'It's not unusual': RFK Jr. comments on growing Texas measles outbreak

www.nbcnews.com

When questioned about a growing measles outbreak in West Texas that has claimed at least one life, Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told reporters "we have measles outbreaks every year."

51 comments

We did, you fossil, until we eradicated it 25 years ago...
- RFK Jr is a dumbass but the US has always had measles cases. There were 285 of them last year.
  "Eradicated" has a technical meaning and its different than a lay reading.
  
  Outbreak also had a technical meaning.
  Outbreak: When there are more disease cases than what is usually expected:
  For a given time (e.g., within 2 weeks)
  Within a specific location (e.g., linked by institution, affiliation, exposure, small geographic area)
  If outbreaks were normal, it wouldn’t be an outbreak.
  
  Which was nearly five times as many as the year before, and a tiny fraction of the cases from 1990.
  There weren't any "outbreaks" in 2023, so right there that proves his statement false, at least if we're being as pedantic as you.
  You want to know how we keep measles outbreaks low? By responding to them and not hand-waving them away.
  
  The point is the number keeps going up as the antivax crowd continues to seep into positions of power like RFK.
- Longer that that I think. I'm 54 and am just now learning what measles is, hadn't much of a clue. Disease that makes kids spotty and not my fucking problem because we were all vaccinated? Kinda like grandma's smallpox scar. "Fuck is that?!"
  
  It was officially eradicated in the US in 2000 per NPR
  
  I remember it being really strange to me as a kid that there were a lot of film and TV shows where a kid would get either the measles or mumps and then have padded cheeks, and I had no idea what these illnesses were and never heard of anyone getting them. I think my mom at some point said it was more common in the 60s or 70s. That was back in the 80s mostly they really don't even show up in any 90s written stuff, and I'm sure a lot of it was reruns from the 60s or old teen comedies, (not the sexy or unedited for TV kind)
  These fuckers really want to bring back the 50s polio and all.
Yes the fuck it is, measles was a thing of the fucken past. The reality these fools construct is frustrating.
- You're wrong, but will your pride get in the way of admitting it?
  https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html
  
  Measles was officially eliminated from the United States in 2000, meaning there is no measles spreading within the country and new cases are only found when someone contracts measles abroad and returns to the country.
  Literally from the article you just posted.
  
  Measles was officially eliminated from the United States in 2000, meaning there is no measles spreading within the country and new cases are only found when someone contracts measles abroad and returns to the country.
  Nope
Smallpox could come back and these fuckers would point at numbers 150 years ago and say it's not unusual.
Who am I kidding: they don't even have to point at numbers. They just say the lie enough times.
- It’s not unusual
  
  Who would've known that Tom Jones would be the voice of reason in 2025?
Funny how the numbers don't actually back up what the "HHS Secretary" is saying. One would think he would be able to access this data, and speak factually. Maybe he's not that good at using search engines. I searched "measles cases US historically" on DDG, and chose the first result. Sometimes that sort of lengthy and involved process can be difficult, for some people, at some times. Maybe RFK jr. isn't well suited to this position.
Measles cases in the United States https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-measles-cases
Edit: I'm thinking I'll use quotes to indicate these "post turtles" when they come up in discourse, to indicate that they really aren't where they are suppose to be.
Post Turtle: A "post turtle" refers to a metaphor used in political discourse to describe someone in a position of power who is there due to external support rather than their own abilities, suggesting they are out of their depth and unable to function effectively. The phrase originates from a joke about a turtle balanced on a fence post, implying it didn't get there by itself.
It’s not unusual to give pox to anyone
🎺🎺🎺
It’s not unusual to give polio to them
So when I see out and about unvaccinated, it’s not unusual to see me cry
You’re gonna die
- Not relevant but since we're doing songs
  If you got penis dentata
  If you got teeth in your wang
- If you had 14 outbreaks the previous year, and now you see one, then no it is not uncommon to have a few each year.
  
  You're wrong, but will your pride get in the way of admitting it?
  
  Put the outbreaks on a graph. Look at the year on year changes. Come back when you have learned to read data you incompetent prick.
In the 14th century I guess

51 comments