I wish many vaccines were available when I was a child and had …

Measles, mumps, chicken pox and my friend got polio.

Based on a recent Senate hearing, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. denied making the statement that more people died from the COVID-19 vaccine than from COVID-19 itself.

However, he has a history of making false or misleading claims about vaccines. During the hearing, he was pressed on a 2021 statement in which he called the COVID-19 vaccine the “deadliest vaccine ever made,” which he said was based on Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) reports. He also acknowledged that he agrees with an appointee to a CDC advisory panel who stated that “mRNA vaccines cause serious harm, including death, especially among young people.”

It is important to note that these claims are not supported by the overwhelming consensus of the scientific and medical communities. Studies have repeatedly shown that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and highly effective in preventing severe illness, hospitalization, and death from the virus.

Vaccines are considered one of the most successful public health interventions in history, and they have saved a staggering number of lives.

According to a landmark 2024 study published in The Lancet, global immunization efforts have saved an estimated 154 million lives since 1974. The vast majority of these lives—about 95%—were children under the age of five. This is equivalent to saving six lives every minute of every day for the past 50 years.

The most significant impact has been from the measles vaccine, which accounts for more than 60% of the lives saved.

In addition to preventing deaths, vaccines also save countless people from long-term disability and illness. The study also estimated that for every life saved, an average of 66 years of full health were gained, totaling over 10 billion years of full health globally since 1974

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The future of our healthcare is being attacked in other more indirect ways under the ideology of smaller government and less spending, but one wonders at what cost to our future health.

• Proposed Budget Cuts: The administration’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2026 includes a nearly $18 billion cut to the NIH, which would be a reduction of over one-third of its current budget. The proposal argues that the NIH has “grown too big and unfocused.”
• Consolidation of Institutes: The plan suggests consolidating the 27 existing NIH institutes and centers into five main entities. ^{It also proposes to eliminate funding for several specific institutes, including the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the National Institute of Nursing Research, and the Fogarty International Center.}
• Limiting Indirect Costs: The administration has attempted to cap the “indirect costs” that universities and research institutions can receive from federal grants. Indirect costs cover overhead expenses like lab equipment, utilities, and administrative staff. The proposed cap of 15% would be a significant reduction for many institutions, which often negotiate much higher rates. These cuts have been challenged in court and have been temporarily or permanently blocked by federal judges.
• Political Influence on Grants: An executive order issued in August 2025 gives political appointees the power to override peer-review recommendations and cancel federal grants that are not “consistent with agency priorities.”
• Targeted Funding Freezes: The administration has frozen billions of dollars in research grants for specific institutions, most notably Harvard University. These freezes were challenged in court, and a federal judge ruled that they constituted illegal retaliation. The administration has vowed to appeal the decision.

Our government is being run by ideology warped nutters with a myopic view.

Everything from peace, the economy and your health is at a growing risk of becoming unraveled.