this post was submitted on 17 Jan 2025
459 points (98.5% liked)

politics

19356 readers
1826 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] SarcasticMan@lemmy.world 51 points 1 day ago* (last edited 14 hours ago) (3 children)

I am not a prognosticator, I can't say how bad things will get. I can say that Covid didn't just magically disappear, and Bird Flu won't just go away. The reality is ignoring zoonotic pathogens is a surefire way to kill off a large portion of the population. RFK Jr is just another old fucking shit bag that wants to be right even if he is wrong and who doesn't care if his ignorance or self-righteousness kills you or anyone else. Your health is not his priority. His wealth and power are where his priorities lie. Please take care of yourselves and don't rely on a person with a letter by their name or fame and fortune to save you, they won't. Check on your loved ones, volunteer to help those vulnerable, and be empathetic and kind and we will get through this. Good luck.

Edit: I wanted to expand on the bird flu comment, as a couple of DMs pointed out there have been no sustained human-to-human transmissions of H5N1 to date.

A Science study published in December 2024 identified a single amino acid mutation, Q226L, in the hemagglutinin (HA) protein of H5N1. This mutation increases the virus's affinity for human-type receptors. While it does not enable human-to-human transmission, the virus’s capacity to mutate—especially with prolonged exposure—means it could potentially evolve in that direction.

This concern is underscored by the 2012 Erasmus Medical Center study, where gain-of-function experiments in ferrets demonstrated how easily H5N1 could acquire airborne transmissibility. Combine that with the risk of reassortment with H1N1 or H3N2, and the potential for an H5Nx strain to emerge becomes a legitimate concern.

That said, this is speculative, and I am neither a virologist nor a doctor. Please don't take this as a prediction or diagnosis—just an example of a "what-if" scenario from an old South Texas peckerwood who reads too much.

[–] nthavoc 5 points 1 day ago

He is also missing pieces of his brain ... Just reminding people he claimed to have a brain eating worm.

[–] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago

RFK Jr is just another old fucking shit bag that wants to be right even if he is wrong and who doesn't care if his ignorance or self-righteousness kills you or anyone else. Your health is not his priority.

His priority seems to be to attack big pharma. The arguments made in his petition are focused on the protection of public health. Although to do this he's using evidence from quack doctors and faulty studies.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I hear what you are saying - the reality-based community will do the right thing, most likely (if they are able to - Brainworms may make that difficult).

Unfortunately, herd immunity is a thing. That's why we need a responsible government with sane stewards at the wheel. Having asshats like this in charge will KILL even those that do the right thing when it comes to vaccinations.

[–] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world -3 points 22 hours ago (3 children)

herd immunity is a thing.

It is, but a leaky vaccine doesn't give you it.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 0 points 14 hours ago (1 children)
[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

You posted two different responses to this so I will address them both.

This first one is a study on incarcerated inmate populations who are by definition kept in close, somewhat dirty quarters. A jail shower isn't something you go into barefoot unless you want some funky fungus. This doesn't really apply to everyday populations and even referenced that their lack of community data instead of just incarcerated people limits their findings and they can say about them.

Secondly, your other link implies the opposite about "leaky" vaccines than you are implying.

“We now are entering an era when we are starting to develop next-generation vaccines that are ‘leaky’ because they are for diseases that do not do a good job of producing strong natural immunity — diseases like HIV and malaria,” Read said.

What’s the answer?

Rigorous testing and vigilant monitoring of next-generation vaccines to prevent the evolution of more-virulent strains of viruses will help.

Read sees this as crucial to the current attempt to develop an Ebola vaccine. He notes that secondary techniques can help when using leaky vaccines, such as insecticide-treated bed nets for prevention of malaria.

So for one they are talking about diseases like HIV and malaria are more difficult to address because of their lack of immune response, and for two they point out that secondary techniques help. In reference to your first article, the inmates could have been helped by a secondary technique of separation to reduce transmission.