This makes some sense if your intention is to deal a massive blow to the reputation of the Kennedy clan, but a lot less sense if you care about maintaining your own reputation:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of the nation’s most prominent skeptics of childhood vaccines, says President-elect Donald J. Trump has asked him to lead a vaccine panel.
It’s appalling that any Kennedy would agree to legitimize Donald Trump in any way, but to legitimize him on an idiotic conspiracy theory is doubly galling.
Mr. Kennedy’s appointment spread alarm through the medical community, which for years has rejected claims that childhood vaccines are linked to conditions like autism. Medical experts warned Tuesday that Mr. Trump’s actions would endanger children by confusing parents about the need to have them vaccinated.
“It gives it a quasi-legitimacy that I frankly find frightening,” said William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University. He said Mr. Trump and Mr. Kennedy were being fooled by “long-discredited” theories about vaccines.
“This is going to be a sad struggle as we try to protect as many children as possible,” Mr. Schaffner said.
I think there are legitimate grounds for researching how our vaccines are administered on pretty much a perpetual basis to constantly assess the safest course for inoculating children against preventable diseases without doing them any unnecessary harm. But the way to do that is to set up a longterm study financed through a government health agency that is run by actual scientists rather than by someone with no expertise who seems to have already made up his mind.
The worst part is that Kennedy is smart enough to know that he’s going to kill more people through raising skepticism about vaccines than he could ever hope to spare from autism even if his theories proved to be correct. That puts a very high onus on being correct which he simply isn’t justified in believing.
“Look at all the people I’m fighting,” he said, referring to officials and scientists at the CDC and other federal agencies. “These are people who care about children and public health. So many of them have said to me, ‘I got into this because I was inspired by your father to give my life to public service.’ It’s hard to go against those people.”
Still, he says he can’t — and won’t — walk away from the issue.
In case I didn’t get that message, a few seconds after we said goodbye, he popped out of his hotel room and called out to me down the hallway. He caught up with me. “One thing that keeps me buoyant about this, because otherwise, I’d be depressed,” he said. “I know I’m gonna win this one. I have the ability to push this over the finish line. I know I do. The truth will prevail.”
More to the point, his record on this issue is clear. He doesn’t respond to contrary evidence. He will not follow where the evidence leads him because he’s on a crusade. So, unless he’s right and the scientific community is wrong, there’s no chance his vaccine panel will be helpful. Instead, it will do real damage and get a lot of kids sick.
Anyone who’s skeptical about vaccines should be upset about this appointment because this isn’t the right way to get to the truth.
But it goes right along with trump’s “opposite” policy. Most of his Cabinet choices are deliberate picks against the department they’ve been chosen for. I would have been shocked otherwise.
Remember, trump and the Republicans are not going to make choices that make the country and our government work. They are in a slash and burn mode, and when they’ve made their necessary connections and billions of dollars for themselves, they’ll slink away. They want to destroy government, as do the idiots who voted them in.
Democrats keep expressing the hope that the trump supporters will suddenly feel remorse when they see the new Cabinet or when Republicans gut health care, civil liberties, education, environmental and safety laws. Wake up! The voters wanted it!
too much credit re: consciousness of just what they were voting for. I expect many of those idiots to be shocked and regretful (even if only of the impacts on themselves) once the Reality of what they’ve done is fully forced upon them. (Many will, of course, come up with some mental gymnastics to allow them to blame Dems, Obama, Clinton, the media, “elites”, “the Establishment” . . . essentially anyone or everyone except themselves . . . for what they’ve wrought.)
Indeed some are already there. (And I expect many, many more to show up there [or elsewhere], only after it’s already too late wrt much harm. Unless, of course, they somehow catch on that tweeting their stupidity is an invitation to ridicule. But somehow that doesn’t seem likely.)
2) Might seem a nitpick, but no, “the voters” (i.e., a majority, or even a plurality) DIDN’T “want it”. Seems important to keep that critical fact front-and-center and not let it be disappeared or ignored. (Granting you may have only intended to refer to “the [Trump] voters”? Still, seems to me this is a point where it’s worth insisting on both precision and accuracy.)
Just visited wiki to see where Kennedy got his Ph.D. and in what science … microbiology, biochemistry, whatever. I’ve got a Ph.D. in biochemistry and I know I would still have to bone up if I was asked to do the job.
Looky here. Kennedy has a slew of bullshit low level degrees in economics, history, literature. Just the person to lead up scientific inquiry.
History, economics, etc. are not BS degrees. They simply aren’t relevant to being on a scientific panel. I have a BA, MA and PhD. One of these degrees is in history. The other two are in “hard” sciences
It would be nice if people had a working knowledge of both history and science. One of our problems today is that so many have a distorted understanding of current events and little to no understanding of their historical context.
If by BS you mean bullshit … you say tomato, I say bullshit. History … the lies most people agree to.
Oh, this will be a fun place to hang out!
Question: What were the “hard” sciences, if I may ask?
Two areas of biology.
Hey, I started as a bio major at Union College (Schenectady, NY) in 1970. After the first year I switched to a 5 year major (Chem/Bio) before I went for Biochem grad school. I found pure bio to be too memorization … no real science. Then I got my Ph.D., think I’m hot shit … Mr. Ph.D. … until I take a short course given by a statistician from Dupont/U. of Delaware on Experimental Design/Multivariate Analysis and I realize “I’m a fucking fraud!” And so are all of the “scientists” I’m surrounded by. Never again. The old way of doing science is gone for me.
Heck, a working knowledge of the history of science is worthwhile as well. But yeah, I’m with you – History in and of itself is not a BS degree at any level, nor any of the other fields that might be broadly listed under the social sciences. It’s just a BS degree (as is the JD) when it comes to expertise on the safety and effectiveness of vaccinations against what were once very common childhood diseases. I’ll trust peer reviewed research from legitimate medical researchers over the opinions of a lawyer when it comes to vaccination and any alleged links to autism or any other disorder.
History is a marvellous and essential thing, though elusive.
From Wikipedia:
Kennedy continued his education at Harvard and the London School of Economics, graduating from Harvard College in 1976 as a Bachelor of Arts in American History and Literature. He went on to take the degrees of J.D. from the University of Virginia and Master of Laws from Pace University.[6]
No matter. He is revealing himself a fool nonetheless.
No argument with that. I was annoyed by the irrelevant put down of fields other than science and wasn’t defending RFK Jr. I have no patience with the anti-vaccination folks.
The first rule on selling out: Get a good price.
If this is all RFK, Jr. got, then it adds to the perception of him not being bright and savvy.
“Anyone who’s skeptical about vaccines…” isn’t looking for the truth. They’re looking for something else: a story that justifies reducing the accountability of parents.
The ones I know are really into unscientific health fads.
When I was a child the only vaccines we had were the trio of DTP and smallpox. Most of us had measles (I was extremely ill with it), mumps and chicken pox. There was a polio epidemic in my high school in the 1950’s before the vaccine was available. One of my neighbors was in an iron lung but eventually was able to live outside of it. I have a number of friends who are now suffering from post-polio syndrome.
Take a look at any cemetery and you will see so many graves for young children dating from the 19th and early 20th century, most of whom died of untreatable infectious diseases. There were orphanages everywhere for children whose parents had died of an infectious disease and had no relatives to care for them. My mother’s family took in 2 of her cousins whose parents had died.
Well, I assume I am preaching to the choir so I will stop.
I agree wholeheartedly. I get all the vaccines my Doctor recommends. I had my daughter and her children vaccinated with whatever the pediatrician recommended.
Yet I’m unsure about the safety of today’s pharma products. I don’t trust those execs. I don’t trust the revolving door with the regulators.
I do what the doctor says, but I do want these vaccines and other medicines looked at by someone who will not just rubber stamp what the companies say. I know the autism link has been proven false. No, I don’t want anyone with a preconceived notion and that includes the notion that the vaccines are safe just because big pharma says they are.
I understand your caution, but I believe there’s been little evidence that vaccines aren’t safe because of poor manufacturing conditions, lack of quality control, etc. I imagine you could find something on the CDC website about recalls or other actions taken because of poor quality.
Given the number of people who are vaccinated (HUGE sample size), you’ll always have some who have a bad outcome for a number of reasons. I have half a dozen drug allergies, one very serious, which is also very uncommon. I don’t think the drug should be removed from distribution because of my very rare allergic reaction, but I do carry a card with me, and relevant info in my medical records.
My concern isn’t about poor manufacturing and such but about drugs/vaccines rushed to market with insufficient research or, like thalidomide, a cover up of negative findings.
This is a very important concern. Thalidomide was available at the time our first child was born. One woman, Dr. Frances Kelsey, stood in the way of approval for use in the US and thus saved many from the fate of so many children in Germany and leading to tighter regulation of drug testing here. I think drug companies have been fighting that ever since.
This issue is made more controversial because the US is more and more a “You’re on your own” society. It is not just the immunology, clinical medicine, and public health issues that are perplexing. The liability law and public infrastructure are more and more difficult for some of those small sample size exceptions.
Guillain-Barré syndrome, which can be triggered by influenza or influenza vaccines is one example.
Who pays for the medical bills and rehabilitation and lost income for a vaccine-triggered case of Guillain-Barré syndrome? Those are not minor costs?
Vaccine controversies are not new. The MMR controversy that began in 1996 is only the most recent.
A solicitor in the UK in 1994 noticed an Andrew Wakefield paper and used it in a Legal Aid Board class action against Aventis Pasteur, SmithKlineBeecham, and Merck. In 1998, Wakefield had a paper of bogus research published in the The Lancet, the most prestigious medical journal in the UK. The MMR Vaccine Controversy entry on Wikipedia:
And thus did the key search word “autism” and every parent researching for some hope of assistance for a kid diagnosed with autism likely got this paper in a Google search at some time or another.
Enter the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
And this is where the liability lawyers in the US, including Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. enter the picture.
That is a difficult task for an ordinary citizen without substantial scientific evidence research capabilities or for even a fairly well-heeled legal firm as it turns out. The moreso the more complicated any possible evidence chain (such as one that admits exceptions to general safety) becomes. How does one prove that one is the exception that developed Guillain-Barré syndrome? Well, a good lawyer overemphasizes the exceptions, of course. Because the whole notion of liability law is to punish a defendant as an incentive to do better; limiting liability reduces that incentive by this logic.
In 2007, the claims spawned by the Wakefield paper and others reached the Vaccine Court:
It is while these cases are before the Vaccine Court that Jenny McCarthy in 2007 announces that her son had autism (diagnosed in 2005) caused by vaccination. She then became entrepreneurial in the cause of vaxxers, writing books and making speaking engagements. Given Trump’s propensities, one wonders how much blonde-haired, former Playboy model McCarthy was consulted by the transition team about the list of possible appointees to this committee.
It is after 2012 that the scientific case was settled, but notice one other conclusion.
The obvious recommendation for this committee is (1) Single-Payer Health care that covers medical support all medical conditions regardless of cause, (2) developmental education as part of public schools (remember them?) that effectively mainstream developmentally disabled kids into ordinary class as appropriate, and (3) better pre- and post-marketing studies of all pharmaceuticals, including vaccines.
Took the words right out my mouth. And I’ve seen that behavior exhibited by people with fancier degrees and jobs than I could ever imagine obtaining, thinking the whole time that those damn fools really ought to know better.
From my experience and what I have read it appears these fears are more prevalent in highly educated and more affluent populations. Sort of a corollary to being a helicopter parent.
OT but I would suggest everyone drift on over to The Guardian on the Trump- Russia- Putin connection provided by John McCain to Comey in December. Seems that hacking was real after all (despite some skepticism) and more.
OH geez, sb Guardian.
Here’s the thirty-five pages of memos.
From what I heard on MSNBC there is a two page addendum to the briefing that goes into Trumps financial and other interests (allegedly sex).
This is the underlying thirty-five pages from the former MI6 investigator. Twitter is all over this.
sb?
sb= should be. Sorry
“RFK Jr. is the Worst Person to Chair a Vaccine Panel”
That’s the whole point of selecting him, isn’t it.
In the controversy about the vaxxers, one thing that is often glossed over is the fact that the Congress in the W administration gave the vaccine industry a waiver of liability in order to get them to produce vaccines for potential epidemics. Producing vaccines is not without failures from inadequate testing or mistaken research. Science is an imperfect enterprise.
The problem with vaxxers is persisting in a belief in which the scientific consensus has examined the issue and closed it pending contrary research. The problem with liability lawyers is looking for a cash cow. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has been at various points both of those. Has he yet changed his view of the current state of vaccines and their adjuvants? From the post, an undated quote that suggests “probably not”.
It is fascinating to consider that none of these factors entered into the decision to make that appointment. Increasingly, Trump’s appointments look like they are designed to stir up controversy in various factions of the Democratic base, cause division in support for the party.
That means that he is depending on Ryan and McConnell to hold the Republicans in line to allow that multiway shattering of the Democratic opposition.
Unfortunately, Democrats are too busy laughing and coming out with ineffective opposition tactics to notice what his appointments are doing to their base and their elected officials and their sugardaddies.