Exactly! While I may not agree with everything he says, I agree with the majority of it and hope that he is given the opportunity to put some of these good ideas into action. He has said he doesn’t want to abolish vaccines. Rather he wants to see well run studies done on them and get back to following the principles of evidence based medicine.
As far as supplements go, as a dentist and nutritionist I have found huge benefit in supplements for many patients. Many people walk around with low vitamin D that affects their energy levels and immune systems among other areas of the body. How are they supposed to raise it to be in the optimal zone for health? Unfortunately sun exposure conversion to vitamin D is not efficient for many, which means supplementation is the solution for these patients. That is one example of many I could provide. Supplements must be of good quality of course. A well trained nutritionist knows how to discern the quality of a supplement company’s products.
RFK is an interesting person. I disagree with him on a great many things (particularly in energy and nuclear power). He's kinda crazy, but he does not come across as an idiot. He appears reasonable and thoughtful.
The controversies and complications surrounding all of the Covid shots was inevitably going to lead to the 'anti-vax' crowd getting louder and more sympathy. And when more and more people are wondering why are we doing so many shots for so many things while people are getting more ill, questions rightfully start getting raised.
The only way to prove or disprove any of this is to have good and transparent studies and research. There is absolutely zero good to come of someone saying "show me the evidence and I'll change my mind" and then being told "the professionals say it's safe. shut up and take your shots". If RFK is a reasonable and logical person, showing him the evidence would not only help the discussion with him, but millions of Americans as well. Hopefully we can find common ground and the health sector earn some trust back, because they deserve none right now.
Heck, I would like answers to put to rest that nagging voice in the back of my head saying, "what if he's right?" And obviously, improving our country's food systems is low hanging fruit. The MAHA slogan was impervious to attack. Who doesn't want to be healthy? What was the other side going to do, say your processed foods were safe? Maybe so, doesn't mean they're good for you. Simple ingredients and real food are hard to argue with,
Dr. Prasad, you cite the Hvid MMR/autism study as convincing you that there is no link between MMR and autism. But there may be several issues with that study. At the very least, I have several questions.
1) The children studied were given their first MMR significantly later than US children (at 18 months rather than at 12 months). It is significantly easier to notice developmental regression in an 18-month-old, as 18-month-olds are usually much more verbal and engaged with their families than a 12-month old, so this would seem like an excellent opportunity to assess this most troubling subset of children with autism -- those who develop normally and then have a sudden and significant regression.
I don't see where the Hvid study assesses developmental regression at all; developmental delay yes, but that's an entirely different issue. What's particularly interesting with developmental regression is the potential temporal relationship to vaccination. Was this data never collected? Or just not considered? Surely that would be the most crucial data to consider?
2) If there were unvaccinated children in the study, their data is not shown separately. The "control group" received all other vaccinations except MMR. The study may label them as "unvaccinated," but obviously, that is terribly misleading. So the Hvid study cannot indicate whether or not receiving other vaccines somehow increases susceptibility to neurological sequelae from MMR vaccination.
Isn't it a mistake to look for a single silver bullet if there is a whole firing squad involved?
3) The children studied did not receive ANY thimerosal-preserved vaccines, whereas US children received several thimerosal-containing vaccines up to 2004, when the shelf-life of the vaccines produced in 2001 and earlier expired.
Starting in 2004, the CDC started recommending flu shots for infants 6 months old and up; the two brands approved for infants were available in both non-preserved single-use syringes, and multi-dose, thimerosal-preserved vials. Guess which one was cheaper? Guess which one children in underserved communities were likely to get?
My point here is twofold: first, that the study conclusion may not be relevant to children receiving different vaccines, and at different times, and secondly, that the Hvid study cannot indicate whether or not the MMR is part of a perfect storm of exposures that includes thimerosal exposure. Again, dismissing single bullets while ignoring a firing squad is a bit near-sighted.
4) Children with syndromes and conditions recognized as associated with autism were excluded from the study. -- but what if those are the children at increased risk for more severe autism, AND at increased risk of the kind of vaccine reaction that can trigger seizures and resulting brain damage? Why did the authors exclude them from the study rather than making them a separate arm of the study, to consider increased risk to that group? Isn't there a line crossed here? "Oh, we excluded the children at risk for the reaction we were looking for, we didn't see that reaction in our study group, so it doesn't exist..." ????
5) "To increase the validity of our autism case definition further, we conducted a main analysis with a case definition requiring at least 2 autism diagnosis registrations; an event was defined at date of second autism diagnosis."
What percentage of Danish children with autism diagnoses did NOT have 2 diagnostic registrations? Why would a first autism diagnosis not be counted in this study?
6) "The MMR vaccination status was considered a time-varying variable; children could contribute time as both unvaccinated and vaccinated in our study. " How on earth is that good science, when the majority of children with autism aren't diagnosed or even flagged for assessment until they are school age?
To be clear, I am not saying that MMR causes autism. Among other things, I think that's answering the wrong question. The real question should be: are there children at risk of reactions to MMR and/or other vaccines that result in brain damage with features of autism?
Vinay, I have met three people whose kids/niece developed autism right after a vaccine (it's not always the MMR). For one of them, it was so bad, so abrupt that the mother's *other* child had medical exemptions from two different doctors.
Autism is a spectrum, and now a heck of a lot of kids are on it. The CDC refuses to do a vaxxed/unvaxxed study but they already know that it will show a higher autism rate in the vaxxed kids. Some data on this came out of a private practice in either Washington or Oregon where parents had a choice and the doctor let them decide. We think the CDC has that data from their own studies and refuses to publish the raw data.
I'm tired of the autism community being thrown under the bus. No one helps them. People say autism isn't curable and the government does little to help kids out. I know that some cases of autism can be cured as my son was autistic and is completely normal now as well as one of the above cases - the mom got treatment right away and her daughter healed, but it took a while.
My daughter who is the most neuro diverse had reactions to the shots-I watched her retreat into herself after one dose of dtap at 3 months. Scared me & we spaced out vaccines & skipped any of the daycare ones (breastfed kid, no daycare), focusing on slowly getting shots for school. She withdrew, got very quiet again after MMR at age 3. I am trying to be a strong community member, not throw the baby out with the bath water, but I saw what I saw. She also developed more serious eczema after chicken pox vaccine.
Thank you for sharing your story. You are not alone and you are not crazy. Too many people feel like they have to stay silent because the CDC lied and claimed there was no connection. RFK Jr knows this.
My biggest advice is don't get any vaccines after a round of antibiotics. Both adverse events in my family were after a round of antibiotics.....
On the topic of reporting adverse events...twice I reported events. After an utterly annoying and frustrating experience, will never do it again. So that's why we have such significant underreporting of AEs - crap systems that deter reporting.
Here's the question - if vaccine immunity doesn't "stick" with vaccines in the first year, what's the point of getting a ton of vaccines if kids aren't going to be exposed to the disease (Polio for example). If you needed all those doses, you wouldn't have a catch-up schedule with fewer of them. So why not err on the side of caution and give the DTaP (because Pertussis is around) and wait on Polio until a year old?
Why give Hep B to any baby who will not be exposed to a Hep B positive caregiver? Why do pediatricians lie to moms and say it's about getting your teenager immunity in 15 years in case they will have sex when there's a 50% chance of that 15yo having NO immunity at all simply because the series was done before the kid was 1yo?
It's time to revisit the vaccine schedule and the amount of aluminum babies are getting injected into them. RFK Jr knows all of this. And so does the CDC, and they continue to pretend that vaccines are "safe and effective" or as Dr. Offit said "You can give a baby 1000 vaccines and they'll be fine." That's the most ludicrous statement I've ever heard, but that's what we're getting from the CDC.
On of his podcast Dr.Prasad recommended looking at the vaccine schedules of other countries. That is what I already do! I’m willing to give MMR a chance because it is done around the world (Japan, Denmark, etc). But we don’t give first dose until at least age 3. And basically if it’s a vaccine my husband & I didn’t get as children we don’t do it. So absolutely no to Hep B. When my kids are teenagers we may reevaluate.
I’m glad you mentioned listening to RFK,Jr on long form podcasts. I have suggested this to anyone who, off the cuff, calls him a “kook”. Once you hear him out, understand his expertise, and learn what he REALLY wants to do you realize how brilliant and utterly reasonable he is. I think he deserves a chance to improve what is such a corrupt system. I appreciate your support of this Vinay. Like Trump has said before - what do we have to lose?!
It would be nice for all of us if you could have a talk/discussion with oncologist Dr William Makis and/or A Midwestern Doctor regarding how IVM and Fenbendazole is helping synergistically when combined with chemo/radiation/ to treat some cancers....
I like Vinay's summary of the info regarding the FDA. We have no idea what the vaccines have done to children b/c of lacking robust follow-up safety data. MMR may not be the cause of autism, however, is it responsible for triggering this disease in children with predispositions? I don't know that we know this for certain.
Also, isn't Ivermectin already "approved"? It's like on the WHO's most needed medication list. The question is simply whether you should be allowed off-label use of it.
Don't forget Biogen's Aduhelm In your list of crap drugs that was approved by FDA with poor evidence + back room handshakes over cocktails with Billy Dunn (who, of course, is on the BOD for Prothena). The only thing that gives me comfort is watching their stock tank on the daily.
newspapers and MedPage Today are going insane with articles warning of the "danger" that will be caused by RFKjr tinkering with our "brilliant" health care system, like we're going to die unless we are vaccinated continuously for everything and our teeth will all rot away the minute aluminum smelting companies are no longer paid to pollute our drinking water with their toxic waste in the name of dental "health."
whatever RFKjr is "right" about or "wrong" about (and i think he is mostly right even about IVM and cancer and certainly about vaccines and autism) things couldn't get much worse with our collective health. why not try something different?
RFK Jr says, show me the data that these treatments are safe and effective. I don't see how you can argue with that.
He says things I don't agree with, but most importantly he questions the status quo.
I want him to ask questions!
Exactly! While I may not agree with everything he says, I agree with the majority of it and hope that he is given the opportunity to put some of these good ideas into action. He has said he doesn’t want to abolish vaccines. Rather he wants to see well run studies done on them and get back to following the principles of evidence based medicine.
As far as supplements go, as a dentist and nutritionist I have found huge benefit in supplements for many patients. Many people walk around with low vitamin D that affects their energy levels and immune systems among other areas of the body. How are they supposed to raise it to be in the optimal zone for health? Unfortunately sun exposure conversion to vitamin D is not efficient for many, which means supplementation is the solution for these patients. That is one example of many I could provide. Supplements must be of good quality of course. A well trained nutritionist knows how to discern the quality of a supplement company’s products.
Vinay Prasad, Adam Cifu, Marty Makary and Sally Satel should all be part of the Trump healthcare team! I may have missed a couple of others?
Dr. Jay Battacharya should be heavily considered. He was a co-author on The Great Barrington Declaration.
Add Tracy Beth Høeg
Just got off the phone with Mr. Trump. I think he will consider three of the above names but not all four.
I worship at the altar of Dr. Makary.
Peter McCollough and Pierre Kory
Thank you for this thoughtful article.
RFK is an interesting person. I disagree with him on a great many things (particularly in energy and nuclear power). He's kinda crazy, but he does not come across as an idiot. He appears reasonable and thoughtful.
The controversies and complications surrounding all of the Covid shots was inevitably going to lead to the 'anti-vax' crowd getting louder and more sympathy. And when more and more people are wondering why are we doing so many shots for so many things while people are getting more ill, questions rightfully start getting raised.
The only way to prove or disprove any of this is to have good and transparent studies and research. There is absolutely zero good to come of someone saying "show me the evidence and I'll change my mind" and then being told "the professionals say it's safe. shut up and take your shots". If RFK is a reasonable and logical person, showing him the evidence would not only help the discussion with him, but millions of Americans as well. Hopefully we can find common ground and the health sector earn some trust back, because they deserve none right now.
Heck, I would like answers to put to rest that nagging voice in the back of my head saying, "what if he's right?" And obviously, improving our country's food systems is low hanging fruit. The MAHA slogan was impervious to attack. Who doesn't want to be healthy? What was the other side going to do, say your processed foods were safe? Maybe so, doesn't mean they're good for you. Simple ingredients and real food are hard to argue with,
Dr. Prasad, you cite the Hvid MMR/autism study as convincing you that there is no link between MMR and autism. But there may be several issues with that study. At the very least, I have several questions.
1) The children studied were given their first MMR significantly later than US children (at 18 months rather than at 12 months). It is significantly easier to notice developmental regression in an 18-month-old, as 18-month-olds are usually much more verbal and engaged with their families than a 12-month old, so this would seem like an excellent opportunity to assess this most troubling subset of children with autism -- those who develop normally and then have a sudden and significant regression.
I don't see where the Hvid study assesses developmental regression at all; developmental delay yes, but that's an entirely different issue. What's particularly interesting with developmental regression is the potential temporal relationship to vaccination. Was this data never collected? Or just not considered? Surely that would be the most crucial data to consider?
2) If there were unvaccinated children in the study, their data is not shown separately. The "control group" received all other vaccinations except MMR. The study may label them as "unvaccinated," but obviously, that is terribly misleading. So the Hvid study cannot indicate whether or not receiving other vaccines somehow increases susceptibility to neurological sequelae from MMR vaccination.
Isn't it a mistake to look for a single silver bullet if there is a whole firing squad involved?
3) The children studied did not receive ANY thimerosal-preserved vaccines, whereas US children received several thimerosal-containing vaccines up to 2004, when the shelf-life of the vaccines produced in 2001 and earlier expired.
Starting in 2004, the CDC started recommending flu shots for infants 6 months old and up; the two brands approved for infants were available in both non-preserved single-use syringes, and multi-dose, thimerosal-preserved vials. Guess which one was cheaper? Guess which one children in underserved communities were likely to get?
My point here is twofold: first, that the study conclusion may not be relevant to children receiving different vaccines, and at different times, and secondly, that the Hvid study cannot indicate whether or not the MMR is part of a perfect storm of exposures that includes thimerosal exposure. Again, dismissing single bullets while ignoring a firing squad is a bit near-sighted.
4) Children with syndromes and conditions recognized as associated with autism were excluded from the study. -- but what if those are the children at increased risk for more severe autism, AND at increased risk of the kind of vaccine reaction that can trigger seizures and resulting brain damage? Why did the authors exclude them from the study rather than making them a separate arm of the study, to consider increased risk to that group? Isn't there a line crossed here? "Oh, we excluded the children at risk for the reaction we were looking for, we didn't see that reaction in our study group, so it doesn't exist..." ????
5) "To increase the validity of our autism case definition further, we conducted a main analysis with a case definition requiring at least 2 autism diagnosis registrations; an event was defined at date of second autism diagnosis."
What percentage of Danish children with autism diagnoses did NOT have 2 diagnostic registrations? Why would a first autism diagnosis not be counted in this study?
6) "The MMR vaccination status was considered a time-varying variable; children could contribute time as both unvaccinated and vaccinated in our study. " How on earth is that good science, when the majority of children with autism aren't diagnosed or even flagged for assessment until they are school age?
To be clear, I am not saying that MMR causes autism. Among other things, I think that's answering the wrong question. The real question should be: are there children at risk of reactions to MMR and/or other vaccines that result in brain damage with features of autism?
And we already know the answer to that question: https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/pelr/vol28/iss2/6/
Vinay, I have met three people whose kids/niece developed autism right after a vaccine (it's not always the MMR). For one of them, it was so bad, so abrupt that the mother's *other* child had medical exemptions from two different doctors.
Autism is a spectrum, and now a heck of a lot of kids are on it. The CDC refuses to do a vaxxed/unvaxxed study but they already know that it will show a higher autism rate in the vaxxed kids. Some data on this came out of a private practice in either Washington or Oregon where parents had a choice and the doctor let them decide. We think the CDC has that data from their own studies and refuses to publish the raw data.
I'm tired of the autism community being thrown under the bus. No one helps them. People say autism isn't curable and the government does little to help kids out. I know that some cases of autism can be cured as my son was autistic and is completely normal now as well as one of the above cases - the mom got treatment right away and her daughter healed, but it took a while.
My daughter who is the most neuro diverse had reactions to the shots-I watched her retreat into herself after one dose of dtap at 3 months. Scared me & we spaced out vaccines & skipped any of the daycare ones (breastfed kid, no daycare), focusing on slowly getting shots for school. She withdrew, got very quiet again after MMR at age 3. I am trying to be a strong community member, not throw the baby out with the bath water, but I saw what I saw. She also developed more serious eczema after chicken pox vaccine.
Thank you for sharing your story. You are not alone and you are not crazy. Too many people feel like they have to stay silent because the CDC lied and claimed there was no connection. RFK Jr knows this.
My biggest advice is don't get any vaccines after a round of antibiotics. Both adverse events in my family were after a round of antibiotics.....
On the topic of reporting adverse events...twice I reported events. After an utterly annoying and frustrating experience, will never do it again. So that's why we have such significant underreporting of AEs - crap systems that deter reporting.
Here's the question - if vaccine immunity doesn't "stick" with vaccines in the first year, what's the point of getting a ton of vaccines if kids aren't going to be exposed to the disease (Polio for example). If you needed all those doses, you wouldn't have a catch-up schedule with fewer of them. So why not err on the side of caution and give the DTaP (because Pertussis is around) and wait on Polio until a year old?
Why give Hep B to any baby who will not be exposed to a Hep B positive caregiver? Why do pediatricians lie to moms and say it's about getting your teenager immunity in 15 years in case they will have sex when there's a 50% chance of that 15yo having NO immunity at all simply because the series was done before the kid was 1yo?
It's time to revisit the vaccine schedule and the amount of aluminum babies are getting injected into them. RFK Jr knows all of this. And so does the CDC, and they continue to pretend that vaccines are "safe and effective" or as Dr. Offit said "You can give a baby 1000 vaccines and they'll be fine." That's the most ludicrous statement I've ever heard, but that's what we're getting from the CDC.
On of his podcast Dr.Prasad recommended looking at the vaccine schedules of other countries. That is what I already do! I’m willing to give MMR a chance because it is done around the world (Japan, Denmark, etc). But we don’t give first dose until at least age 3. And basically if it’s a vaccine my husband & I didn’t get as children we don’t do it. So absolutely no to Hep B. When my kids are teenagers we may reevaluate.
I’m glad you mentioned listening to RFK,Jr on long form podcasts. I have suggested this to anyone who, off the cuff, calls him a “kook”. Once you hear him out, understand his expertise, and learn what he REALLY wants to do you realize how brilliant and utterly reasonable he is. I think he deserves a chance to improve what is such a corrupt system. I appreciate your support of this Vinay. Like Trump has said before - what do we have to lose?!
To anyone who hasn’t done so I recommend reading “Turtles all the Way Down: Vaccine Science and Myth”….. eye opening….
It would be nice for all of us if you could have a talk/discussion with oncologist Dr William Makis and/or A Midwestern Doctor regarding how IVM and Fenbendazole is helping synergistically when combined with chemo/radiation/ to treat some cancers....
Thanks for this Dr Prasad.
Have you looked into Ed Dowd's data on excess deaths? I'd really appreciate your take on it.
I like Vinay's summary of the info regarding the FDA. We have no idea what the vaccines have done to children b/c of lacking robust follow-up safety data. MMR may not be the cause of autism, however, is it responsible for triggering this disease in children with predispositions? I don't know that we know this for certain.
Also, isn't Ivermectin already "approved"? It's like on the WHO's most needed medication list. The question is simply whether you should be allowed off-label use of it.
Don't forget Biogen's Aduhelm In your list of crap drugs that was approved by FDA with poor evidence + back room handshakes over cocktails with Billy Dunn (who, of course, is on the BOD for Prothena). The only thing that gives me comfort is watching their stock tank on the daily.
newspapers and MedPage Today are going insane with articles warning of the "danger" that will be caused by RFKjr tinkering with our "brilliant" health care system, like we're going to die unless we are vaccinated continuously for everything and our teeth will all rot away the minute aluminum smelting companies are no longer paid to pollute our drinking water with their toxic waste in the name of dental "health."
whatever RFKjr is "right" about or "wrong" about (and i think he is mostly right even about IVM and cancer and certainly about vaccines and autism) things couldn't get much worse with our collective health. why not try something different?
The MMR study that you reference was funded by the foundation of a European pharmaceutical company.