From Newsgroup: rec.sport.tennis


https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/maga-radio-host-cancer-stricken-032602198.html

An ultra-conservative radio host attacked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on
Thursday, saying that his sick wife is unable to receive a
COVID-19 vaccination because of the policies of the secretary of
health and human services.

Erick Erickson, an influential conservative talk show host,
re-posted a New York Times article about declining availability
for the COVID vaccine at pharmacies, and said his wife is one of
the people affected.

"My wife has Stage 4 lung cancer. She is one of the people the
COVID vaccine actually helps," he wrote. "Thanks to the current
mess at HHS, CVS is unable to get her the vaccine."

In response to comments criticizing his take, Erickson further
explained his wife's predicament and sharpened his criticism of
Secretary Kennedy.

"Just for all the people chiming in ignorantly, the vaccine does
not prevent COVID for my wife, but it greatly minimizes the impact
of the virus," he explained. "It's the difference between symptoms
amounting to a runny nose and being bedridden for a prolonged
period of time."

In a video posted on Friday, Erickson called Kennedy a "kook" and
a "conspiracy theorist who is destroying our public health service
in America."

The blistering criticism comes amid chaos at the HHS, which has
been inconsistent in its messaging on the COVID vaccine over the
past few months, and is now dealing with top-level turnover at the
CDC.

The FDA approved updated COVID vaccines for this fall season but
limited who can receive the jabs.

Whereas past iterations of the shot were recommended widely to
most adults and children, the agency only approved the shot for
people aged 65 and older.

Younger people are only eligible if they have at least one
underlying condition, and those under 18 can receive the shot with
the approval of a medical provider.

While Erickson's wife would likely qualify as a person with an
underlying condition, major pharmacies are restricting access to
the vaccine due to the "current regulatory environment."

The Times reported that CVS is now requiring patients to have a
prescription for the vaccine in 13 states, including Erickson's
home state of Georgia, and that the shot is no longer available in Massachusetts, Nevada, and New Mexico.

Walgreens is implementing a similar policy, but in different
states.

Adding to the pain, insurers will likely stop covering the vaccine
for those who are not inside the eligible groups, spiking prices
up to $225 per shot.

The confusion over vaccine eligibility and availability could
worsen in September, when the Advisory Committee on Immunization
Practices (ACIP) is set to review the safety of the COVID vaccine,
along with several other common vaccines.

ACIP does not have final say on which vaccines are recommended by
the CDC, but some states have laws that prohibit pharmacists from administering shots that are not recommended by the panel.

In June, Kennedy fired all 17 members of the panel and replaced
them with a group that includes several vaccine skeptics.

One of the reported reasons that Dr. Susan Monarez was ousted as
CDC Director this week is that she refused to agree to accept
whatever recommendations the ACIP hands down at its Sept. 18
meeting.

Her firing triggered the resignations of three senior officials,
who excoriated Kennedy's management of the agency on their way
out.

Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, one of those senior officials, said on CNN
on Thursday that "no one from my center has ever briefed" Kennedy
on measles or COVID, and that the HHS secretary is "getting
information from somewhere, but that information is not coming
from CDC experts."

In an interview with the Daily Beast, Dr. Daskalakis predicted
that the September ACIP meeting could ring in even more
uncertainty around COVID vaccine access.

"What I worry about is that they're going to use inaccurate data,
or cite the absence of perfect data to actually constrain who can
get the vaccine to a point that almost no one will qualify,"
Daskalakis said.

"Even more concerning is that they could make a recommendation
extremely complicated for no reason," he added. "And that will
confuse clinicians and make them hesitant to provide the vaccine
to people who are requesting it because of concern about
liability."

The Daily Beast has contacted HHS and Erickson for comment.

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Elsewhere I've read RFK Jr. recently hired controversial
proctologist Dr. Peter Lucky as his chief vaccine adviser, who has
helped put the new restrictions in place. Sounds legit!
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