in the last century and a half.

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration approved the newest COVID-19 booster shots but narrowed the scope of who qualifies to receive the COVID vaccine. Whereas every prior year, everyone over 6 months old was eligible to receive a COVID booster free of charge, something that health experts, like actual experts, recommend everyone do even if you’re not high risk because we still don’t know what the fuck is going on with Long COVID and community-wide immunity protects the most vulnerable among us, but this year the FDA has narrowed the range to anyone 65 or older. Anyone between 6 months and 65 years of age must have at least one high-risk health condition to qualify for the vaccine. And there is no official list of what counts as a “high risk health condition” because that is the job of that advisory council of experts RFK Jr fired, whose meeting to discuss the issue got pushed back to September 18 and some are saying their meetings should be fully suspended, leading to even more confusion. It appears that pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens, where the vast majority of COVID shots have historically been administered, are also confused but are largely following previous CDC guidelines on what counts as a high risk condition. This includes cancer, stroke, kidney disease, liver disease, lung disease, cystic fibrosis, dementia, parkinson’s, diabetes, intellectual and learning disabilities like ADHD, heart disease, HIV, blood disorders, pregnancy, history of smoking, organ transplant, substance use disorder, immunocompromised conditions, mental health conditions or mood disorders, and being overweight or obese. The CDC did say they would no longer recommend that “healthy” pregnant people get vaccinated but pregnancy is also listed on the high risk health conditions that make you qualified to get the vaccine which is just one example of why it is so deeply deeply confusing this year.

At the hearing yesterday, RFK Jr made the claim that he hasn’t done anything to limit vaccine access, anyone who wants a vaccine can still get one. But availability and accessibility are two very different things, especially in the public health space. Because the vaccine advisory council has not met about this or made recommendations, it’s unclear what insurance providers are required to cover. And since the FDA narrowed its recommendations, that means most insurance providers may not cover the vaccine if you are a healthy adult under 65 without an underlying condition. And if you do still want to get the vaccine, you may need to see your doctor and request a prescription for an “off-label” use, meaning for getting the vaccine outside of official FDA recommendations. That is something some providers may not do, insurance companies may not cover, and pharmacists may not honor even if you get the prescription. So what was once a straightforward system of everyone gets the vaccine for free no matter what, has now become a convoluted mess that’s impossible to navigate. Experts warn this will likely cause issues mostly at the point of vaccination. Meaning you won’t know if you can get it until you go and try to get it. Most people don’t have time for all that, and so fewer and fewer people will decide to even try to get vaccinated.

Add state regulations on top of that and it is truly a patchwork of 50 different frameworks and hoops to get vaccinated, if you can get it at all. Many states rely once again on that council of experts to approve any vaccines being issued by pharmacists. According to reporting from The New York Times, the official CVS statement is that the vaccine is not available in 16 states due to regulatory issues. But in 13 of those states, plus Washington DC, you can get the vaccine if you have a prescription. Those states are Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, Washington State, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. In other states, it appears that CVS and Walgreens are simply asking if you have a high-risk condition when you make the appointment, and you just check a box and don’t have to provide proof or paperwork. Whether or not the pharmacy has the vaccine to give is another question. Though Pfizer and Moderna have the new booster shot now and have been sending them out to pharmacies, it is again a patchwork of availability, so it may be a few weeks before the vaccines get everywhere they need to go.

And now, to add to the confusion, states are passing their own vaccine regulations in response to the unrest at the CDC. Pennsylvania’s state board of pharmacy voted earlier this week to follow vaccine recommendations of other trusted authorities besides this advisory council. Colorado and Massachusetts have followed suit, meaning in those three states you may have access to the vaccine at pharmacies so long as you check the right box. Meanwhile, in Florida, the state’s surgeon general has lifted all vaccine requirements for children to attend school, comparing vaccination to slavery which is fucking willldddd. Meanwhile measles cases have hit their highest level in 33 years, since 1992. Measles was declared eradicated from the US in the year 2000. So 8 years before it was officially eliminated, that’s the last time we saw numbers this high. Over 1200 cases. But yeah let’s send the kids back to school without protection because god forbid they caught the tism. All in the name of personal freedom and choice. Which, again, and listen I’m no public health expert here but I have friends who are and also just two measly brain cells to rub together and some common sense enough to understand that having complete and total freedom is actually not conducive to living in a society with other humans. If you want to live in a well-run society of millions of people with a government that actually works you do actually have to give up the ability to do literally anything you want at any time for any reason. That is the sacrifice you make in exchange for the benefits of collectivism. Because life is actually better and easier if you live in a community. One where there are laws so that people can’t go around burning down houses or committing murder because they feel like it. Having an entity that controls health outcomes, that puts mandates in place that eradicate curable diseases like polio, that forces every kid to get vaccinated for the public good is necessary and is a role that the government is well suited for. I am willing to give up my freedom to choose what I put in my body in exchange for a life expectancy greater than 35. 150 years ago I would be on deaths doorstep right now at 33 if I hadn’t already died in childbirth. I’m willing to let the government tell me what to do because the theory is that it’s the experts, the lifelong “bureaucrats” the ones that have been studying and working in public health for YEARS, making these recommendations for the good of the community. The Florida surgeon general said at a press conference “Who am I to tell you what your child should put in their body?” Um, sir you are a doctor. And a public health official. That’s who you are. You supposedly went through a decade of rigorous training in order to tell me what to put in my body. Who the fuck am I to decide what’s the scientifically sound thing to put in my body???? My body my choice only applies to my personal decision to not have children based on my life. That doesn’t require a medical degree or public health expertise, and my decision has zero effect on the people around me. I am not going to decide the best procedure to obtain an abortion. I am not going to perform my husband’s vasectomy. That’s above my pay grade, I’m going to rely on experts to tell me the medical part. And this is the danger of the MAHA movement, it takes American individualism to the extreme it says no no my freedom to choose is the ULTIMATE priority, I am the expert in my own body and NO ONE can tell me what to do. I don’t care if my kid dies of the measles. I don’t care if I infect someone else with my unvaccinated body. I don’t care about the consequences to anyone around me or about what’s best for the community as a whole. Freedom above all else. This is an ethos that has infected so many parts of American society, it is behind so many aspects of the entire MAGA movement. Freedom for me but not for thee. I should be free to say anything I want without having to worry about annoying woke DEI bullshit, about being cancelled, about being banned from social media sites. But your freedom from receiving death threats or being exposed to violent misogyny and racism online doesn’t matter. And on and on and on. What’s happening with COVID vaccines, at the CDC, and with the RFK Jr MAHA movement as a whole is a symptom of the larger illness of individualism in this country that is genuinely incompatible with existing in a society. We are meant to exist in community with others, not siloed away in our own little towers.

Anyway, I’m not going to blather on, let’s keep this episode short and sweet. This is honestly more of a PSA episode. What should you do if you want to get your COVID vaccine, and many experts think you should. It is recommended. The FDA estimates that 30-60% of Americans have one of the underlying conditions I mentioned before, I think that’s a low estimate given the fact that overweight and obesity is listed on there. So I live in Minnesota, which for now appears to allow anyone over 65 or with a high risk condition to get the vaccine, and the Walgreens here have lots of open appointments. All you have to do is check the box saying you have a high risk condition. It doesn’t appear to me that they are checking for proof. For once the BMI may work in your favor here. I got a big ass and a reasonable amount of muscle mass so, according to the BMI I’m obese. So I checked that box REAL FAST and have my COVID and flu vaccines scheduled already. I’m anxious to get vaccinated now before I travel this fall and before HHS decides to go the route of Florida and just throw all the vaccines into the sea. I’m curious to hear from you: what state do you live in and do you have access to the vaccine where you are? Comment below. Let’s crowd source some information here.

As for RFK Jr and the hearing yesterday, while it did indicate that there are even Republicans who are pushing back on the vaccine scepticism and unrest at the CDC that RFK Jr is causing, it’s likely that nothing will actually come of it because he’s been confirmed and Trump really likes him. So, the horrors continue.

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And if you liked this episode, you’ll like the one from Wednesday about Trump’s biggest grift yet.

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