# Anti-vaxxers are ignorant scumbags that kill children **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 1, 2016, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626 "2016-09-01T01:59:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 72
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626/1422 "2025-04-04T19:02:27Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > So, how soon do you think it will be before they rehabilitate Typhoid Mary and call her a martyr to big medicine, her freedom to work unfairly limited. [Here’s an attempt](https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-04-typhoid-mary-maligned-immigrant-bum.html) to rehabilitate Typhoid Mary, and it’s apparently not by an antivaxer. The article tries to justify her behavior by claiming Mary truly believed she was no threat to the health of others and that she was unfairly blamed for deliberately causing infection and death. More accurately, her behavior reflected reckless disregard for the health of others (not to mention a grievous failure to wash her hands after defecating). Comparing her to other healthy carriers of typhoid who didn’t get arrested and isolated is foolish, because the others were capable of understanding that their carrier state posed a threat and complied with orders meant to protect the public. As far as I know, [the New York statutes](https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/new-york/10-NYCRR-2.42) (and those elsewhere) affecting typhoid carriers are still in place, though less important than before due to the readiness with which the carrier state can be eliminated by antibiotics. Authorities are notified when the disease occurs, and carriers are supposed to be under the supervision of health departments, with employment prohibitions mostly affecting jobs that involve handling food, or living/working on a dairy farm.\* A Berton Roueche story (yes, I know I mention his writing quite a bit) is a fascinating account of how medical detectives tracked down a typhoid outbreak in New York City in the 1940s. For those interested, it’s “A Game of Wild Indians” (which literally is how the outbreak started). \*Raw milk advocates might object to prohibiting a carrier from working at a dairy, since typhoid is “natural” and who knows, poop-contaminated milk might taste better. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626/1423 "2025-06-09T21:00:06Z")
> **[RFK Jr. removes all members of CDC panel advising U.S. on vaccines](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/09/rfk-jr-cdc-panel-vaccines.html)** > > It's the latest move by Kennedy – a prominent vaccine skeptic – to change and potentially undermine vaccinations in the U.S. since he took the helm at HHS. Yep, an ignorant scumbag. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626/1424 "2025-06-09T21:04:20Z")
> “A clean sweep is needed to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science,” Kennedy said in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal on Monday. You’ve spent your entire career undermining public confidence in vaccine science do you really think that anyone believes you want to do anything other than that. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626/1425 "2025-06-09T22:20:43Z")
I just saw your love for citing Berton Roueche and I wanted to give my own anecdote. Many years ago I got a call that a patient of mine was seen at his office clinic for hypoxia. The doctor commented that he appeared cyanotic. He had a mildly increased heart rate and respiratory rate but no other symptoms and otherwise felt fine. At that time I worked at a multispecialty HMO and got him an appointment to see a pulmonologist. Thinking back to a story I had read I suggested to the pulmonologist a quick trick to check my crazy theory. He laughed at me. Later that day, I found the pulmonologist and asked him if he had seen the patient. He said that he had and that his oxygen saturation was 100% and he was sending him for an emergency lung CT. I asked if he had tried my suggestion and he again scoffed. I searched for an alcohol swab but couldn’t find one so in a dramatic gesture I grabbed a gauze pad and a bottle of rubbing alcohol and proceeded to wipe bright blue dye offf the patient’s arm. I asked him several times if he had anything new that was blue and he said “No…except the sheets but we washed them!” In case you don’t know it, the story is Two Blue Hands and the problem is caused by a blue dye that is water fast but dissolves in some people’s sweat. I used to use it as a teaching example when I taught residents and students to not ignore the obvious. Sometimes when a person’s skin appears blue it is because their skin is blue. The coda is that one day I got a call from a resident who had been one of the interns I had taught. She told me she was on an ER rotation and found the ER attending and various specialists searching through textbooks trying to find out why a patient was cyanotic. She noticed the bright blue shirt from the patient’s new job and asked if she could try something. She took an alcohol swab and cleaned off the blue dye. I told her she had better get a high grade in that rotation but she told me the attendings seemed a little pissed. She just wanted me to know that she had been listening to my crazy stories. Hijack over and I think it is terrible what is happening with vaccines. I rely on the CDC site for the latest recommendations but if RFK installs a bunch of anti vaccers we are all in trouble.Just the other day I had to go three pages deep to find the recommendation for an asthmatic under 50 who had one dose of Pneuovax 23 about 10 years ago. (Spoiler- just give them Prevnar 20 or PCV 21 and they’re done). ETA:Sorry for a million edits. I keep finding typos. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626/1426 "2025-06-09T22:48:19Z")
Great stories about the “cyanotic” patients. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626/1427 "2025-06-09T22:54:45Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > an asthmatic under 50 who had one dose of Pneuovax 23 about 10 years ago. (Spoiler- just give them Prevnar 20 or PCV 21 and they’re done). I recently had this conversation with my PCP and a pharmacist. I suppose if the patient had been [silvery blue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyria) you’d have considered other rule-outs. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626/1428 "2025-06-09T23:00:39Z")
Actually the patient was a dusky blue- gray so that would have been a concern also but everyone was just focused on him being “cyanotic”. Of course, if you didn’t realize it, his heart rate and breath rate were up because everyone kept asking him if he was OK. His office doctor told me he “looks like an alien”. I was just lucky that I had read the story and it popped into my mind. ---
**Author:** ![natureboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/4491bb/32.png) [@natureboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/natureboy)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2025, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626/1429 "2025-06-09T23:18:42Z")
America is just not a serious country. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2025, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626/1430 "2025-06-10T04:06:48Z")
Unfortunately, argyrism isn’t reversible. I just wish RFK Jr.'s job was. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626/1431 "2025-07-15T04:14:58Z")
Just, oh FFS, I can’t even. [‘I would do it again’ – Doctor accused of COVID vaccine scheme speaks out after charges were dropped](https://www.abc4.com/news/health/doctor-accused-vaccine-scheme-speaks-out/) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626/1432 "2025-07-15T05:45:40Z")
Clicked that link with a shred of hope that it referred to a doctor’s courage in continuing to administer and recommend COVID vaccines even after being illegitimately sued or charged by despicable antivax cretins. Alas, no such thing: > [@](#): > > The Utah plastic surgeon previously charged with destroying COVID-19 vaccines and giving fake vaccination cards […] Let’s hope that if he does “do it again”, the charges next time will actually stick. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2025, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626/1433 "2025-07-15T06:20:07Z")
Yeah, sorry about that. I meant to write a synopsis, but I was too disgusted. I especially love this bit > He stated that he did not destroy any government property, because as far as he was concerned, as soon as the vaccines were delivered to him, they were no longer federal property. In that case I guess he could have sold them. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2025, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626/1434 "2025-07-16T02:01:06Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Let’s hope that if he does “do it again”, the charges next time will actually stick. Would he be dumb enough to try it during a Democratic administration? > **[Registered Nurse Pleads Guilty in Covid-19 Vaccination Record Card Fraud](https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/pr/registered-nurse-pleads-guilty-covid-19-vaccination-record-card-fraud)** ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2025, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626/1435 "2025-07-16T02:11:16Z")
There was also this story, “starring” a pharmacist, from late 2020. > [@FORMER Wisconsin hospital employee deliberately destroys \>500 doses of COVID vaccine](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323): > > I sure hope whoever did this, regardless of why, gets the book thrown at them - jail time, license revocation if applicable, etc. Over the years, I worked with a few people who might have done something like this, because reasons (and possibly gotten away with it, too). If you don’t believe in it for yourself, that’s one thing. This is quite another. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2025, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626/1436 "2025-07-31T13:19:30Z")
Deaths in Mexico’s expanding measles outbreak (the likes of which haven’t been seen in decades) have reached at least 12. > **[Measles Cases Are Soaring in Mexico](https://www.wired.com/story/measles-cases-are-soaring-in-mexico/)** > > The disease has claimed the lives of 12 people in the country this year, with the virus continuing to spread rapidly. The outbreak reportedly began with an infected, unvaccinated child visiting from Texas. > **[Update on the Measles Deaths in Mexico](https://stopantivaxpropaganda.substack.com/p/update-on-the-measles-deaths-in-mexico)** > > After decades with few cases in the country, seven children have now died with measles in Mexico. But as antivaxers remind us, these are _foreign_ children, so it doesn’t really matter. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2025, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626/1437 "2025-07-31T13:29:07Z")
Also, don’t forget the racist “dirty, diseased Mexicans infecting Americans” thing. Even promulgated by a few posters earlier in this thread. And, also as above, it’s more likely (or actually pretty much confirmed in this case) to have happened the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626/1438 "2025-08-10T02:43:46Z")
It has to be noted that anti-vaxxers are not only killing children. > **[Gunman who attacked CDC may have had anti-Covid vaccine beliefs](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp3ekez0k2xo)** > > Officials say the 30-year-old suspect may have been ill, or thought he was ill from a Covid vaccine. > Investigators say that the man who opened fire on the headquarters of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, killing a police officer, may have been opposed to Covid vaccinations. > > Officer David Rose, 33, who graduated from the police academy in March, died in hospital after he was wounded. No civilians were injured. > > Officials told US media on Saturday that they were looking into the theory that the suspect, Patrick Joseph White, 30, was ill, or thought he was ill from a Covid vaccine. White died in the incident. > > The CDC, which tracks outbreaks of illness in the US, played a central role during the Covid pandemic and has been heavily-criticised by vaccine sceptics. > > Officer Rose was a former Marine who had served in Afghanistan. > “Kennedy is directly responsible for the villainization of CDC’s workforce through his continuous lies about science and vaccine safety, which have fueled a climate of hostility and mistrust,” one ex-employee wrote, according to the Associated Press news agency. > > Another former CDC employee told the outlet that the shooting was the “physical embodiment of the narrative that has taken over, attacking science, and attacking our federal workers”. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2025, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626/1439 "2025-08-10T16:16:51Z")
One wonders how long it take to list Officer David Rose’s death on VAERS? ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626/1440 "2025-08-25T18:19:49Z")
Dr. Aseem Malhotra, an anti-vax quack, has said that Trump and Kennedy plan to pull all Covid-19 mRNA vaccines from the market. Unfortunately Malhotra is an advisor to the MAHA, the lobbying group that controls Kennedy, so this isn’t just an unfounded rumor, but more an insider tip. > **[Trump and RFK Jr. to Ban Covid-19 Vaccine ‘Within Months’](https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-and-robert-f-kennedy-junior-to-ban-covid-19-vaccine-within-months/)** > > A close associate of the HHS secretary claims the U.S. government will soon pull COVID-19 mRNA jabs from the market. Fortunately, I guess, the updated mRNA vaccine from Moderna has been approved for use in Canada. I’m not even joking when I say that based on a search for “cheapest flights from Denver to Canada” that there’s a good chance I’ll be taking a family trip to Calgary in the next few months. Hopefully we’ll get to see some auroras. > **[Moderna's updated Covid-19 vaccine gets Canadian approval](https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/news/moderna-covid-19-vaccine-approval/)** > > Moderna has secured approval from Health Canada for Spikevax, its updated Covid-19 mRNA vaccine, which targets the SARS-CoV-2 LP.8.1 variant. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2025, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626/1441 "2025-08-25T18:36:22Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > Hopefully we’ll get to see some auroras. _Aurora Covidius_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626.md?page=71) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anti-vaxxers-are-ignorant-scumbags-that-kill-children/764626.md?page=73)