Congratulations, Measles!

There’s no vaccine to help America’s body politic prevent the spread of unqualified cabinet confirmations. In a big (but, at this point, entirely unsurprising) win for measles, mumps, and whooping cough, the Senate has confirmed RFK Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary. Welcome to Gov in the Time of Cholera. “The 52-48 vote was largely along party lines, though Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky once again joined with Democrats to oppose the nomination. McConnell has now voted against three of Trump’s Cabinet nominees, more than any other Republican senator.” (Nothing explains this era more clearly than the fact that Mitch McConnell is now the most moderate Republican.)

+ RFK Jr enters office at a moment when his ideas with find fertile ground. As Emily Oster explains in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Vaccine Skepticism Has Never Been This Bad. “The first change is obvious: The parents and public personalities who strongly oppose vaccines have gotten louder. They have developed larger platforms, and faced less stigma for making hard-line anti-vaccination statements. Skepticism has gone more mainstream. The second change is less obvious, but more important: There has been huge growth in the number of parents who belong to what I think of as ‘the middle group’—parents who are not fundamentally opposed to vaccines but do have more questions, more concerns, and (often) more skepticism than parents had in the past.”

+ “Kennedy’s confirmation is a victory for Trump, and a clear message that Senate Republicans are willing to embrace pseudoscience in their unwavering deference to him. Americans’ health is in Kennedy’s hands.” RFK Jr. Won. Now What? (I’m not sure. I think I’ll check with my doctor, Joe Rogan.)

+ Meanwhile, nine unvaccinated people hospitalized as Texas measles outbreak doubles.