The New York Times, in a guest essay by Dr. Josh Green (Tuesday), reminded us of the measles outbreak on the island of Samoa in 2019, which killed 83 people, mostly children. The deaths were the result of misinformation spread by antivaxxers, the most prominent of them being Robert F. Kennedy Jr. According to Dr. Green, 95% of a population should be vaccinated to protect from a disease outbreak. The doubt cast by Mr. Kennedy on the effectiveness of the vaccine was the likely cause of the vaccination rates coming in significantly below this number. It would seem that Kennedy wants us to forget that “the measles vaccine has saved an estimated 94 million lives globally since 1974.”
It gets worse. Robert Kennedy’s sidekick lawyer, Aaron Siri, is seeking to file a petition with the Food and Drug Administration to revoke approval of the polio vaccine, according to The New York Times. (Many of us remember the scourge of polio, which killed and maimed friends and relatives, including President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.) He is also seeking a pause in federal approval for vaccines to prevent or mitigate tetanus, diphtheria and hepatitis A and B.
That’s not all. According to The Times, Mr. Siri has filed a petition seeking to pause the distribution of 13 other vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccine; has sued federal agencies to force disclosure of records related to vaccine approvals; and has subjected prominent vaccine scientists to grueling videotaped depositions.
In a final threat to public safety, Siri is now assisting Mr. Kennedy in interviewing candidates for positions at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This comes at a time when there is significant concern about bird flu becoming the next pandemic (The New York Times and Robert Hubbell, Dec. 14, 2024).
Julia Sperry
Hockessin
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
