Did you miss us? Yes, we missed you too. The whole year got away from us in the middle of pandemic responses, returns to “normalcy” in some places, re-returns to pandemic responses, job changes, life milestones, etc. It’s the tail end of a pandemic, you guys. We’re busy.
One of the things we’re picking up on is the brazenness and renewed life the anti-vaccine crowd has now that COVID-19 has become a nuisance in the developed world for most people, especially the vaccinated. People like RFK Jr., Del Bigtree, and hundreds of smaller players in the anti-vaccine scam industry are feeling good. They think they’re onto something with their “documentaries” like Died Suddenly. Even when we present them with evidence that the people they claim “died suddenly” after the COVID-19 vaccine, they deny, deflect, and launch accusations. They are feeling unstoppable. “We’ve never been this strong,” they say.
Uh, actually… There was a time when almost everyone was against vaccines. This was at the time of the first vaccine, yes; but you can’t deny that we’ve made some progress. Even if more (Republican) parents are reportedly against childhood vaccination requirements for school, they are still in the minority. And just look at the rates of vaccination against COVID-19 in the places where the vaccine is available. The majority is vaccinated. And what can we say about the 2022 midterm elections in America? Talk about a repudiation of anti-science.
Oh, yes, the anti-abortion crowd are anti-science for the most part. They throw away reasonable and scientific evidence against their claims (beliefs), and then they viciously attack whoever dared to contradict them. They say incredibly stupid things like, “If you’re going to claim ‘your body, your choice,’ why can’t I claim it about getting a vaccine?” That’s because you can, dumbass. No one will force you to get a vaccine. Sure, you’ll miss out on some of the things you find comfortable in life — like free childcare at public schools. But no one will hold you down against your will and force you to get vaccinated. When it comes to abortion, women are being forced (not just coerced, but forced) to carry pregnancies (even unviable ones) to term.
So spare us the false equivalencies about abortion and vaccination. No one ever got pregnant and then infected that pregnancy to someone else. No one interrupted the supply chain by killing millions through pregnancy… Though perinatal mortality in women is a ridiculous problem to have in the United States, the wealthiest country in the world. Worse yet, mortality in Black women is worse than that of women of other races and ethnicities in America; a fact the health commissioner of Virginia didn’t want to acknowledge.
Speaking of incompetent health commissioners, have you heard about the Florida Surgeon General who doesn’t believe in vaccines, even when he advocated for them as a private practice physician? He even criticized federal prohibitions on firearms research. Today, he is all about the anti-vaccine limelight, and he will bend over backwards for the Governor of The Sandbar Known as Florida because “US Surgeon General” has a nice ring to it. As we all know, the current Governor of Florida has aspirations to be President, and he is not afraid to victimize LGBTQ children to get where he wants (or what he wants).
So, here we are, at the end of 2022, wondering what will come next. We’ve lost friends. We’ve lost family. We’ve lost colleagues. It has been a year of loss, for sure. But we’ve also gained invaluable experience in many things beyond public health and medicine. The world is safer because we made it through alive, and we’ll drag everyone around us to the finish line, kicking and screaming.
See, we want you to join us in the sun in 2023. Even the anti-vaxxers. We’re weird like that.
We’ll see you all in 2023, while some of us are in Ohio, working on the measles epidemic; others are out west, dealing with the natural disasters; others are in the major cities to deal with violence; and others are deployed to Eastern Europe, working on MDR-TB leaving Ukraine due to the war. It’ll be busy, yes. But we’ll be around.
We’re always around.
The Poxes Blog 
Yay! You are back. Agree the last few years have been an *ss-kicking time of loss and learning.
AVers are descending on an pediatric ID outbreak (eg measles in Ohio) like locusts on steroids. They’ve disturbingly convinced many parents in the last 2 1/2 years that 500+ US pediatric deaths/year from COVID-19 is no biggie. I hope they do not accomplish this for the other vaccines on the pediatric schedule, because if they do, they have the rest of their disinfomationist schtick down pat thanks to COVID-19.
We never really left you. 😉
Delighted to see a current post notification from you in my inbox, before it got buried. It’s been a challenging few years (not that that’s even in the rear view, yet).
Cheers
Thanks. Glad to hear from you, too.
When a state governor picks a member of AAPS to be his public health director, I weep for humanity.
Hiya, Shay! I just saw the note from WLU a day or so ago, (from 2019?), totally randomly, and forwarded my contact info to him, with alacrity.
I miss you. Especially from the POV of “how does one plan for the mildest to worst possible outcomes of any given theoretical–or entirely foreseeable– event?”
Also retired, sorta.
Greeting in hopes that you, and all of yours, are well and in good spirits. I look forward to keeping in touch.
I am for the most part, quite well – was recently diagnosed with bone spurs in both knees – unlike our beloved former President, mine are real (service related) so I have been enjoying water PT from a heated pool in this lovely Midwest weather. Hope you had a good holiday.