Trump’s Anti-Vax Obsession Becomes GOP Political Crisis: Public Health Project Newsletter

The more voters learn about Donald Trump’s recent anti-vax executive order that endangers kids and raises costs, the more his Republican accomplices in Congress should sweat about keeping their jobs.

A national poll dropped this week showing strong voter revulsion to Trump’s scheme to water down federal vaccine recommendations for children. Few are buying Trump’s lies trying to justify breaking up measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into several costly doctor visits, including wild claims of ‘soda bottle’-sized shots. Support for maintaining the child vaccine schedule is overwhelming, while support for Republicans complicit in Trump making preventable disease great again is dwindling. As it turns out, needlessly putting kids in the hospital or morgue is a political loser.

Trump Builds Up Anti-Vax Dream Team: After shoving the last FDA head out the door for not approving addictive and poisonous flavored vapes for Americans kids fast enough for his big tobacco donors’ liking, Trump has settled on a replacement: Dr. Heidi Overton who played a starring role in Trump’s anti-vax executive order signing and who aggressively defended the administration’s sell out of MAHA to glyphosate manufacturers. Her nomination announcement was less than thrilling to MAHA leaders, Republican HELP Committee Chair Bill Cassidy, all Senate Democrats, and the pharmaceutical industry — raising questions whether she’ll even get past the HELP committee.

Kindergarten Vaccine Exemptions Hit Record High Amid Historic Measles Crisis: Case in point why Trump’s baseless measles vaccine fear mongering from the White House bully pulpit is so incredibly dangerous – enough people believe it to put communities in danger: The Washington Post reports “the share of U.S. kindergartners with exemptions from school vaccine requirements for the 2025-2026 school year rose to another record high … as the country battles its worst measles resurgence in 35 years.” Only 92.4 percent of students had received MMR vaccine when “the ideal rate required to prevent widespread outbreaks is considered to be 95 percent.”

Bring It On, Bobby: For some reason, Republican candidates still think campaigning with RFK Jr. is in any way helpful to their prospects. Kennedy is in the middle “10-day swing across Iowa, Minnesota, and Florida” in a desperate effort to “mobiliz[e] MAHA” despite several high-profile betrayals of the movement by the Trump administration and RFK Jr’s deep unpopularity with independents. Overall, RFK is underwater with voters – only 37% approve and 55% disapprove, according to brand new polling. That’s why Protect Our Care president Brad Woodhouse has encouraged Kennedy stump in an many places as possible.

RFK Jr. Shot/Chaser on Record-Breaking Measles Crisis: Shot: ProPublica: Measles Used to Be in Our Rearview Mirror. Now Cases Are Reaching Record Highs. Chaser: On national television, RFK Jr. once again refuses to say the measles vaccine is safe after previously making up shit that it leads to “deaths every year”.

Game Changing mRNA Cancer Vaccine Emerges In Spite of Trump-RFK Jr’s Moronic War on mRNA Research: In a potential “landmark moment” for fighting cancer, a large-scale clinical trial found an experimental mRNA vaccine “allowed people with high-risk melanoma to live longer, cancer-free” despite the Trump administration’s best efforts to squash the highly promising technology, including $500 million in cuts to mRNA-related research and development contracts.

Still No Flu or COVID Shot Guidance from Trump CDC As Fall Looms, Putting More Kids’ Lives At Risk: Still waiting with flu season just weeks away. As Protect Our Care president Brad Woodhouse warned: “The longer the Trump CDC drags its feet on flu and COVID vaccine guidance, the more confusion it stirs, the fewer Americans get safely inoculated, and the more kids and seniors wind up in the hospital – a final destination for many.”

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