by Ruth A. Sheets
I didn’t know until recently that Dolly Parton had donated significant money to Vanderbilt University toward development and testing of a vaccine for COVID 19. I wasn’t surprised because it fit with her philanthropic practices, but it was special that she had offered her gift to my alma mater. I believe her support helped a lot of people to be willing to get the vaccine, particularly in Parton's neck of the woods, where people can be skeptical of medicine, and not without cause.
It's too bad so many ignoramuses, people who should know better, think it's clever or holy or something, to undermine the use of vaccines. Thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people died because those folks in power lied about masks, hand-washing, being in groups, and of course, vaccines DURING THE covid 19 PANDEMIC.
Humans have known of vaccines for around 230 years and inoculation (which is related) for far longer than that. Despite that knowledge, we have a bunch of rich white men in positions of some authority who know nothing of vaccines, but lie about them, which puts people's lives at risk. Clearly their memories are poor enough that they don't remember what those diseases were like. The discomfort and itching of measles and chicken pox, and the agony of mumps are definitely in my memory and I never want anyone to have to go through that. A professor of mine had polio as a kid and at age 58 some of the symptoms were coming back to the point that she often needed to use a wheelchair. Who wants that?
I guess the rich guys who are blurting out the lies and disinformation think they are invulnerable to diseases because, well, they're mostly rich white men, and probably have all been vaccinated for the really bad diseases when they were kids, while telling others not to bother having their kids vaccinated. The ignorance, hypocrisy, and cruelty of these folks is beyond comprehension!
What are they doing, trying to create a world of preventable diseases? Maybe they think it will permit them to control people more effectively, a common goal of such men. Why are we permitting them, in their government roles, to send their lies out so others will suffer? We the People need to curb this insanity! One way is to heavily promote vaccination everywhere we go and explain why it is critical that as many people as possible are vaccinated, following a tried and trusted schedule.
Then, there’s Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in the way, A GUY WITH A FAMOUS NAME, who has no business being in charge of anything; he can't even manage himself. He gets to make pronouncements from his position as Secretary of Health and Human Services, about vaccines, something he knows little to nothing about. He read some stuff online and listens to the folks more ignorant about vaccines than he is for their take. That is not a recipe for health. Of course, they lie that vaccines cause autism and other conditions, as though autism is a horror to be stopped at all costs. OK, there is no evidence that autism is caused by vaccines. The guy who claimed that it was, found himself having his medical license revoked for making up the study he cited. He lied, but many scared parents believed him.
Donald Trump and his sycophantic white house toddler pool are not good judges of people; they only recognize those they can use, RFK,Jr. was and is useful to them, but why?
Donald Trump is not smart enough to understand the value of vaccines; he just sees disinforming folks about vaccines as another way to sow chaos, his favorite activity next to insulting and blaming folks, but that’s another blog.
Trump assumes he will be just fine, with or without vaccines, what’s the difference, after all, he is king, right? When trump got COVID, he was given the newest drugs and treated immediately because he was president. Most people didn't have access too those treatments and many died. Trump has no clue about that because he was and still is wrapped up in his pathetic personal world due to his dementia and lack of empathy for anyone.
RFK,Jr. and the rest of the ignoramuses in Trump’s regime definitely are useful to Trump. Their lies and chaos have been responsible for over a million deaths! Lying about vaccines is part of their death count. The far larger counts include: destroying US AID which exposed millions of poor people around the world to a range of deadly diseases and removed vaccines and treatments from them; left millions with polluted water; stopped the desperately-needed food deliveries that eased starvation; participated with Israel by providing weapons used to kill close to 100,000 people in Gaza, Lebanon, and the West Bank, started a war with Iran where so far, thousands have been killed.
As if that were not enough, immigrants of color have been rounded up and sent to concentration camp prisons (as Jewish, Roma, gay, and other people were by the Nazis before and during WWII). Conditions in ICE concentration camp prisons are deadly (as intended). Innocent hard-working immigrants who have been important members of our communities are, in addition to the concentration camps, deported into dangerous situations from which they had fled, or into “third countries” where they have been imprisoned and threatened with deporting to the countries they originally fled. Some have already died in this process, and diseases have sprung up among those who are imprisoned.
RFK,Jr., ignoramus that he is, symbolizes the utter depravity of the Trumpian regime. I am disgusted that the regime proudly proclaims and wants to force on others their brand of Christianity while they do and espouse acts of appalling non-Christlike cruelty. Yes, Hypocrisy is strong with these Trumplandians!
Right now, voting is one thing We the People can do, every American citizen over age 18, to stop this hoard of EVIL. Another is to get vaccinated for flu, COVID, and other preventable diseases. There are signs that the Trumpian cult is stirring, maybe able to see that their Baby Donnie is no longer functioning and is probably not the person they vowed their loyalty to. We’ll see if they are willing to remove the scales from their eyes for the sake of their children and others by having them properly vaccinated. Could happen!
