@
Waveney In the narrow, focused view you are mostly correct.
However bacterial meningitis is largely preventable with vaccines especially given to high risk populations (e.g. sickle cell disease patients who are functionally asplenic, dormitory populations (e.g. students, military cadets) and through the use of appropriate PPE (personal protective equipment) and antibiotic prophylaxis to close contacts. There are multiple strands of
n. meningitides as well as other types of both bacteria (e.g.
h influenza) and other pathogens that can cause meningitis—hence multiple vaccines.
Neisseria meningitidis can cause death either through overt meningitis or through septicemia. Those deaths can occur very, very rapidly and even if appropriate antibiotics are administered as quickly as possible the death rate is between 8 — 15 %. In others, it can simply be harbored in their bodies as part of their normal flora.
But that’s not the reason as to why I posted this. Here is why:
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr was appointed as the head of HHS in the United States in early 2025. He is a rabid
vaccine denier and since his appointment he has already made a number of incredibly dangerous policy changes with ZERO actual evidence. The net results of his changes make it more difficult to obtain vaccines, allow some insurance programs to deny coverage, and spread and falsely “legitimize” potentially deadly misinformation. He has drawn criticism for fueling vaccine hesitancy amid a social climate that gave rise to the deadly measles outbreaks in Samoa, Tonga, and West Texas as well as current outbreaks of measles and pertussis (whooping cough) throughout the United States.
His extremely ill advised one man crusade against the vaccines used to prevent potentially deadly and damaging infectious diseases apparently dates back to a seriously flawed if not outright dishonest article published in the British Medical Journal
The Lancet in 1998 by Andrew Wakefield who was attempting to falsely label the
MMR as having a causative relationship with autism. This is especially egregious because held a patent for a rival measles vaccine he hoped to market. The article was widely and thoroughly debunked although it took years for
The Lancet to retract it. Yet Kennedy continues to press this falsehood which has endangered countless children worldwide and fueled the anti-Vaxer movement.
His recent attacks on vaccines and other already validated public health concepts, policies, and guidelines—all without a shred of legitimate data—as well as his blocking of funding, firing of recognized experts to be replaced with his hand picked cronies, and his lack of credentials to even be nominated for such a position as the lead of HHS all have had a disastrous effect on public health in America and around the world.
