During my internship in Hyderabad, India, one of the rotations was at a hospital devoted to communicable diseases called the “Quarantine Hospital.’ (locals cutely mispronounced it “Koranti” Hospital). In this hospital I saw one child who succumbed to diphtheria, many children with tetanus, polio, measles and pertussis.
Many of these illnesses have pretty much disappeared from India. Polio is gone. Mumps, rubella and tuberculosis have declined greatly, entirely from vaccinations.
The “Quarantine Hospital” now has patients coming in with different infectious diseases like typhoid, dengue, chikungunya and malaria. Pertussis and measles are endemic. But the contrast between then and now is stark.
The data about vaccine efficacy is clear, which is why I am dumbfounded at the decline in vaccination rates and increase in vaccine hesitancy in our country. The lack of trust in science shocks me the most. Francis Bacon and Thomas Edison are probably spinning in their graves.
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We needed a leader who could tackle rumor and fight ignorance about vaccines. Instead, we have elevated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with his truly bizarre ideas about vaccination.
His statement that COVID-19 vaccine was designed to protect Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese and attack Blacks and Caucasians, suggests that the Jews and or Chinese created a vaccine bioweapon. He flew to Samoa in the middle of a measles outbreak to bolster vaccine deniers. He keeps talking about the disproven link between vaccinations and autism.
The level of distrust of vaccines among my neighbors living in tony homes is about the same as the people living in huts in villages in remote areas of poor countries. The latter with education may become more trusting of vaccinations. There is little hope for my countrymen and countrywomen.
It could also be that there will be little impact with RFK Jr at the helm. His pronouncements are so outlandish that they may be met with a collective shoulder shrug and life may go on as before. After all, the contact with patients and families is their physician and they may seek advice from immunologists like me and not RFK Jr.
Javeed Akhter MD, Oak Brook
Trump’s ‘The damage I did last week’ list
If Elon Musk, and by extension, Donald Trump, are requiring all 2.3 million federal employees to list five work-related accomplishments from the past week, it seems only fair that the top federal employee, Trump, should be held to the same standard. Below, I have outlined five of what the president can list as his recent “accomplishments”:
- Abandoned Ukraine and cozied up to my friend, Vladimir Putin.
- Turned my back on our European allies after 80 years of partnership.
- Fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (a Black man) and the chief of Naval Operations (a woman) because they were DEI hires.
- Endured humiliation by the president of France and the governor of Maine.
- Washed Elon Musk’s Tesla and did his laundry as compensation for doing my job.
I also took food out of the mouths of tens of thousands of children, but that was a few weeks ago, so that probably doesn’t count.
Signed,
Donald J Trump
Tom Scorby, St. Charles
Saving Heartland Health
What great news about Heartland Alliance Health being about to stay open.
Thanks to Cook County Commissioner Stanley Moore who connected the dots after learning about the closure in the news and reached out to the leadership of Heartland Alliance Health to see how he might help. Moore then connected the nonprofit to One Health, a Michigan-based primary care provider, that came forward with a multi-million dollar grant.
Commissioner Moore — you have my vote. Leaders like you make all the difference.
Dottie Jeffries, Hyde Park