Disability Rights Watch

Tag: covid

  • Week 33 Updates

    1. Chaos hits pharmacies as CDC’s delayed approval of covid vax causes confusion, barriers to access. Covid surged to the highest levels in the US since the 2021 Delta variant–in response, CDC stopped tracking the data.

      Meanwhile, vaccine rollout was stymied as many states have regulations requiring CDC approval for a vaccine before it can be administered by a pharmacist. The board, now populated with antivaxxer friends of RFK, is expected to meet later in the month.

      At first, the vaccine was completely unavailable in at least 16 states, with others requiring a prescription. Several states have since revised regulations, allowing other the recommendations of other medical bodies to serve in place of the largely absent CDC. As of Sunday, vaccine access is legally as follows, though individual access may be stricter due to confusion and/or ideological refusals.

    ID: map of the US with states in green (available) green stripe (newly available due to regulations circumventing CDC) yellow (need RX) and purple (unavailable)
    Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/DORYoaUjhBM/

    2. RFK revives bogus claim that Tylenol in pregnancy is linked to autism. After receiving blowback for causing vaccine-related turmoil and a conspiracy-addled testimony before Congress that had many leaders and his own family calling for his resignation, RFK Jr. is returning his attention to attacking autistic folks and their families, now through the reintroduction of a fake link between Tylenol consumption during pregnancy to autism rates.

    RFK and HHS had previously said they would announce the “cause” of autism in September, and sources at the HHS say the announcement will involve Tylenol.

    The vast majority of studies have shown no link between Tylenol consumption with autism diagnoses. One study the administration is focusing on showed a very small increase in incidences; however, that study later overturned its findings using sibling analysis, finding no link.

    In addition to being false, the accusation places blame and will likely cause undue fear on pregnant people who use the only pregnancy-approved medication for pain. Multiple evidence-based scientific studies have determined that autism is overwhelmingly genetic.

    3. Florida Surgeon General announces plans to end all vaccine mandates for schoolchildren, as cases of whooping cough and measles rise. Harvard-educated Dr. Ladapo said that the move was “not actually a scientific debate” but an ideological one aimed at appealing to “parent’s interest”.

    Ladopo, a longtime antivaxxer, went on to compare vaccine mandates to slavery. Ladopo doesn’t have unilateral control over the mandates, so it will be on state legislature to fully eradicate them.

    Multiple cases of tuberculosis surface in and around Portland, Maine, as well as in several other states. RFK Jr. ordered CDC officials to hide the data. 28 cases have been reported in Maine since July, stemming from multiple sources. Some are believed to be linked to the consumption of raw milk, while other cases have person-to-person or unknown origin.

    Known as the world’s deadliest respiratory disease, tuberculosis can be latent for years before becoming active, so the uptick in cases is generally considered a marker of the declining health of a population weakened by other conditions (covid, inconsistent access to healthcare, decreased vaccine uptake).

    DOGE’s decision to end USAID will likely have huge long-term effects on tuberculosis cases in the US, and a 28-32% uptick of the disease globally, as people visit or immigrate from other countries with higher infection rates (many asymptomatic at the time or not knowing they are infected at all). Previously, USAID programs helped with cost and distribution of the months’ long antibiotic regimen required to cure the disease.

    Trump attempts to rename the Department of Defense and announces he will send troops to Chicago via ill-conceived Vietnam War movie meme. This week Trump announced that he will rename the Department of Defense to “The Department of War” (a move he is legally not allowed to make unilaterally), then immediately released meme misinterpreting the Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now to announce the impending deployment of troops to the city of Chicago (a move he is legally not allowed to make unilaterally). He also mentioned Baltimore and New Orleans as future targets.

    As in DC, a deployment of the National Guard or other military occupation against civilians is dangerous for people, particularly the unhoused, immigrants, disabled people, and people of color. It also functions as a superspreading event, sending covid infection rates surging.

    The Governor of IL and mayor of Chicago have repeatedly said troops are not necessary or welcome in the city, which is experiencing lower than average crime rates at this time.

    What to do:

    Get vaccinated if you can, as soon as possible!

    If you live in Florida, contact your state representatives and tell them not to remove vaccine guidelines for schoolchildren.

    Call your state officials and ask them how they can facilitate access to covid vaccines in lieu of federal leadership, especially if the CDC refuses to approve the vaccine.

    Hit the streets if you are able. March, attend a town hall, school board meeting, or other local action.

    Protect your neighbors. Warn and record in the presence of ICE. Push your local officials not to collaborate.

    Donate to your local food pantry, library, clinics, cash bail funds, or other mutual aid if you can. Or volunteer your time.

    Think about ways to spread information offline. Make flyers and stickers. Make art.

    1. Week 32 Updates

      1. RFK Jr’s eugenic rampage continues to burn through the Department of Health and Human Services.

      RFK fired Susan Moneraz, Director of the Centers for Disease Control, throwing an already tumultuous climate at the institution in to chaos, and prompting several other high-level resignations at the institution.

      Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, one of the scientists who resigned, raised alarms as he left about RFK’s love of eugenics and frequent discussion of “superior genetics.” Eugenics, a pseudoscientific school of thought tied to white supremacist ideas about genetic and racial “purity” was behind the US’s forced sterilization and anti-anti-miscegenation laws in the early 20th century. In Germany, the Nazi’s took eugenic ideology to it’s extreme conclusions via the mass murder of Jewish people, as well as Roma, disabled people, LGBTQ people, “race traitors” and others they deemed undesirable.

      Daskalakis said RFK applied eugenic theory to internal discussions about bird flu, which he proposed should be allowed to “burn through” chickens, and then children and adults, in order to propagate a “stronger species.” The CDC had ended their emergency bird flu response at RFK’s order last month.

      2. RFK and antivax appointees restrict access to covid vaccines, despite saying people would have a choice.

      Simultaneously, the FDA placed restrictions on who is allowed to receive this year’s covid vaccines–limiting them to “high-risk” groups or those over 65. CVS and Walgreens in more than 16 states are refusing to administer vaccinations while awaiting the CDC’s vaccine committee approval, while others are requiring prescriptions.

      Over the past months, RFK has replaced nearly all panel members with known antivaxxers, some of whom have spoken explicitly against covid vaccines and mRNA technology. The panel meeting, which typically occurs in the summer, it has been postponed for unknown reasons to mid-September, with some concern that its antivax members have no intention of holding the meeting.

      While vaccines may be accessible in other locations, it’s important to note that CVS, the largest pharmacy chain in the country, and often the only option in rural areas. The company also owns Aetna insurance and forces those clients to receive care at only CVS.

      3. CDC cuts back foodborne illness surveillance program. The FoodNet program previously required surveillance from eight pathogens to two. They will continue monitoring for e. coli and salmonella, but will no longer require monitoring for campylobacter, cyclospora, listeria, shigella, vibirio and yersinia. Foodborne illnesses are particularly harmful to disabled and immunocompromised people, as well as children and the elderly. In particular, listeria is known to cause stillbirth when a pregnant person contracts the bacteria.

      4. Pediatric brain tumor research cut. The National Cancer Institute has announced it will no longer fund the work of the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium, a network of physicians and researchers who have been running clinical trials for patients with childhood brain cancer not responding to other treatments, for over 25 years.

      In addition to the loss of groundbreaking treatments for terminally ill children, researchers are mourning the loss of the network that allows them collaborate across institutions, which has led to better outcomes for patents and further scientific innovations over the life of the project.

      5. The Trump Administration is contracting with private AI companies, using AI to determine whether certain procedures should be covered by Medicare. In addition to the many, many concerns about the efficacy of AI to perform basic functions of preapproval, like reading and drawing logical conclusions, and not making things up, the company will also have incentive to reject–they will receive a portion of the profits for every rejected claim.

      6. AI chatbots continue to fuel mental health crises, resulting in multiple deaths by suicide. At least one AI company has said they will combat the problem by flagging chat results for the police, which may cause more danger for those in crisis. AI chatbots have been at the center of a string of mental health crises, including goading suicidal ideation and providing feedback on how best to carry out self-harm (also here and here), a conversation about avoiding salt that led to one man giving himself bromine poisoning, and a Connecticut man who killed his mother, then himself after encouragement from an LLM.

      In response, OpenAI has said they have begun scanning ChatGPT conversations in order to report content to the police. The company has said this will not result in wellness checks, so the function of the reporting is unclear. Many murders by police begin as encounters with a person experiencing a mental health crisis or suicidal behaviors–at least 356 such individuals were killed by police between 2017-2020.

      What to do:
      Call your state officials and ask them how they can facilitate access to covid vaccines in lieu of federal leadership. For example, Illinois is exploring how to purchase its own contracts with vaccine manufacturers, while a group of mid-Atlantic and New England states met this week to consider issuing their own recommendations apart from the CDC.

      If you have access, please get a covid and flu vaccine to help protect immunocompromised people in your community.

      Hit the streets if you are able. March, attend a town hall, school board meeting, or other local action.

      Protect your neighbors. Warn and record in the presence of ICE. Push your local officials not to collaborate.

      Donate to your local food pantry, library, clinics, cash bail funds, or other mutual aid if you can. Or volunteer your time.

      Think about ways to spread information offline. Make flyers and stickers. Make art.