Here’s Dr. Klotman’s Week 300 video address. I didn’t summarize his Week 299 address because it didn’t address public health at all. It was an interview with one of school’s outreach luminaries. It’s on YouTube for those who may be interested.
My summary of this week’s address appears below:
Measles
- Worldwide, from 2000 to 2024, Measles deaths have decreased 88% saving some 58 million lives, according to the WHO
- This past year, 59 countries have reported large outbreaks
- The epicenter of the most recent US outbreak is in South Carolina
- Public Health is about “treating communities” rather than individuals
- In South Carolina, it appears that the approach to public health, (measles prevention, in this instance,) is, “You should vaccinate your kids, but it’s up to you.” That’s clearly an ineffective public health message
- Most of the 129 confirmed Measles cases in this outbreak are located in Spartanburg; another 290 people have been exposed to those cases and are in quarantine
- In the US, we’ve had 1912 Measles cases in 2025; 11% have resulted in hospitalization, and three people have died
Respiratory Virus Season
- Most respiratory viruses are on the upswing – Influenza A, RSV, and Adenovirus
- SARS CoV-2 activity is still relatively quiet
- Most the Influenza cases are A H3N2, a few are A H1N1, and fewer still are Influenza B
- The H3N2 is subclade K which has some seven mutations that distinguish it from last year’s H3N2 that was used in the current vaccine
- Despite the mismatch, this year’s Flu shot is ~75% effective in preventing hospitalization in kids and ~40% effective in preventing hospitalization in adults
- The CDC estimates that there have already been ~2M cases of Flu, ~20K hospitalizations and ~650 deaths this year
H5N1 Bird Flu
- Commercial flocks in Indiana and four other states have experienced large outbreaks of bird flu affecting mostly duck meat production
- H5N1 can infect a broad number of mammal species – most recently bats
- Infection in wild and domestic mammals heightens the concern that the virus may mutate in a manner that facilitates human infection and transmission
Safety of m-RNA vaccines
- Non-scientists like RFK, Jr and his hand-picked faux ACIP and the FDA have cancelled hundreds of millions of research grants supporting the development of m-RNA vaccines for diverse uses including cancer treatment. RFK & his ACIP insist that m-RNA technology is not “safe”
- A French study of 22.7 million people ages 18-59 who were vaccinated with COVID m-RNA vaccine and 5.9 million unvaccinated were followed for 4-years. The study showed that those vaccinated had a 74% reduction in death due to COVID and no increase in all-cause mortality
- Another study in children revealed that those under 4yo vaccinated with COVID m-RNA vaccine had a 76% decrease in ER and urgent care visits in the 6-months following vaccination. Older children up to age 17 had 56% fewer ER and UC visits
Neonatal Hepatitis B vaccine
- Pediatricians have advocated that all newborns be vaccinated against Hepatitis for at least a couple of decades
- RFK, Jr’s handpicked ACIP has recently advised against it based on a number of erroneous notions including the claim that most countries don’t do that (the truth is that most advanced countries have universal health care and provide Hep-B testing for all mothers and vaccination for all newborns
- In the 1990s, the US had ~1600 cases of neonatal Hepatitis B – a disease that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer. Since vaccination among newborns was begun, there have been fewer than 20 cases/year