You can see Dr. Klotman’s Week 313 video address here. My summary follows.
IDM and ETP
- Medicine is replete with acronyms, and clinical folk have no want of snarky ones such as FLK (Funny Looking Kid), UBI (Wseless Bit of Information) and the like
- IDM is Dr. Klotman’s acronym for Indefensible Decision Making (think Government at its worst)
- ETP is a new term for Enlightened Thought Processes that Dr. Klotman has chosen to describe a recent court decision finding that RFK’s restructuring of the ACIP and the revised childhood vaccination schedule were likely illegal – every credible Pediatrician thinks the same!
- The judge’s decision was based on the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) that governs how government agencies go about the important process of “rule making.” My friends and former workmates Susan Syler, Tim Kruse, Jackie Johnson, and others know this better than I do.
Measles
- We’re up to 1362 cases thus far in 2026, and 65 patients have required hospitalization
- >90% were unvaccinated; only 4% had had two doses of MMR
- These Measles cases have cost the US an estimated $244 million dollars – an estimated $1B by year’s end
- The phenomenon of “immune amnesia” that follows Measles infection leads to excess childhood deaths due to other infections. Measles infection damages the immune system’s ability to fight off other infections
COVID
- COVID is declining in most states; Texas, in particular, has very low COVID activity at this time
- ER visits, hospitalizations, and deaths attributable to COVID are all declining in Texas
Flu
- The CDC reports that 111 children have died of Flu this season
- Most states, including Texas, are showing a decline in Flu cases as respiratory virus season comes to a close
Vaccines
- Moderna has developed and tested a combined, m-RNA, COVID-Flu vaccine that is non-inferior to m-RNA vaccine against COVID and high dose Flu vaccine in people 50+ years old
- This combined vaccine will probably be approved in Europe, but RFK’s unilateral opposition to m-RNA vaccines makes it unlikely that the FDA will approve this vaccine in the US
My Thoughts: I’ve posted about “immune amnesia” in the past. Measles infection has a way of stunning our immune system’s “memory.” Memory of infections previously recognized by the immune system is somehow “reset” or “erased” by Measles infection. The classic example is Tuberculosis infection, but there are others. So, Measles isn’t just an infection with respiratory-dermatological manifestations, but one with far-reaching and long-lasting injuries to our normal defense systems. This is where the superficial knowledge of disease that is shared among the laity does the most harm, I think. People like RFK and his followers don’t have the clinical background to appreciate how this “seemingly innocuous” childhood illness leads to so much preventable suffering and death.