ProPublica reported that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently watered down its advice about how to respond to the danger of measles. Pre-Trump and RFK Jr., the CDC was quick to warn the public about the importance of getting vaccinated, especially when there was an uptick in contagious diseases. Now, with vaccine critic RFK Jr. in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services of which the CDC is a part, the message has been muted. Now, getting vaccinated is a matter of personal choice, not a matter of public health.
Leaders at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered staff this week not to release their experts’ assessment that found the risk of catching measles is high in areas near outbreaks where vaccination rates are lagging, according to internal records reviewed by ProPublica.
In an aborted plan to roll out the news, the agency would have emphasized the importance of vaccinating people against the highly contagious and potentially deadly disease that has spread to 19 states, the records show.
A CDC spokesperson told ProPublica in a written statement that the agency decided against releasing the assessment “because it does not say anything that the public doesn’t already know.” She added that the CDC continues to recommend vaccines as “the best way to protect against measles.”
But what the nation’s top public health agency said next shows a shift in its long-standing messaging about vaccines, a sign that it may be falling in line under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of vaccines:
“The decision to vaccinate is a personal one,” the statement said, echoing a line from a column Kennedy wrote for the Fox News website. “People should consult with their healthcare provider to understand their options to get a vaccine and should be informed about the potential risks and benefits associated with vaccines.”
ProPublica shared the new CDC statement about personal choice and risk with Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health. To her, the shift in messaging, and the squelching of this routine announcement, is alarming.
“I’m a bit stunned by that language,” Nuzzo said. “No vaccine is without risk, but that makes it sound like it’s a very active coin toss of a decision. We’ve already had more cases of measles in 2025 than we had in 2024, and it’s spread to multiple states. It is not a coin toss at this point.”
For many years, the CDC hasn’t minced words on vaccines. It promoted them with confidence. One campaign was called “Get My Flu Shot.” The agency’s website told medical providers they play a critical role in helping parents choose vaccines for their children: “Instead of saying ‘What do you want to do about shots?,’ say ‘Your child needs three shots today.’”
Nuzzo wishes the CDC’s forecasters would put out more details of their data and evidence on the spread of measles, not less. “The growing scale and severity of this measles outbreak and the urgent need for more data to guide the response underscores why we need a fully staffed and functional CDC and more resources for state and local health departments,” she said.
Kennedy’s agency oversees the CDC and on Thursday announced it was poised to eliminate 2,400 jobs there.
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Measles is very serious. The World Health Organization estimated that 107,500 people--mostly unvaccinated children under the age of 5–died in 2023 from measles.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Dolomphious Donny Invincible,
Triumphantly incompetensible,
Dined with No. 2, Pence
On hydroxychloroquince —
And now all his spoons are runcible.
P.S. 🍽️ 💩 & 💀, RätFüK, Jr.
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And here is what these degenerates had to say to Dr Peter Marks as the door hit him on the way out. “If Peter Marks does not want to get behind restoring science to its golden standard and promoting radical transparency, then he has no place at FDA under the strong leadership of Secretary Kennedy,” an HHS official said.
Following Dr Marks will be: A vaccine skeptic who has long promoted false claims about the connection between immunizations and autism has been tapped by the federal government to conduct a critical study of possible links between the two, according to current and former federal health officials.
The Department of Health and Human Services has hired David Geier to conduct the analysis, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. Geier and his father, Mark Geier, have published papers claiming vaccines increase the risk of autism, a theory that has been studied for decades and scientifically debunked.
David Geier was disciplined by Maryland regulators more than a decade ago for practicing medicine without a license. He is listed as a data analyst in the HHS employee directory.
https://digbysblog.net
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OMG,
Does it get worse?
What did the Senate expect when they confirmed RFK?
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Yes,
and JFK jr.
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What malign stupidity!
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Of course measles is serious, but, the Republicans are ruling over the U.S., and they’re a bunch of skeptics of what is SCIENTIFIC, and, the people who are ruling over the U.S.’s views about vaccines, will end up, killing a whole lot of the population in the U.S. than have to, and people living in the U.S. just have to keep their fingers crossed, that they don’t get, ELIMINATED by the Republicans’ “natural selection”. And the statistics of how many had died won’t matter to the Republicans, unless their own lives or the lives of their children gets threatened, then, they start, running to find a way to cure whatever it is that they’d contracted.
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The Republicans at the top will vaccinate their own children and make it voluntary for everyone else
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“they’re a bunch of skeptics of what is SCIENTIFIC”
They’re a bunch of reactionary, regressive christian nationalist theocrats whose faith beliefs supposedly surpass scientific thought.
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Worm infested nutcase be nutcase. Hey go take some Vitamin A!
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RFK Jr.’s brain worm is alive and well.
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