The beginning of Trump’s second Presidency has been without precedent. It has been characterised by extreme chaos as he has been all over the place like a demented squirrel on tik. He has declared economic war on everyone (except his secret bff, Putin), threatened to own Panama, Greenland, Canada and Gaza and he is busy taking a chainsaw to the Federal system courtesy of his point man and ‘Tech Support’, Elon Musk.
Along the way he filled his cabinet with controversial and unqualified toadies. One of these was RFKjr of the (in)famous Kennedy dynasty who he appointed to head the Dept. of Health and Human Services. In the early part of his life he was a lawyer for clean environment groups but he lost his way over the last decade or so. He became a vaccine sceptic and embraced conspiracy theories especially that the MMR (Mumps, Measles and Rubella) vaccine causes autism. Small discredited studies purported to show this for what is one of the vaccine success stories along with the polio vaccine. A decade long study by Denmark involving 657,461 children could find no link. It is difficult to find any more comprehensive study than that yet sceptics like RFKjr persist in claiming there is a link. Yes, worldwide there seems to be a rise in autism amongst children but this rise came long after the vaccine was introduced. Obviously we must look to other factors.
Because of the drop in vaccination rates due to RFKjr and his ilk, there is currently a small outbreak of measles cases in the USA. RFKjr’s answer to this is that good nutrition will prevent it, particularly cod liver oil (vitamin A and D), and if you’ve got it then high doses will help reduce the severity. The second statement is probably true, but the first is codswallop as prophylactic levels are not enough and continual use of very high doses will damage the liver.
In South Africa we’ve seen this playbook before with Manto Tshabalala-Msimang who was our Health Minister 1999-2008. She strongly advocated for African potatoes, garlic and beetroot in treating AIDS along with denying that HIV caused AIDS.
Personal Aside: Just to prove that there is a place for home remedies, halfway through writing this piece SMAC was laid low with the dreaded lurgy. Having no Med-Lemon it was time for the boer-maak-‘n’-plan equivalent. If you look at the ingredients of Med-Lemon you will see that active ingredients are salicylic acid (Aspirin/Disprin) and vitamin C with a bit of sugar to make it drinkable. So one extra-strength Disprin, a good squirt of lemon juice, hot water and sugar to taste and, voila, your temperature drops within 20 minutes. It won’t cure you but you’ll feel better.