Measles & Vitamin A Toxicity: How RFK Jr. Is Compounding The Outbreak Problem

Failures

from the rfkrackpot dept

The measles outbreak is not going away and RFK Jr. is making it worse. There is no need for equivocation in that statement. The facts are plain for all to see. Through a combination of half-hearted statements on getting the MMR vaccine followed up first by a pivot to nutrition, then another pivot to purposeful exposure being the best course, only for there to be another pivot to so-called “alternative treatments” for measles such as Vitamin A and cod liver oil, the Secretary for Health and Human Services is on a course to make the humans under his care less healthy.

The last time I wrote about this topic was in the last week of March. Here was the measles outbreak data at the time of that writing.

And here it is today, roughly a week later.

Over a 100 more confirmed cases, with more likely unconfirmed out there, in a week. The biggest jump in those numbers are among children, while the overwhelming percentage of the impacted by the disease are unvaccinated. We’re currently on pace to have the most total measles cases in America since 2019, when there were 1,274 cases, also as a result of outbreaks among the unvaccinated, largely in the south and in certain religious groups in New York.

Cases this year are tracking well above the 285 cases reported for all of 2024 and are at the highest level since 2019 when 1,249 cases were reported. Most of those cases were reported in underimmunized, close-knit communities, including two outbreaks in New York’s Orthodox Jewish communities.

The surge in cases that year, the highest since 1992, threatened the United States’ measles elimination status.

The problem, of course, is that we’re only in the beginning stages here. It’s April and we’re already eclipsing the total annual cases of the previous year. It may seem like we’re tracking under the 2019 numbers, but that’s only if you ignore the exponential nature of outbreak growths that aren’t properly managed. Infectious diseases, as it turns out, typically have trouble obeying the speed limit.

RFK Jr. is compounding the problem in multiple ways. His hesitancy on vaccination, to put it unbelievably mildly, is preventing the best cure for this outbreak from being implemented. His advocacy and garbled imprecise language around alternative treatments that didn’t result in measles being officially obliterated has led to other negative healthcare outcomes, such as Vitamin A toxicity. Again, in children.

Dr. Anita Patel and Joel Bervell are among many concerned that RFK Jr.’s inability to understand either the science or how to communicate to the public is garbling the message. She rightly notes that concentrated application of Vitamin A in a hospital setting by medical professionals can indeed serve as a treatment for measles post-infection. But that is where the agreement ends.

“The kernel of truth is that he’s right. Vitamin A at very high doses — high doses that you would never administer by yourself at home — but high-dose vitamin A administered in the hospital has shown to reduce both mortality and duration and severity of [measles] illness,” Patel said.

“The lack of truth in the statement he made is that giving vitamin A in the form of cod liver oil as like a panacea for all the people in Texas … is unequivocally wrong,” Patel added.

More, taking too much of any vitamin, including vitamin A, can lead to complications and toxicity, Bervell said. “It can cause … liver damage to fatigue to hair loss and headaches.” According to Texas Public Radio, the hospitalized children who are now being treated for vitamin A toxicity have abnormal liver function.

Vitamin A also can interact with other medications, which can lead to more problems, Patel said.

I’m going to keep stating this for as long as it takes: none of this is necessary. We have the preventative cure for measles: the MMR vaccine. It’s been employed for decades. The scientific community and studies done indicate the vaccine is safe for most people. Far safer than, say, measles.

Public policy has to be made in ways that are extremely clear. The average American doesn’t have the training to know that the amount of Vitamin A in cod liver varies wildly. They don’t know that there is such a thing as too much Vitamin A. They don’t know what herd immunity is or why it’s important. And they have no memory of a time when measles was rampant, nor the devastating consequences it can bring, even for those that survive it.

RFK Jr. has demonstrated that he is either completely incapable of leading on this issue, or else he’s too ego-driven to reverse his stance on vaccinations to put an end to it. And while I’m not one who thinks compulsory vaccinations should be mandated, it’s also simply the case that the man doesn’t have to offer up any alternative treatments or crackpot theories about how to combat it, either. Someone must do something better on this.

Or else we could see Warp Speed 2 put in place. Only this time, instead of an effort to manufacture a vaccine, it will be an industrial effort to build tiny coffins.

Filed Under: health, health and human services, measles, mmr, outbreak, rfk jr., vaccines