Measles is Back, And RFK Jr. is Making It Worse: an EYP interview with Jessica Malaty Rivera
The internet's favorite epidemiologist explains what's happening with measles, if we should be worried about this year’s flu vaccine, and what she wishes other moms would understand
A child in Texas has already died, the first measles death in the U.S. in a decade. Hundreds of others are sick, and outbreaks are popping up across the country. Parents of young kids are actually keeping them out of daycare until they can be vaccinated. And instead of doing everything possible to stop it, the person in charge of public health is actually making it worse.
I’ve been getting a lot of questions from all of you about how to navigate breaking measles news from the mainstream media in addition to information coming out of this administration since the two of them are often at odds. As always, I want to bring in experts who know way more than I do about a topic. This is something I’m trying to do more of as I grow the substack so that I can make sure we are getting the most accurate information possible amidst all of the disinformation we are being served daily.
This is more important than ever. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the longtime vaccine skeptic who is now somehow our nation’s top health official, has already started gutting vaccine policy. He’s canceling key meetings, casting doubt on routine childhood shots, and pushing unproven “treatments” instead of the one thing we know works: vaccination.
Today I’m bringing in Jessica Malaty Rivera to answer all of our questions. She’s an infectious disease epidemiologist and science communicator who has spent over 15 years in the trenches of emerging infectious disease research, vaccine advocacy, and public health policy. You might recognize her from her time as the Science Communication Lead at The COVID Tracking Project, where she became a go-to voice during the pandemic, making data and public health guidance accessible to millions.
Jessica is also a mom of three and a fierce advocate for fighting misinformation in the digital age. She’s incredible at taking complicated, and often controversial, topics and making them easily digestible with information backed by proven science.
Emily:
Most of us grew up assuming measles was gone. It felt like something our grandparents worried about but that modern medicine had handled. But now it’s back. The thing about measles is that I don’t think a lot of people (including RFK Jr.) realize how dangerous it actually is.There’s this common perception that it’s just a rash and a fever. There are even people throwing “measles parties” in the hope of giving their kids immunity. But it can often be serious and right now it is sending a bunch of kids to the hospital. Can you break down why measles is so serious?