Tim Jensen questioned the anti-vaccine movement in the run-up to the 2016 California Measles outbreak: What will it teach us about vaccination?
In the pandemic age, getting a Covid-19 shot has become the defining “vax” or “anti-vax” litmus test, and on that account, Marin County has embraced vaccines at rates that surpass the vast majority of communities in the nation. The public health efforts have changed the opinions of parents, as well as the state mandate that children get vaccines to protect against certain diseases.
This corner of the Bay Area had become a prime example of a highly educated, affluent community with low childhood vaccination rates, driven by a contingent of liberal parents skeptical of traditional medicine. Marin was a problem for the mainstream Democrats and often a punching bag. In 2015, during a measles outbreak in California, the comedian Jon Stewart blamed Marin parents for being guilty of a “mindful stupidity.”
As the election draws closer, it’s unclear if support from the anti-vaccine crowd will translate into political success. A large Minnesota doctor’s group gave an endorsement to Tim Walz, Jensen’s opponent, for his support of vaccinations because he believed in them. Ernst says Jensen might be trying to soften his anti-vaccine image in the run-up to the election. He did not attend an anti-vaccine rally in October.
Pro-vaccine advocates worry that the rise of these candidates, along with an emboldened anti-vaccine movement, could spell trouble for public health in the years to come.
He believes anti-vaccine influence will stay in politics. He thinks the antivaxxers are not going to go away.
Jensen’s anti-vaccine views gave him an advantage when he entered the Republican primary for governor, says Karen Ernst, the director of Voices for Vaccines, a Minnesota nonprofit that advocates for inoculation.
How Senator DeSantis is complaining about vaccine mandates: urging the U.S. Senate to order an anti-vaccination court action against the Covid-19 vaccine
He canceled at the last minute, saying that he had a wedding to attend, but then he posted images on social media from a game. There was a lot of hubbub about that.
But there are other ways to appeal to the anti-vaccine movement without openly opposing vaccination. The issues of vaccinations are being framed as bodily autonomy by the anti-vaccine activists. They have formed a group known as “Stand for Health Freedom,” which seeks to overturn vaccine mandates. The group, which was co-founded by a prominent opponent of vaccines named Sayer Ji, claims to represent half-a-million Americans. While it supports the repeal of COVID vaccine mandates, it stops short of promoting medical misinformation on its website. The organization did not respond to NPR’s requests for an interview.
The past president of the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Children’s Health states that he may not say that he believes vaccines are dangerous, but that his language definitely speaks to the anti-vaccine movement.
DeSantis often talks “like vaccines are bad,” she says. She believes that the rhetoric is carefully calibrated to energize the anti-vaccine elements of the Republican base, without appearing to question vaccines themselves.
In addition to blocking people from leaving Florida for cruise lines requiring them to be vaccine free, he moved last year to block townships from putting vaccine mandates in place. In June, DeSantis touted Florida’s status as the only state not to preorder vaccines for children younger than 5.
There is currently a lot of talk about COVID vaccines, but that could change soon. Many states have seen a surge in proposed legislation to weaken requirements for childhood vaccines that protect against dangerous diseases such as polio, mumps and measles. In 2018 there were approximately 81 bills introduced nationwide that the pro-vaccine SAFE group designates as anti-vaccine; in 2022, they count more than 1,500. “There’s definitely more anti-vaccine activity taking place,” he says.
The Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday was asked to order an investigation of any and all wrongdoing there related to the Covid-19 vaccine, a move by the governor to cast doubt on its effectiveness and raise fears about side effects.
The Florida Supreme Court was petitioned by the Republican governor to empanel a grand jury to investigate a broad group of entities, including pharmaceutical manufacturers and their executive officers, as well as medical associations.
The public health integrity committee will counter the CDC, which is not a useful function, and it will be used to advance narrative rather than evidence-based medicine, he said on Tuesday. The National Institutes of Health, US Food and Drug Administration, and the CDC have been assessed by the panel.
At the Tuesday roundtable, the announcements came about the vaccines DeSantis led. The Florida governor’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, during the roundtable pointed to examples of the vaccine causing myocarditis, inflammation of the heart, and said pharmaceutical companies need to provide more data to independent researchers so they can further study the side effects from vaccines.
We will answer the question. It is a question that keeps the bosses of Pfizer and Moderna awake at night, hoping that no one will notice. But we’re going to look here in Florida,” Ladapo said during the roundtable.
Vaccines Prevent Death and Prevent Medical Costs: A State of the Art and a Treasurer for the State of Florida
The shots for people over the age of 6 months were approved after large clinical trials by the FDA. The benefits far outweigh the risks thanks to the vaccines, say experts and government agencies.
An analysis was released on Tuesday by the Commonwealth Fund and Yale School of Public Health that showed that vaccines prevented more than 3 million deaths and saved more than 1 trillion dollars in medical costs.
In October he said that he kept the state free and the budget was the biggest in Florida’s history.