A few months ago, the film and culture critic Neal Gabler wrote on his Substack about the many state-sanctioned killings authorized by the Trump regime:

“Donald Trump kills. He kills government, he kills the rule of law, he kills checks and balances, he kills the Constitution, he kills science, common sense, common decency, morality, compassion, community, order, responsibility, accountability, seriousness, decorum, politesse, and just about every other value and institution and tradition on which he can get his dirty grifter’s hands.”

Gabler forgot to add that he also kills the health of the American people. Yesterday, the Food and Drug Administration, an agency once considered the gold standard among global health regulators, approved mRNA Covid vaccines for this fall with a label recommending they be limited to seniors and adults and children over five with at least one chronic medical condition. All healthy adults and children — at least half the population — are not on that list.

There were no scientific justifications for these limitations — none in the FDA pronouncement and none in the scientific literature.

Next up will be the recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new and degraded vaccine advisory panel. It could refuse to offer any endorsement for this year’s vaccine. The eight-member panel, installed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after firing its 17 predecessors, includes numerous vaccine skeptics. (Shortly after this article was posted, Kennedy dismissed CDC chief Susan Monarez after she “ran afoul” of Kennedy “by objecting to his changes to the panel of experts who advise the agency on vaccine policy,” according to the New York Times.)

Should the CDC refuse to endorse vaccination, it will trigger state laws that prevent pharmacies from administering vaccines not recommended by the CDC. Pharmacies are the site for 90 percent of Covid vaccinations, including almost all delivered to seniors and other vulnerable populations, according to another story today in the New York Times. States that have such laws include California, Florida and Massachusetts.

Spreading disease

No matter what the CDC does, Covid vaccine rates, already low, are certain to fall farther after today’s announcement. Vaccine rates have fallen to under 25 percent among all adults and less than 13 percent for children under 18, according to the CDC.

That is certain to increase the incidence of the disease, even if those already infected have very mild cases or fail to show symptoms. The usually mild Covid cases that healthy adults and children under 65 experience was the FDA’s rationale for refusing to endorse their need for vaccination.

However, sick people of any age spread the virus through tiny aerosolized particles that can linger in the air and infect people nearby for hours, especially in crowded or poorly ventilated indoor spaces. Sick people infect vulnerable people. That’s why vaccination rates need to be high.

This is especially true for American schools, especially when located in older buildings. Most are poorly ventilated. During the pandemic, infected children were a major vector for spreading the disease to adults in their households. With adult and senior vaccination rates falling, we’re likely to death rates from Covid rising again this fall, especially among vulnerable populations.

We’re also likely to see rising caseloads of Long Covid, which strikes many people who only experienced a mild case of the disease. See this recent GoozNews post on the rising incidence of Long Covid and its impact on health and the economy.

This decision is one more affirmation that the Trump regime, to use Gabler’s formulation, “kills science, common sense, common decency, morality, compassion (and) community.” Encouraging healthy adults and children to go unvaccinated poses a direct threat to the health and well-being of their older, sicker family members, friends and the general public as they go about their daily business.

It is the perfect expression of the Trump regime’s reigning philosophy. The only thing that matters for the MAGA-ites and the president is how it affects me. It is an indecent, immoral and uncompassionate philosophy. It is a threat to the community. It is the hallmark of our times under authoritarian rule.

Merrill Goozner, the former editor of Modern Healthcare, writes about health care and politics at GoozNews.substack.com, where this column first appeared. Please consider subscribing to support his work.

Reprinted with permission from GoozNews