Whether one likes Dr. Mehmet Oz or his politics, he is a real life doctor of medicine. In an article in The Guardian by Marina Dunbar called “‘Take the vaccine, please,’ Dr Oz urges amid rising measles cases in US” he makes a straightforward request.
The subtitle adds context: “Health official’s endorsement comes as South Carolina faces hundreds of cases and US risks losing elimination status.” It should be noted that last winter, Texas alsi had a measles outbreak.
Here are a few paragraphs: “A senior US public health official called on Americans to get vaccinated against measles as outbreaks continue in multiple states and concerns grow that the country could lose its measles elimination designation. Dr Mehmet Oz, a cardiothoracic surgeon, spoke in support on Sunday of the measles vaccine.
‘Take the vaccine, please,’ said Oz, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. ‘We have a solution for our problem.’
‘Not all illnesses are equally dangerous and not all people are equally susceptible to those illnesses,’ he told CNN’s State of the Union. ‘But measles is one you should get your vaccine.’
His boss, health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, has a long history of questioning both the safety and necessity of vaccines.
The remarks come as South Carolina is experiencing an outbreak involving hundreds of cases, exceeding the number recorded in Texas’ measles outbreak earlier in 2025. Another outbreak has been identified along the Utah-Arizona border, and several additional states have reported confirmed cases this year. Children have been the most affected.”
Measles was pretty much eradicated in the US for many years until the anti-vaxxers blew up data points to paint a much riskier image. Folks like RFK, Jr. used his name to push this overstated risk. No vaccine is perfect. None. But, the number of bad outcomes is quite small relative to the great number of exposures.
musingsofanoldfart 