Excerpts from an article in the Sun 4 Oct 2026 Guardian:
Pennsylvania health officials brace themselves as measles outbreak expected to spread
Most counties don’t have their own health agencies, and some specific population groups have low vaccination rates
His specialty is environmental law, so naturally, Trump put him in charge of health — just another incompetent that Trump has made head of a department for which they have zero qualifications.
Do you remember when measles was eliminated in America because of vaccinations? That was two years ago, before Trump appointed “Witch Doctor Kennedy.”
Now, children are sickening and dying of this preventable disease.
Pennsylvania is bracing for a wave of measles cases, with some public health officials concerned that it’s “only a matter of time” until the disease spreads beyond the outbreak’s epicenter.
Last week, the state reported its fifth measles-associated death amid 943 confirmed cases across 39 counties. The outbreak comes amid concerns that public health in the US has been hit by increasing vaccine skepticism, especially due to the power and influence of controversial health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Lancaster county, which doesn’t have its own health department, has seen the highest amount of cases, at 381, believed to be mostly among the Amish or similar religious groups who have historically low rates of measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine uptake.
Jeanne Franklin, director of Chester County’s health department, said her county, which has the third-highest number of cases at 83, is preparing for an influx of cases from neighboring Lancaster.
“We have a very long border with Lancaster County, and these types of disease don’t care about borders,” Franklin said. “It’s going to keep going and find a person who isn’t vaccinated.
She added that although many Amish people have not been vaccinated, it’s not because they are anti-vaxxers, but rather because “they were either unaware of it or they don’t seek out healthcare as frequently as other residents”.
She added: “But they’re willing to have the conversation and make a decision on what’s happening today. They’re not making decisions based on the myths out there, but because their neighbors are impacted.”
Amid active surveillance of measles cases, contact tracing and setting up community vaccination centers, the county is also working to dispel misinformation some residents have about vaccine safety.
A Return to the Dark Ages of Myth, Rumor and Magic
We have people in key positions saying “it isn’t an outbreak, it isn’t a problem.”
That would be Trump’s witch doctor. But wait. Trump and his family have been vaccinated, but he hired an anti-vaxxer for the rest of us.
But it “isn’t a problem” that children are dying, is it?
We have people who approach our nurses and say that they were told the vaccine will make them sterile, or that there’s a microchip within it,” Franklin said.
That is what Republicans believe, because a Republican phony told them so.
Dr. Richard Lorraine, the medical director of Montgomery County’s Office of Public Health, said it is a “matter of time” before the third most populous county in Pennsylvania begins to see measles cases.
“We recognize that essentially it’s all around us, and so a big focus for the county is immunization,” Lorraine said. “It’s the best preventative measure and where the county is focusing its efforts on.”
Meanwhile, Trump’s witch doctor is in a state of denial.
And our children keep dying.
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Excerpts from Florida Sun Sentinel, 10.4.2026
Florida pushes forward on vaccines repeal for children, By Ana Goñi-Lessan News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Department of Health is moving forward with its push to remove the requirement for four vaccines for children entering schools.
The DOH also announced a public meeting next Thursday in Lake Mary to discuss repealing the requirement of four vaccines from entry requirements for PreK-12 public and private schools. Immunizations for Hepatitis B, varicella (chicken pox), Haemophilus influenza type b (Hib) and pneumococcal conjugate would no longer be required to attend Florida schools under the proposal.
The move has been in play for over a year after Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced his intent to get rid of all vaccine mandates in the state.
The Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics said in a statement they “remain concerned,” about the state’s move to weaken the state’s vaccination mandates.
“Florida’s pediatricians will continue to make their voices heard in opposition to this proposed rule that would undermine the health of Florida’s children and communities,” the statement reads. “When school vaccine protections are eliminated, immunization rates decrease, leaving more people, including those too young or medically unable to be vaccinated themselves, vulnerable to contracting these dangerous illnesses.”
In a comment submitted by FCAAP in opposition to the proposed rule, the advocacy group estimated the repeal of vaccination requirements in Florida would result in a reduction of the state’s GDP by $74 million in the first year and nearly $9 billion over a decade.
Attempts to repeal all vaccine mandates in the state began over a year ago when Gov. Ron DeSantis and Ladapo called on the Legislature to change state law. Legislative action is needed to remove the requirements for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, polio, diphtheria, rubeola and tetanus vaccines.
But even though the move to repeal all vaccine mandates was supported by DeSantis, First Lady Casey DeSantis and then-Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas, no legislator filed a bill in any of the multiple legislative sessions in 2026.
Multiple attempts at a “Medical Freedom” bill that would have expanded vaccine exemptions and mandated doctors to provide an alternate vaccine schedule passed the state Senate but failed to pass the state House.
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