Two days after initially downplaying the outbreak as “not unusual,” the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, on Friday said he recognizes the serious impact of the ongoing measles epidemic in Texas – in which a child died recently – and said the government is providing resources, including protective vaccines.

“Ending the measles outbreak is a top priority for me and my extraordinary team,” Kennedy – an avowed anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist who for years has sown doubts about the safety and efficacy of vaccines – said in a post on X.

Kennedy said his federal Department of Health and Human Services would send Texas 2,000 doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine – typically meant to be given to children in a series of two shots at 12 to 15 months old as well as between the ages of four and six years old – through its immunization program.

  • onecarmel@lemm.ee
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    2 days ago

    If it comes to that, at least I can take as many of them with me as I can lmao

    • neatchee@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Good luck shooting the operator of the drone that wipes out your apartment complex. Or the tank driver. Or the F16 pilot.

      In 2022 there were 47 fatalities in the US just from school shootings alone.

      Meanwhile, in the war in Gaza, the IDF death toll - facing an opposition backed by multiple governments, Hezbollah, and Hamas - is 844 since Oct 7 2023

      Like, I’m not even a “ban all guns” person. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to own a gun

      Fighting the gubment ain’t one of 'em. It’s a joke.

      • onecarmel@lemm.ee
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        2 days ago

        Doubt they’ll be carpet bombing neighborhoods on our own soil lmao. Just talking about the idiots walking around carrying guns on their own terms

        Anyways what’s this have to do with Gaza? Got more things to worry about here with keeping my wife and kids safe from crazies.

        And any deaths are awful, but that’s a terrible stat to try to use. That’s not even an average of one person per state… there’s about 350 million people in the US

        • neatchee@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          The point is that if the total IDF death count in Gaza is that low after more than year of fighting, you and your rifle aren’t gonna do shit against the government if they’re able to convince the military to attack Americans on their own soil.

          Like I said, I’m not trying to ban guns outright. If you want to defend your family from other crazy civilians with guns, I can appreciate that.

          But this conversation started with a comment about Nazis being in power. You cannot fight that kind of power with the firearms available to civilians. Only other civilians with equally weak armaments

          And my original comment was simply pointing out the hypocrisy of reversing course on vaccines when kids start dying when there are thousands of deaths every year, dozens of which are children in schools, and our leadership won’t even consider strengthening background checks or banning bump stocks

          • onecarmel@lemm.ee
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            2 days ago

            There’s no real comparison between the US and Palestine. That place has been a war zone on and off for decades. I can prob count on one hand how many major attacks there have been on US soil from foreign powers since the revolutionary war.

            The thing you’re implying would mean that US military would start gunning down its own citizens en masse. That’s never happened and I don’t see that happening, even with the crazy shit going on.

            When it comes to vaccines… what are we supposed to do with those idiots beyond banning them from being in certain public places? And that said - would you want everyone walking around marked in some sort of way to identify that? It’s unfortunate, but people have the right to be morons

            • neatchee@lemmy.world
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              2 days ago

              You are shifting the goal posts. My point is simply that the delusion of an armed insurrection against the government is naive in the extreme. It will never play out the way you imply by saying “the crazy Nazis are in charge so don’t give them a monopoly on force”. They already have the monopoly on the only force that matters in any realistic internal conflict scenario.

              As for vaccines: your right to be a moron stops at the point where it endangers others. Your right to be an idiot does not supersede my right to life. That is a well understood principal in US law. Are you allowed to skip the vaccine? Sure. But I’m allowed to require you show proof of vaccination before letting you on my private property, including my place of business. And the same goes for public property too. The metal detectors used to keep guns out of government buildings is proof of this reality

              • onecarmel@lemm.ee
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                2 days ago

                I ain’t shifting goal posts, I’m just talking about reality. Maybe you need to spend a bit more time in the real world

                And for the record, I don’t really think any of these guys are Nazis. That’s a buzzword that’s made us liberals look like fools. They’re wannabe-Nazis at the most.

                And yes, private businesses can do whatever they want as to that. That’s almost always been a thing

                • neatchee@lemmy.world
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                  2 days ago

                  “Spend more time in the real world”? Fuckin-a that is some pompous, condescending bullshit. You have no idea who the fuck I am or what I’ve experienced.

                  Done now. You’ve made it incredibly clear exactly what type of person you are

                  • onecarmel@lemm.ee
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                    2 days ago

                    Bruh you’re literally on here implying the US military is going to start gunning down its own citizens and that we’re anything like the situation in Palestine lol

                    Good talk