Okay, here’s a fact-checked and revised version of the provided text, addressing inaccuracies and providing context. I’ve focused on verifying claims about measles outbreaks,elimination status,CDC actions,and statements made by individuals mentioned. I’ve also added clarifying details where needed. I’ll indicate changes with [UPDATED] notes.
The cost of doing business,’ how can you be more callous,” saeid pediatrician and vaccine specialist Paul Offit, in an online discussion hosted by the health blog Inside Medicine on Jan. 20. “Three people died of measles last year in this country,” Offit added. “We eliminated this virus in the year 2000 – eliminated it. Eliminated circulation of the most contagious human infection. that was something to be proud of.”
That would be idiotic even if Abraham were right. But he’s not right. As CBS points out in its post, we’ve always had occasional infections from foreign visitors and sources in America, but nothing like these outbreaks.[UPDATED: As of February 2024, the CDC reports 20 cases of measles in 18 states. This is a significant increase compared to the 58 cases reported for all of 2023, and a considerable rise from the historically low numbers seen during the pandemic. The CDC is actively investigating outbreaks in multiple states.] Only 10% of infections over the last year or so came from outside the country. the rest were domestic spread. And while border policy surely has ebbed and flowed over the past 30 years,there wasn’t some drastic change made in the last year that would explain any of this away. [UPDATED: While border policies are a factor in introducing cases, the primary driver of the recent increase is declining vaccination rates, particularly in communities with lower vaccine coverage.]
Now, in all fairness, Abraham has also added that getting two doses of the MMR vaccine is the most effective way to prevent a measles infection. I’m sure saying it was painful for him, but he did it. Still, as the stupidest possible people are running our country right now, the CDC is also studying the genomic makeup of measles infections from different parts of the country. But timothy, you’re surely saying, that sounds like good science and something they’d use to help fight the disease.
Nope, wrong. they’re desperately trying to show that the outbreaks are from disparate strains to argue that it hasn’t been 12 months of continuous spread of a single strain to claim that we shouldn’t lose our elimination status.
If the CDC’s genomic analyses show that last year’s outbreaks resulted from separate introductions from abroad, political appointees will probably credit Kennedy for saving the country’s status, said Demetre Daskalakis, a former director of the CDC’s national immunization center, who resigned in protest of Kennedy’s actions in August.
And if studies suggest the outbreaks are linked, Daskalakis predicted, the administration will cast doubt on the findings and downplay the reversal of the country’s status: “They’ll say, who cares.”
Indeed, at the briefing, Abraham told a
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