As US Is Poised To Lose Measles-Free Status, RFK Jr.'s New CDC Deputy Downplays Its Significance

[erronis]

https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/measles-free-status-us-cdc-ralph-abraham-paho-who-outbreaks-vaccines/

Everything is just a transactional cost. And if the repuglicon-controlled federal gov't doesn't want to pay it, "sue me."

After a year of ongoing measles outbreaks that have sickened more than 2,400 people, the United States is poised to lose its status as a measles-free country. However, the newly appointed principal deputy director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ralph Abraham, said he was unbothered by the prospect at a briefing for journalists this week.
Partner logo

"It's just the cost of doing business with our borders being somewhat porous for global and international travel," Abraham said. "We have these communities that choose to be unvaccinated. That's their personal freedom."

Infections from other countries, however, accounted for only about 10% of measles cases detected since Jan. 20, 2025, the official start of the deadly measles outbreak in West Texas, which spread to other states and Mexico. The rest were acquired domestically. This marks a change since the U.S. eliminated measles in 2000. Measles occasionally popped up in the U.S. from people infected abroad, but the cases rarely sparked outbreaks, because of extremely high rates of vaccination. Two doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine strongly prevent infection and halt the virus's spread.

To maintain its measles elimination status, the U.S. must prove that the virus has not circulated continuously in the nation for a year, between Jan. 20, 2025, and Jan. 20, 2026. To answer the question, scientists are examining whether the major outbreaks in South Carolina, Utah, Arizona, and Texas were linked.

[Ilsa]

1. The people in charge of infectious disease prevention

appear to know little about infectious diseases. Trying to stay vaccinated.

[erronis]

2. I get absolutely every one that is available. Did get a MMR test so don't need that one.

I wish other people's dumb decisions didn't affect those that are more rational!

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

13. Me too!

[Skittles]

9. I'll listen to my doctor, not these fucking Trump quacks

yes INDEED

[UTUSN]

3. K&R for, scum Kennedy Junior & KRASNOV will be forgotten as nothings

[hatrack]

4. SC Confirms At Least 88 New Measles Cases; 646 Total Cases Statewide; Cases Reported At Clemson, Anderson University

At least 88 new measles cases in South Carolina have been confirmed amid the state's outbreak, bringing the total number of infections to 646, state health officials said Tuesday. The majority of cases have been found in the Upstate region and around Spartanburg County, which sits on the border with North Carolina.

The South Carolina Department of Public Health said there are currently 538 people in quarantine and 33 in isolation. The latest end of quarantine will be on Feb. 23. There are at least 15 schools -- including elementary, middle and high schools -- which currently have students in quarantine.

Health officials also warned of exposures at Clemson University and Anderson University, both located in northwestern South Carolina, which have a combined 88 students in quarantine. Additionally, health officials warned that some individuals visited at least one of two northwestern locations while infectious, including a Publix in Duncan on Friday, Jan. 16, and a Food Lion in Inman on Sunday, Jan. 11, and Monday, Jan. 12.

The health department said those who were exposed at Publix in Duncan, especially those without immunity through vaccination or previous disease, should monitor for symptoms through Feb. 6. while those exposed at Food Lion in Inman should monitor for symptoms through Feb. 1 or Feb. 2.

EDIT

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/88-new-measles-cases-confirmed-south-carolina-bringing/story?id=129377559

[CurtEastPoint]

5. Read this Abraham kkklown's bio.... anti everything you'd expect

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Abraham_(politician)

[erronis]

6. Wow. Almost the stereotype of the white xian nationalist.

How can someone who has a medical education (which is usually pretty liberal) turn into a slug like this?

[fujiyamasan]

12. I would dispute that doctors are usually liberal

Many are quite conservative and a lot of the doctors that ended up in politics appear to be republicans.

Of course, it’s a profession with a wide variety of views. A lot just vote on money, and can’t be bothered by anything else.

[Melon]

7. There is a close tie with immigration. The West Texas

Mormons likely picked up the first measles cases through the travel of individuals from their sister location in Mexico. Their unvaccinated status allowed it proliferate and spread.

The question now with the max enforcement of vaccinations is whether this outbreak ever truly stops? It would seem with the policy only a year old that this would require only contagion of the very young, which is not the case.

I don’t see this as ever truly being a contained situation without mandatory vaccination, but this would require curtailing individual and religious freedoms. I don’t see this being solved.

[erronis]

8. Somehow, the world was able to control smallpox. Why is measles such a touchstone for fanatics?

Polio? TB (mostly)?

I think your suggesting these would curtail "individual and religious freedoms" is a RW talking point. They get to choose what freedoms they want and don't care what harms these cause everyone else.

[Melon]

11. No. I'm not supporting a talking point at all.

But if the Mormons were where this started. They won’t vaccinate for religious reasons the same way that they Mennonite, Amish etcetera won’t go to the doctor. How do you force a group to do something with their bodies? Abortion rights is a similar argument but the opposite with the body. It’s hard to force someone to do something to their own body.

[Initech]

10. RFK Jr needs to spend the rest of his worthless life in prison.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

14. MaddowBlog-Key CDC leader calls measles outbreaks the 'cost of doing business'

Deputy Director Ralph Abraham appears unconcerned that the U.S. is losing its measles elimination status. Public health experts aren’t pleased.

Link to tweet

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/measles-outbreaks-elimination-ralph-abraham

One might expect the leaders of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to react to these developments with great concern. But the Trumpified CDC is apparently content to shrug with relative indifference. STAT News reported:

With measles transmission in the United States at levels that haven’t been seen in decades, the principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that he would not view the loss of the country’s measles elimination status as a significant event.

‘Not really,’ said Ralph Abraham, a physician who formerly served as Louisiana’s surgeon general. ‘You know, it’s just the cost of doing business, with our borders being somewhat porous [and] global and international travel.’

.
..Abraham added, “We have these communities that choose to be unvaccinated. That’s their personal freedom.”

As The San Francisco Chronicle noted, public health advocates responded to the CDC deputy director’s comments with disgust. Pediatrician and vaccine specialist Paul Offit said in an online discussion hosted by the health blog Inside Medicine this week, “When you hear somebody like Abraham say ‘the cost of doing business,’ how can you be more callous? Three people died of measles last year in this country.”....

Abraham has gone so far as to describe Covid shots as “dangerous” (they are not) and touted ivermectin during the 2020 pandemic, despite science showing the drug was an ineffective treatment.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. nevertheless brought the Louisiana Republican in to serve as principal deputy director at the CDC, effectively the agency’s No. 2.

Three months later, Abraham appears wholly unconcerned about the United States losing its measles elimination status.

My siblings and I all had measles before the vaccine. It was not fun. My sister had polio and was on crutches for a while but has recovered. We need vaccinations for all of these diseases.