The Anti-Vaccine Movement Gets Help As this bird flu jumps to humans, Trump pauses funding for a vaccine Dan Rather and Team Steady Feb 28 Credit: Getty Images It is easy to get drawn into the daily chaos created by Trump and Musk: the outrageous directive, the haphazard and dangerous firings, the thwarting of convention and the law. We will continue to report on all of that, but today our focus is on a real-time threat to the health and well-being of every American. You’ve heard about the record-breaking bird flu outbreak making its way across the country. It’s the main reason egg prices are so high. Remember, Trump promised to bring prices down on “Day 1.” More than a month later, his secretary of agriculture was deputized to admit what Trump won’t: There is no silver bullet to fix the problem. The price of eggs is expected to rise an additional 20% this year from already record-high levels. But here’s a bigger issue. The Department of Agriculture is scrambling to rehire workers just fired by Elon Musk. Those scientists, lab techs, veterinarians, and inspectors were working on the avian flu outbreak — until the Department of Government Efficiency came along. So far the bird flu has affected 166 million birds and hundreds of herds of cattle in the U.S. More than 70 cases have been confirmed in humans. One person has died. Scientists are concerned it will become more transmissible and continue to spread. Just before he left office, President Biden awarded Moderna, the maker of one of the most well-known Covid vaccines, a $590 million contract to fast-track development of a bird flu vaccine. Biden made the 11th-hour grant because of the incoming administration’s skepticism about vaccinations. He was right to be concerned. Yesterday, Bloomberg was first to report that the Trump administration would “reevaluate” the Moderna contract, which effectively puts the vaccine development on hold. Moderna was already in the testing phase. Trump has also fired people working in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention immunization unit, cut funding for development of an oral Covid vaccine, and canceled a meeting with the FDA’s vaccine advisers to plan for next year’s flu shot. Stop me if you’ve seen this movie before. It doesn’t have a happy ending. And if all this wasn’t frightening enough, the man just put in charge of our nation’s health agencies, Robert Kennedy Jr., is an avowed anti-vaccine proponent. Though he soft-peddled that stance during his confirmation hearings, his past statements and actions indicate otherwise. Kennedy has vociferously criticized the Covid vaccine, calling it “the deadliest vaccine ever made.” That is dangerous talk. Not only is the vaccine safe, it is effective and saved the lives of tens of millions of people, according to the National Institutes of Health. After promising during his confirmation hearings to leave the nation’s current vaccination schedule alone, last week Kennedy told his new staff at Health and Human Services, “nothing is going to be off limits.” This could have some immediate consequences. Just ask folks in Gaines County, Texas. Gaines County, in rural West Texas, is the epicenter for a new measles outbreak. A week ago, 14 cases were reported. That number has jumped to more than 130 across Texas and neighboring New Mexico. It is the largest outbreak in Texas in almost 30 years, and it’s spreading fast. An unvaccinated child died of the disease on Tuesday, the first person to die of measles in the United States in a decade. In addition, 20 children have been hospitalized, several needing intensive care, including intubation. None of those hospitalized were vaccinated. Reportedly only 80% of the children in Gaines County are vaccinated against measles. Measles is a respiratory virus and one of the world’s most contagious diseases. It can lead to pneumonia, deafness, encephalitis, and death. It spreads so quickly it is almost impossible to control, so the best defense against it is vaccination. According to the CDC, the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine is one of the safest and most effective, with a 95%-plus chance of complete protection. Due to widespread administration of the MMR vaccine (with 95% of incoming kindergartners vaccinated), measles was considered eradicated from this country in 2000. The threshold for herd immunity is 95%. In recent years, vaccination rates have dropped below that level. An increase in vaccine hesitancy is the main reason. Despite vaccines being one of the most important public health advancements of the modern age, the perception that vaccines are unsafe or ineffective is growing. Traditional media was one of the initial culprits. After all, it is a teasable story: “Could your child’s measles booster cause autism?” It has no basis in truth, but that narrative made the rounds for years, with study after study debunking it. Then came the advent of social media and “wellness influencers.” The anti-vaccine movement of disinformation and conspiracy theories found the perfect home to broadcast its lies. A recent study found that if you do a Google search on the potential link between MMR and autism, only 51% of the findings state the correct information — that there is no connection between the vaccine and autism. And who was at the forefront of the anti-vaxxer movement on social media? Robert Kennedy Jr. The federal response to the deadly measles outbreak has been lacking. Kennedy is downplaying this, saying he is watching but that “we have measles outbreaks every year.” He also claimed that the hospitalized children in Texas were there for quarantine purposes only. “We don’t hospitalize patients for quarantine purposes,” the hospital’s chief medical officer said. With a fast-moving disease like measles, it is essential to disseminate information quickly to help prevent further spread. Apparently, the CDC thinks updating its website once a week is enough. Since the update is on Fridays, the webpage has yet to reflect the death of the child. The Trump administration is not directly responsible for that child’s death; after all, it was the parents’ choice whether to vaccinate or not. But Trump is now responsible for the health and well-being of more than 340 million Americans. With policies like those we have seen in the first five weeks of the new administration, the probability that more preventable deaths will follow is, sadly and incredibly, high. To support my team’s efforts to protect our democracy through the power of independent journalism, please consider joining as a paid subscriber. It keeps Steady sustainable and accessible for all. Thank you. No matter how you subscribe, I thank you for reading. Stay Steady, Dan