Great job, Bill Cassidy. Your complicity in all the preventable cases of measles --and everything that comes next--is on you. You knew. And yet you voted for this serpent.
Predictable. It was predictable that Kennedy would do this, and Cassidy should have erred in the side of caution. When we give crooks the chance to lie to us, we should expect just that.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., YOU ARE A LIAR, and a disgrace to your father who worked tirelessly to help all American people. Dr. Cassidy, I believe you KNEW that Jr. was lying or would go back on his word, but we can suppose you didn't want to face the deceitful Trump's opprobrium. We know that we cannot trust anyone who voted to approve Hegseth, Gabbard, and RFK Jr.
By the way I'm old enough to have had measles as a 7 year old child. Mine was so severe that after 3 weeks they sent the truant officer to our home. My hearing was affected but it recovered and my hearing is still "good."
Add to those Bessent (gave private citizen's information to Musk), Duffy (against electric cars), Wright (Drill, Baby, Drill), Kristi Noem, Burgum(Gulf of America), - well all of Trump's nominees that are promoters of Project 2025 and the Reign of Musk/Trump/Vance.
Absolutely. These people seem to have bben chosen because no informed and caring person would ever approve of these people who will mindlessly destroy our government (the aim of Putin, facilitated by Musk, and a bargain for Trump who would not have been president without them).
I remember having the measles and it was scary for my parents. Had a 108 degree temperature. It maims and kills.
My kids couldn't enter school without proof of vaccination. I find it hard to imagine that any locality would allow unvaccinated kids. I don't even support a religious exemption.
Same with dtap and polio.
There's no excuse for a parent to be ok with putting their child at risk with a deadly disease that is preventable. It's not ok to put other kids at risk.
I don't know what RFK will end up doing, but I don't trust him at all.
I remember one year having a colleague's daughter in my class. They were Christian Scientists and she was not vaccinated. That is how I learned of his religion. Luckily for her and them, the rest of the class was vaccinated, so she benefitted from heard immunity.
I'm aware of how they view medicine and medical intervention. I respect anyone's right to their own spiritually.
But we live in a society and there are things we agree to abide by. No one gets to put their kids in a car without a car seat, booster seat or seat belt. It's dangerous. If someone insists that they won't vaccinate their kids, in the state I live in, they probably won't get to send their kids to any school, public or private. An exemption can be requested, but most likely won't be approved. It's part of the social contract.
I'm not lecturing you, I am just pissed off at these horrible people who are running important things that we rely upon. No patience for this shit anymore.
Hannah, I was teaching in a private school, and I believe they would not have kept this child out. However, she was the only one I taught who was unvaccinated. This exemption was approved.
I am terrified that so many parents are not getting their children vaccinated and that there is a danger that these vaccines will not be available either. My child has all her vaccines, and has just had a covid booster and flu shot in December, so life seems so peaceful back then, even though it was not.
The stress leading up to Trump taking over is topped by the stress now that he is actually in and we see the damage he and his people are doing. I cannot understand Americans that think what is going on is okay, or even good.
“Heard” immunity is a telling spell-check truth—people are believing what they have heard from people like RFK, but not the huge evidence of the science on this. “Heard” immunity is behind this sad and frightening outbreak of illness.
I am concerned about those of us who were vaccinated long ago. Are we still immune - especially to Polio? We cannot find out until there is a severe Polio outbreak and we don't get it.
I know what Kennedy will do because he has spoken and written about his aims. It will kill children and disfigure others. Wait until teenage boys get mumps and find out they are now sterile. WOO-HEE! Bet that will be a joy.
We knew in advance that RFK Jr. is nuts. The so-called adults in the room, i.e., the Republicans in the Senate, are the ones directly responsible for the devastation that is coming with a science denier that they voted to confirm. Mark it down. Bill Cassidy is a coward. He just wanted to get a hollow promise from a nut job so that he could have political cover when the inevitable national health crisis comes from insane policies. He, like every single Republican politician in Washington, is more afraid of Donald Trump than they are of “We The People”. Until that changes, we are in for one catastrophe after another.
Good point. We need more coverage of why they are afraid— let’s talk about the bully in the White House and his intimidation tactics, Congressional members getting their own security, afraid for their families, direct politics and Trump threatening to “primary” people. People need to hear more about Trump’s mob boss tactics. Stop letting him get away with so much destruction.
Thank you for going into detail on the TX measles outbreak, Judd. Vaccines have saved more lives than any other intervention, but the GOP Senators couldn't find the spines to reject RFK for HHS. Disgusting!
I am in Germany and a friend of my mom's who is part of the Left wing movement that is anti vaccines became that way because her granddaughter had a bad reaction to vaccines. I told her that just because I cannot have penicillin does not mean I do not recognize how important it is for others to have it, and the category of anti-biotics themselves. I would never not want people to have things just because they don't work for me individually. I believe that there can be people who have a bad reaction to vaccines, we know this. But, that does not mean they don't save lives for most of the rest of the people.
while there had been a random few idiots that thought vaccines were dangerous the GOP fell into line with Trump when the COVID vaccine didn’t arrive in time to save his re-election in 2020 and he went from trying to claim credit for it - you all do remember “Warp Speed” right? - to being totally opposed to all vaccines. Ya gotta be some kind of stupid to believe anything Trump promotes.
We also need to remind people that he and his family were first in line to get the vaccine — and he was saved (unfortunately for us) by all the medicines when he got it.
This is what happens because we didn't teach science equally to all children. They grow up to be conspiracy mongers due to not understanding the underpinnings of science. Science teachers need to be paid more, or given benefits to entice them into teaching. I'm not a scientist, but I was an avid reader and my dad was a chemist, which made me want to know more about science. Otherwise, I could have been just like so many others today.
Agreed! Last night a friend of mine told me that he "kind of doesn't trust vaccines because he read somewhere that they put chips in them or something."
After tersely observing that most people don't know enough about how things actually work to avoid falling for such obvious stupidity, then illustrating what a secretive program like that would take to even begin to accomplish such a goal, I asked why would anyone do all of that anyway when all they need to do is track your PHONE?
My father was a pharmacist and a production manager of various pharmaceutical companys his entire working life. My husband worked for Wyeth and then Pfizer in pediatrics infant nutrition sales and later in pediatric vaccines when Pfizer purchased Wyeth. As a child growing up with my sister and brothers, we were all vaccinated. No one argued about getting our shots because we knew it was the right thing to do. My brothers were very sick from Mumps and I ended up with a severe case of chicken pox that kept me out of school for weeks. This was before those vaccines were available. My beloved uncle eventually died from polio coming back. That vaccine was available when he caught it as a child. I remember the Hong Kong Flu outbreak when my sister and I were in school. We both were so ill that we missed a month of school. This was before flu vaccines were available.
MRNA COVID vaccines are safe and that technology has been known and studied for years. As for bad reactions, they are rare. You're more likely to be injured in a car crash or riding a bicycle down the street without a helmet. RFK Jr is just plain wrong and should never have been confirmed as HHS Secretary.
If Trump wants to about jailtime, destroying American's health information system is no way to go about it. He's not only angering most family physicians, pharmacists, school nurses, and school administrators; now he'll be at odds with the powerful pharmaceutical companies. This will not end well for him and the sooner the better.
My grandfather was lucky enough to survive polio without too much long term problems. He was very lucky for those times. My parent's and every adult in my family made very sure that all the kids were fully vaccinated all the way to today.
Maybe it takes a extremely deadly pandemic (like 1918 flu) every so often to underscore vaccine effectiveness for the kids in the back.
Kennedy is a clear & present danger. You wrote, in part …. “Despite two decades as an anti-vaccine crusader, Kennedy convinced Republican Senators that he would not restrict access to vaccines as the head of HHS.”
Kennedy didn’t convince MAGA senators of anything. They’d vote for Magilla Gorilla or Yogi Bear if 47 told them too.
His horrible vaccine beliefs notwithstanding, RFK today looks like warm death compared to that photo from 2019. Paranoia, roids and whale blubber are bad for you.
Madness. These outbreaks are all so unnecessary, and tragic for the children who will suffer the consequences. Thanks to Trump and Republican sycophants, we really are going backwards.
Great job, Bill Cassidy. Your complicity in all the preventable cases of measles --and everything that comes next--is on you. You knew. And yet you voted for this serpent.
Predictable. It was predictable that Kennedy would do this, and Cassidy should have erred in the side of caution. When we give crooks the chance to lie to us, we should expect just that.
He was a scared little boy who was threatened with BEING 'PRIMARIED'! What an jerk...
I guess he figured that as an MD, he couldn't possibly get another job if he wasn't reelected. s/
Apparently, destroying democracy is easier and more profitable than doctoring.
ha! don't think I'd want him as my MD!
oops, I should have used the article 'a' instead of 'an'... I had started to write 'he is such an ass', but decided to soften it up..
Just like Tillis.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., YOU ARE A LIAR, and a disgrace to your father who worked tirelessly to help all American people. Dr. Cassidy, I believe you KNEW that Jr. was lying or would go back on his word, but we can suppose you didn't want to face the deceitful Trump's opprobrium. We know that we cannot trust anyone who voted to approve Hegseth, Gabbard, and RFK Jr.
By the way I'm old enough to have had measles as a 7 year old child. Mine was so severe that after 3 weeks they sent the truant officer to our home. My hearing was affected but it recovered and my hearing is still "good."
Same, but my hearing has been forever compromised.
Add to those Bessent (gave private citizen's information to Musk), Duffy (against electric cars), Wright (Drill, Baby, Drill), Kristi Noem, Burgum(Gulf of America), - well all of Trump's nominees that are promoters of Project 2025 and the Reign of Musk/Trump/Vance.
Absolutely. These people seem to have bben chosen because no informed and caring person would ever approve of these people who will mindlessly destroy our government (the aim of Putin, facilitated by Musk, and a bargain for Trump who would not have been president without them).
Does voting to confirm an anti-vaxxer constitute liability for medical malpractice? Probably not, but it should.
I remember having the measles and it was scary for my parents. Had a 108 degree temperature. It maims and kills.
My kids couldn't enter school without proof of vaccination. I find it hard to imagine that any locality would allow unvaccinated kids. I don't even support a religious exemption.
Same with dtap and polio.
There's no excuse for a parent to be ok with putting their child at risk with a deadly disease that is preventable. It's not ok to put other kids at risk.
I don't know what RFK will end up doing, but I don't trust him at all.
This is so unnecessary.
I remember one year having a colleague's daughter in my class. They were Christian Scientists and she was not vaccinated. That is how I learned of his religion. Luckily for her and them, the rest of the class was vaccinated, so she benefitted from heard immunity.
I'm aware of how they view medicine and medical intervention. I respect anyone's right to their own spiritually.
But we live in a society and there are things we agree to abide by. No one gets to put their kids in a car without a car seat, booster seat or seat belt. It's dangerous. If someone insists that they won't vaccinate their kids, in the state I live in, they probably won't get to send their kids to any school, public or private. An exemption can be requested, but most likely won't be approved. It's part of the social contract.
I'm not lecturing you, I am just pissed off at these horrible people who are running important things that we rely upon. No patience for this shit anymore.
I will see myself out.
Hannah, I was teaching in a private school, and I believe they would not have kept this child out. However, she was the only one I taught who was unvaccinated. This exemption was approved.
I am terrified that so many parents are not getting their children vaccinated and that there is a danger that these vaccines will not be available either. My child has all her vaccines, and has just had a covid booster and flu shot in December, so life seems so peaceful back then, even though it was not.
The stress leading up to Trump taking over is topped by the stress now that he is actually in and we see the damage he and his people are doing. I cannot understand Americans that think what is going on is okay, or even good.
Propaganda works.
Just wait until they decide that car seat and seat belt laws somehow infringe on their "freedumbs." I wouldn't put it past them.
This Kennedy has hundreds of lives and gallons of blood on his hands.
“Heard” immunity is a telling spell-check truth—people are believing what they have heard from people like RFK, but not the huge evidence of the science on this. “Heard” immunity is behind this sad and frightening outbreak of illness.
Linda, I apologize for taking it out on you. There's no excuse for that.
I am concerned about those of us who were vaccinated long ago. Are we still immune - especially to Polio? We cannot find out until there is a severe Polio outbreak and we don't get it.
Good point Mary. We should be asking our doctors.
I know what Kennedy will do because he has spoken and written about his aims. It will kill children and disfigure others. Wait until teenage boys get mumps and find out they are now sterile. WOO-HEE! Bet that will be a joy.
We knew in advance that RFK Jr. is nuts. The so-called adults in the room, i.e., the Republicans in the Senate, are the ones directly responsible for the devastation that is coming with a science denier that they voted to confirm. Mark it down. Bill Cassidy is a coward. He just wanted to get a hollow promise from a nut job so that he could have political cover when the inevitable national health crisis comes from insane policies. He, like every single Republican politician in Washington, is more afraid of Donald Trump than they are of “We The People”. Until that changes, we are in for one catastrophe after another.
Good point. We need more coverage of why they are afraid— let’s talk about the bully in the White House and his intimidation tactics, Congressional members getting their own security, afraid for their families, direct politics and Trump threatening to “primary” people. People need to hear more about Trump’s mob boss tactics. Stop letting him get away with so much destruction.
On point.
Thank you for going into detail on the TX measles outbreak, Judd. Vaccines have saved more lives than any other intervention, but the GOP Senators couldn't find the spines to reject RFK for HHS. Disgusting!
I am in Germany and a friend of my mom's who is part of the Left wing movement that is anti vaccines became that way because her granddaughter had a bad reaction to vaccines. I told her that just because I cannot have penicillin does not mean I do not recognize how important it is for others to have it, and the category of anti-biotics themselves. I would never not want people to have things just because they don't work for me individually. I believe that there can be people who have a bad reaction to vaccines, we know this. But, that does not mean they don't save lives for most of the rest of the people.
while there had been a random few idiots that thought vaccines were dangerous the GOP fell into line with Trump when the COVID vaccine didn’t arrive in time to save his re-election in 2020 and he went from trying to claim credit for it - you all do remember “Warp Speed” right? - to being totally opposed to all vaccines. Ya gotta be some kind of stupid to believe anything Trump promotes.
We also need to remind people that he and his family were first in line to get the vaccine — and he was saved (unfortunately for us) by all the medicines when he got it.
Are Trump and RFK promoting “tanning” makeup as having health benefits ? Psychologically speaking.
This is what happens because we didn't teach science equally to all children. They grow up to be conspiracy mongers due to not understanding the underpinnings of science. Science teachers need to be paid more, or given benefits to entice them into teaching. I'm not a scientist, but I was an avid reader and my dad was a chemist, which made me want to know more about science. Otherwise, I could have been just like so many others today.
Agreed! Last night a friend of mine told me that he "kind of doesn't trust vaccines because he read somewhere that they put chips in them or something."
After tersely observing that most people don't know enough about how things actually work to avoid falling for such obvious stupidity, then illustrating what a secretive program like that would take to even begin to accomplish such a goal, I asked why would anyone do all of that anyway when all they need to do is track your PHONE?
Nothing but silence followed.
The stupid: it kills. 😩
If it only killed them, I'm not sure I'd be overly concerned. Forgive me, but my patience with them has long run out.
Kids didn’t ask for stupid parents.
My father was a pharmacist and a production manager of various pharmaceutical companys his entire working life. My husband worked for Wyeth and then Pfizer in pediatrics infant nutrition sales and later in pediatric vaccines when Pfizer purchased Wyeth. As a child growing up with my sister and brothers, we were all vaccinated. No one argued about getting our shots because we knew it was the right thing to do. My brothers were very sick from Mumps and I ended up with a severe case of chicken pox that kept me out of school for weeks. This was before those vaccines were available. My beloved uncle eventually died from polio coming back. That vaccine was available when he caught it as a child. I remember the Hong Kong Flu outbreak when my sister and I were in school. We both were so ill that we missed a month of school. This was before flu vaccines were available.
MRNA COVID vaccines are safe and that technology has been known and studied for years. As for bad reactions, they are rare. You're more likely to be injured in a car crash or riding a bicycle down the street without a helmet. RFK Jr is just plain wrong and should never have been confirmed as HHS Secretary.
If Trump wants to about jailtime, destroying American's health information system is no way to go about it. He's not only angering most family physicians, pharmacists, school nurses, and school administrators; now he'll be at odds with the powerful pharmaceutical companies. This will not end well for him and the sooner the better.
My grandfather was lucky enough to survive polio without too much long term problems. He was very lucky for those times. My parent's and every adult in my family made very sure that all the kids were fully vaccinated all the way to today.
Maybe it takes a extremely deadly pandemic (like 1918 flu) every so often to underscore vaccine effectiveness for the kids in the back.
Just wondering how the vote for his nomination went with Texas senators.
Kennedy is a clear & present danger. You wrote, in part …. “Despite two decades as an anti-vaccine crusader, Kennedy convinced Republican Senators that he would not restrict access to vaccines as the head of HHS.”
Kennedy didn’t convince MAGA senators of anything. They’d vote for Magilla Gorilla or Yogi Bear if 47 told them too.
His horrible vaccine beliefs notwithstanding, RFK today looks like warm death compared to that photo from 2019. Paranoia, roids and whale blubber are bad for you.
And that voice. Fingernails meet blackboard.
Madness. These outbreaks are all so unnecessary, and tragic for the children who will suffer the consequences. Thanks to Trump and Republican sycophants, we really are going backwards.
Sen. Cassidy has become the new Sen. “He’s Learned His Lesson” Collins. 🤦🏼♀️