Taking Your Best Shot
Two weeks ago, I wrote here about Trump's bizarre and wildly inaccurate claim that the MMR vaccine (which combines vaccines for mump, measles and rubella) could be lethal. "I've heard when you put them together, they can be explosive," he added, contrary to all known and rational medical and scientific reality. Despite that, Trump made an executive order to separate the MMR vaccine.
In my article, I noted that "I was talking with a physician friend yesterday about Trump’s edicts on vaccines. He, of course, was galled by it, but it was his comments about Trump wanting to separate the MMR vaccine that leaped out.
"He said, and I’m paraphrasing, but closely – That is not an easy thing to do. It will take several years. You can’t just take three vaccines out of the MMR and have everything ready to go. It required a long time to develop how to get the three vaccines into one vaccine, and have all the parts work together. So, to separate the MMR into three individual vaccines is something that will take years – and each separate vaccine one would then have to be extensively tested, as well.'"
On Sunday, Trump's administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz, was grilled on the CBS show Face the Nation by host Margaret Brendan about Trump's statement. And "grilled" is the proper word because, to Brennan's credit, she wouldn't let Dr. Oz avoid answering by repeatedly changing the topic. Oz had so much trouble answering the question, rushing his mixed thoughts, that at one point he even began to stumble over his words, ""The p-p-president wants Americans -- he said this many times -- to get vaccinated as their doctors recommend," quickly moving on the discussing state laws. Which wasn't what he was being asked at all, rather if the doctor thought the MMR vaccine was "lethal."
But it was when Margaret Brennan returned yet again to the question she was trying to get an answer for that I smiled. Because she said --
"The MMR is not offered in three separate shots. Merck, which produces it, said they could not offer that for another 10 years [emphasis added]. Currently it is only offered as a single shot. The president called that single shot lethal. Do you want to clarify that?"
And yes, I passed this along to my physician friend. Not that he needed the confirmation -- he of course knew the reality, which is why he said it. Still, though, it's always nice to be confirmed on national television.
Anyway, after all this pressing, trying to avoid contradicting his boss who never admits being wrong about anything, Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, finally answered, "The MMR vaccine is not a lethal vaccine."
In fact, Brennan even pressed further when Dr. Oz quickly tried to point out that in Japan they did separate the MMR vaccine into three shots, by interrupting him to explain that they actually had problems with the separated vaccines (as my doctor friend said, doing so requires new testing) and also that it was more expensive, which was a problem for low-income children.
No word yet on whether or not Dr. Oz has been fired for reluctantly acknowledging reality.
Additionally, given that it will take a decade for Merck to separate the three vaccines and test them for efficacy and safety, it seems likely between now and then, when new administrations are elected to the White House, that Trump's totally unnecessary, problematic and more-expensive executive order (which also will force children -- who hate getting any shots -- to get three vaccinations where now they only need one) will be withdrawn.
In the end, though, the very best news of all is that, even in Japan where they had problems after separating the MMR into three vaccines (which were also more expensive), there turned out to have been absolutely no evidence of the original MMR vaccine ever once exploding!!
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