Relevant and even prescient commentary on news, politics and the economy.

Your mother was right

How many of us heard some variation of this from their mom: “If your friends jumped off a cliff (or bridge), would you do it too?” If RFK Jr told you to treat measles with vitamin A, would you do it too? “A team from Boston Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts analyzed Google search trends data […]

Dispatch from the front lines of the SC measles epidemic

I had measles as a child, before the vaccine. I survived with no discernible sequelae. My daughter got the vaccine, along with all the other childhood vaccines, also with no discernible sequelae. Now, thanks to the anti-vaxxer propaganda and the RFK Jr policy of sowing doubt about the benefits and safety of vaccines, the population […]

Measles in the US

Quite a few people are ignoring or are refusing to get shots to prevent things such as measles, covid, etc. They have identified this as vaccine hesitancy. The term describes anyone who is doubtful about vaccinations or who chooses to delay or refuse immunizations even when they are readily available. The reasoning can be Religion, […]

Vaccine hesitancy’s #1 enabler backs measles shots

Gooz News: Vaccine hesitancy’s #1 enabler backs measles shots It would take an Arthur Miller to do full justice to the gothic plot twists in the two deaths from the widening measles outbreak in Texas. Both young girls belonged to a religious community that dresses in black and avoids seeking help from the health care […]

Measles and Christian heresy

I grew up in the South. While there were no snake handlers in my town, there were fundamentalists in the area who practiced snake handling. I see no significant difference between those snake handlers in East Tennessee and folks in West Texas who refuse to vaccinate their kids for preventable diseases. Both are tempting God, […]

Vaccination works

Other than among Jehovah’s Witnesses, vaccination rightly gained widespread trust and acceptance in America. Inoculation against smallpox was around for hundreds of years before Jenner described the eponymous vaccine. Polio was a scourge in the US through the 1950s until it was virtually eliminated by vaccination. Many deadly diseases like whooping cough and measles were […]