Surgeon General

Anti-vaxxers are crying vaccine tears – Trump breaks promise

Earlier this week, I published an article on the nominee for the Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome M. Adams along with a potential nominee for CDC director, Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald. Since then, President Trump made it official, and Dr. Fitzgerald will be the next CDC Director. And the delicious salty tears of anti-vaxxers are flowing freely, since both doctors are clearly pro-vaccine.

Some of you may remember that President Trump had tweeted (his only form of communication apparently) his dislike of vaccines prior to being elected President.

Massive combined inoculations to small children is the cause for big increase in autism….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2012

Autism WAY UP – I believe in vaccinations but not massive, all at once, shots. Too much for small child to handle. Govt. should stop NOW!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 27, 2014

I'm not against vaccinations for your children, I'm against them in 1 massive dose.Spread them out over a period of time & autism will drop!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2014

I am being proven right about massive vaccinations—the doctors lied. Save our children & their future.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2014

Trump appointed Surgeon General and CDC director – good for vaccines

Donald Trump’s record on appointments for science and medical positions has been horrific, at best. His choice of Tom Price for Health and Human Services was terrible for healthcare. Anti-science individuals were also appointed to serve as EPA Director and Secretary of Energy. But recently, Trump appointed Surgeon General and will appoint a CDC director, both of whom appear to be good, though not perfect picks.

From a purely non-political standpoint, those of us on the science side wanted a few basics in the new Surgeon General and CDC director:

Have a respectable medical and/or public health background.
Provide full-throated support for immunization programs
Don’t belong to the right wing Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), which has radical ideas about health care, Medicaid, Medicare and just about any modern healthcare strategy.
Don’t have unscientific ideas about HIV/AIDS, Ebola, Zika virus, and many other contemporary issues in public health.

Sure, it would be nice for our national public health advocates to remind the country that accidental gun deaths is a public health issue, but that’s never going to happen in the current political environment.

Let’s take a look at who President Trump appointed Surgeon General and who he will probably appoint CDC director.Read More »Trump appointed Surgeon General and CDC director – good for vaccines

Donald Trump and vaccines – should we really worry?

Yesterday, we were all focused on the huge kerfuffle with Robert F Kennedy Jr, who may or may not have been asked to chair a vaccine safety panel. But, as we’ve shown before, when it comes to Donald Trump and vaccines, it is clear where the president-elect stands – on the anti-vaccine side.

Despite the consternation with Trump’s views on vaccines, we really should examine what he can and cannot do. Because other than the tweeting out his opinions about vaccines, which constitutes modern politics’ bully pulpit, what powers does Trump really have to modify or eliminate vaccines. The answer is somewhat complicated.