Come on AP. He slashed $500 million in funding for mRNA technology and then strung a bunch of words that sound good if you know literally nothing about vaccines, but this statement is actual science fiction and reporting it without saying this isn’t how immunity works at all is frankly dangerous.
Makes sense tho It's gonna be the best vaccine, no one has ever done better😕
RFK Jr. is the most illiterate, incompetent example of an Department leader who makes fenceposts look smart. Dangerous, stupid, malicious.
The AP now kissing up to regain access to Trump. Pathetic and dangerous.
It's ivermectin, isn't it
Lmao, like that and raw milk in a smoothie
They are all insane, so probably.
I honestly think reporters are having trouble grasping the magnitude of evil involved and how It Can Happen Here. It’s hard for anyone to conceptualize killing millions for no reason because almost everyone you know wouldnt do that
As much as NPR gives me hives, this is a decent run down of some of the reasons the shift back to deactivated whole virus vaccines is such a strange choice. Especially when “side effects” are the focus of all of these horrendous disinfo campaigns.
One of the things that I find so disgusting about his claim that it “mimics natural immunity” is that it supports the very idea which caused the current crisis, that there is something superior about post-infection immunity. It is literally saying measles is less dangerous than the MMR vaccine.
This exact messaging will lead to child deaths, paralyzation, people going blind or deaf, and widespread immune amnesia because parents have started having “measles parties” again, like the varicella “chickenpox parties” of the 80’s and 90’s which saw a resurgence during COVID.
Genuine question: did people ever have measles parties? I know RFK, Jr. mentioned them recently, but I figured he was getting measles mixed up.with chicken pox. I grew up during the time people were allegedly having chicken pox parties, but I never knew they happened until recently.
Also worth adding that referencing COVID while promoting post-infection “natural immunity” as a benchmark is extra odd given the window for antibodies was only a matter of months at the start of the pandemic, and has shrunk each mutation.
Incidentally for the sake of transparency, I was typing fast on the train and should have said inactivated not deactivated. God willing, he’s referring to the first, although it feels presumptuous at this point to assume.
Heard a researcher decades ago make the point you’re making, that Cancer is natural. Natural does not mean good.
Yes, the Black Death pandemic in the 14th century (which killed 30% to 60% of the population, or so I've read) was perfectly natural too. Sign me up!
Yup. one of the best lecture topics I enjoyed in public health school was tackling this particular kind of logic, because aside from what you point out it’s also a holdover from centuries old “medical” frameworks that led to things like casual arsenic use and bloodletting. You know, natural cures.
I mean, mRNA mimics natural immunity in a way, we already have the best possible solution! 🤦🏻♂️
Yup. He seems to have this almost theological belief that mRNA does something fundamentally different
They are eugenicists. They believe that people who survive infection are superior. They believe it is “superior” if the “weak” are culled.
Also… isn’t mRNA as close to a universal vaccine platform as we’ve ever found? Just swap out the targeted sequences and boom new vaccine
Yes
Having charlatans in charge sucks as badly as I feared it would on November 6
It's not that a strange choice when you consider that the HHS has been taken over by attorney-grifters who've made bank on spurious "vaccine injury" lawsuits. "Whole dead virus vaccines tend to produce more side effects, including high fevers and seizures that especially can frighten parents."
Another dipshidiot
The tell is so huge. You do not start research with a predetermined conclusion.
I swear he got the idea from "Mission: Impossible 2"
Who has the byline here? The Anchorage culture correspondent?
Is this a reporter on the politics beat? If so, means they have no expertise in what they're talking about and exist only to transcribe what administration figures say. That's the job. These are "reporters." They are not journalists. If this is a science reporter, it's incompetence.
They’re not even reporters anymore. They’re stenographers.
Excuse me. Aspiring podcasters and fox hosts.
😂 Everyone needs a fallback.
'universal vaccine' - sounds like god delusion
Not necessarily a bad goal -- but it looks to me like he's using it as an excuse to take away the existing vaccines. Should seat belts have been required to be removed from cars until air bags were perfected and installed? 1/2
(Not to mention that the infrastructure and budgeting for vaccine development have already been crippled.) And don't tell me there wouldn't be pushback against that vaccine too -- as long as there are any side effects, or anything bad happens to someone who's been vaccinated, related or not. 2/2
I am in the UK, I do not understand how crippling scientific research works as an economic policy, so yeah, completely agree removing all the knowledge infrastructure is almost criminal behaviour. i am not convinced you can have a 'vaccine for everything', that sounds like wishful thinking
Vaccines do mimic natural immunity. That’s the whole f’ing point.
Not even mimicry, it’s your body producing the antibodies, just without actually getting ill! It’s basically boot camp for your immune system. They should state this outright!
For the first time in my life I know people who are actively seeking ways to get the hell out of the USA. It is not easy however and costs a lot and many nations are not excited about us moving in. This kind of thing is pushing them away. And the lack of empathy and ethics we see today as well.
Stupid son of bitch said “One shot to rule them all” 😭😭😭
It will be chocked full of vitamins, minerals and Dr Oz’s special blend of herbs and spices with a dash of anabolic steroids thrown in for good measure.
There already is a vaccine developed by Dr. Hotez, who is not a crank, www.ama-assn.org/delivering-c...
WE HAD ONE OF THESE IN DEVELOPMENT ALREADY. IT WAS mRNA BASED!! IT WOULD HAVE TARGETED HUNDREDS OF POINTS ON THE VIRUS GENOME AND EFFECTIVELY PRECENT IT FROM EVER ADAPTING TO THE VACCINE
“That mimics natural immunity”. Motherfucker, that’s literally what a vaccine. I’m not sure who is stupider RFK Jr or the cabinet member that doesn’t know solar and wind energy is stored in batteries.
Isn't it more like inducing natural immunity safely (and more quickly)? (It bothers me when people who don't understand how vaccines work talk about "artificial immunity" as if it were something different and inferior.) Or am I splitting hairs about artificially inducing immunity?
Exactly. Long term immunity is essentially the same and fewer people die. Traditional vaccines give a piece of the virus for the body to create immunity from. mRNA vaccines have the body’s cells make the viral protein that the body can make immunity from.
The question also needs to be asked Who is working on the alternative vaccine? Considering the number of research facilities that have been decimated and scientists fired… who’s left?
Dr Hotez developed this at the start of the pandemic. He is not a crazy person. www.ama-assn.org/delivering-c...
Here's his response to this news. bsky.app/profile/pete...
Wasn’t he also viciously targeted by MAGA though? I have a hard time imagining him being part of RFK’s plan
He is not part of RFK's plan at all. He developed a cheaper vaccine that the mRNA for poorer countries. I am sorry if I gave that impression.
mRNA is the better vaccine I am sure. Again, sorry if I misled.
It's not science fiction. It's fantasy.
Sounds like they will have a replacement in two weeks. Is the Associated Press new?
Reminds me of OJ Simpson's search for the "real killer", which he carried out on golf courses and by robbing conventions in Las Vegas. RFK Jr will put exactly that level of effort into the "universal vaccine" while he tries to take away the already existent and working ones we have now. Evil.
Literally snake oil
"Natural immunity" in action: wellcomecollection.org/works/n9sqqk...
I still find it difficult to assess--do they believe what they say? Are they murderous psychopaths? Or do they try to make America "healthy" by letting the "weak" die, with a bonus of no SS or Medicare for the dead? It makes *me* feel crazy trying to ponder it.
The worst timeline.
If it's universal, it really can't provide sterilizing immunity, right? And isn't that the thing they cried about with all the covid vaccines? That they "don't prevent you from getting covid?" 🙄
This magic ingredient - both universally effective and harmless -is called "placebo".
It's the David Gregory School of journalism. It's not our job to report that this is a lie or nonsense. It's only our job to report they said it.
There is a vaccine under development for both COVID and the flu. RFKjr will probably pretend this is a step to a "universal" vaccine for all things bad.
Are they gonna call it Sputnik?
The Big Beautiful Vaccine.
What in the theranos is he even proposing
He is a smug know-it-all, who doesn’t know squat about the havoc he’s causing. And he doesn’t care.
@apnews.com — Do better!!! Do none of your staff have any science or medical backgrounds?
My brain hurts looking at those words.
That’s RFK worm brain speak for bend over and shove a light bulb up your ass.
a proprietary mix of colloidal silver, ivermectin, AG1, and Frank's red hot sauce.
The pseudoscience infomercial scammers have infiltrated Washington