The wife of President Donald Trump’s assistant Bill Shine made an astounding claim on Twitter in support of the anti-vaxxer movement on Wednesday that we should “bring back childhood diseases” because they help people fight cancer.
Seriously, Darla Shine actually called for letting deadly childhood diseases run wild in the United States again after CNN reported on a recent measles outbreak in the northwest that has parents living in fear that their child will get sick because of the irresponsibility of anti-vaxxer parents.
Here we go LOL #measlesoutbreak on #CNN #Fake #Hysteria
The entire Baby Boom population alive today had the #Measles as kids
Bring back our #ChildhoodDiseases they keep you healthy & fight cancer— Darla Shine (@DarlaShine) February 13, 2019
Except that surviving the measles would only make a person more immune to the measles. It wouldn’t help anyone beat cancer.
And measles is one of the most deadly and contagious diseases in world history, including in the United States when Baby Boomers were children.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC):
In 1912, measles became a nationally notifiable disease in the United States, requiring U.S. healthcare providers and laboratories to report all diagnosed cases. In the first decade of reporting, an average of 6,000 measles-related deaths were reported each year.
In the decade before 1963 when a vaccine became available, nearly all children got measles by the time they were 15 years of age. It is estimated 3 to 4 million people in the United States were infected each year. Also each year, among reported cases, an estimated 400 to 500 people died, 48,000 were hospitalized, and 1,000 suffered encephalitis (swelling of the brain) from measles.
Because of the MMR vaccine, the measles had been eradicated in the United States by 2000, only for it to return because of anti-vaxxers who don’t believe in science.
As the wife of a White House official, Darla Shine is only endangering the public health by calling for the return of childhood diseases, which would likely kill many children, particularly those in poorer parts of the country such as in red states that support Trump. Is Darla Shine calling for the death of Trump supporters’ children?
Because it certainly sounds like she is advocating for death and maiming, which is why Twitter users called her and the anti-vaxxer movement out.
Ahhh yes, we all know how cancer is non-existent among baby boomers. You clown.
— Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) February 13, 2019
And that’s why people used to die in childhood.
— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) February 13, 2019
Yours is a monstrously bad take https://t.co/vMKJNxpywQ
— Detective Snorlax (@Bowdenx3) February 13, 2019
My friend’s daughter is deaf because of LOL measles. LOL childhood diseases contracted during pregnancy cause serious birth defects. Does this LOL at preventable misery reflect the WH press office position @PressSec?
— Michele Manion (@Mickee7) February 13, 2019
My aunt, my neighbours parents were deaf bc meningitis, measles and mumps. So LOL. When I started to work as a pediatrician I met a pasient with SSPE due to measles, infected as a newborn. Slow slow death.
— Kris Biel (@Krisbi312) February 13, 2019
People who survive gunshots prove guns aren’t deadly ?
— Gregg Feldt (@BlueScreenError) February 13, 2019
Uhhh what? That’s just not how science works. My 4 year old had her latest round of shots Monday. Was she sad? Yes. Will she grow up to avoid preventable diseases? Also yes. Will she be told vaccines work and people who say they’re dangerous/unnecessary are WRONG? SO MUCH YES.
— The Antipinterester (@antipinterester) February 13, 2019
Guess when the Measles vaccine was introduced #fake #notnews #dangerous pic.twitter.com/cT0D0Z4AIB
— Kevin Driver ⚡️❤️ (@KevinDr_ver) February 13, 2019
Would you like to try a delicious asbestos-and-lead paint lollipop?
— Kerri B (@kermelbar) February 13, 2019
Congrats on the dumbest tweet in the 21st century.
— Steve Saideman (@smsaideman) February 13, 2019
Most Baby Boomers are the first generation to be vaccinated…they were also the first Americans to see a year with fewer than 100,000 measles cases (1967)
— Gator Neil Jr. (@gatorneiljr) February 13, 2019
The Trump administration is taking America back to a time when children needlessly died from a disease that had once been eradicated from our shores. Clearly, the anti-vaxxer movement has reached the White House and this country is marching toward a full-blown measles epidemic that scientists and medical professionals can only hope to contain. As long as people in the anti-vaxxer movement are in positions of power and influence, the health of our nation is only going to get worse.
Featured Image: Wikimedia
