During my residency we had a teenage girl who was sent home from the ER because we thought she had the flu. She died that night. None of us will ever forget. Meningococcal disease is absolutely one of every pediatrician's worst nightmares. Thank you so much, Jonathan and Antoine and Claire, for this timely, well-researched and heartbreaking article.
This might seem unrelated, but yesterday my husband was weeping for Alex Pretti. We lost my husband’s youngest son to pancreatic cancer in 2024. My husband said: I can’t imagine how I would feel if my own government had killed my son.
I am convinced this administration is trying to kill as mnay people as they can. God bless Antoine and Claire for sharing their story - I know I would not be as strong as they are if I lost my 6 month old son.
As a parent of three adult children, the first two of whom were born in Denmark, I can tell you that the population is very cooperative, because the Danish medical system makes it easy for them to comply with recommendations. When an appointment time is assigned to you, you show up, because your employer has to give you paid time off. There are no co-pays. There is a Danish "way" of having a baby (including prenatal care, free vitamins, etc.) which includes liberal post-partum time in the maternity ward. Not a deluxe private, hotel-like room where the other parent can room-in (and they kick you out after 24 hrs), but a large ward with as many as 8 mothers and babies. But you can stay as long as you like, provided they don't need your bed. Attend exercise classes, breast-feeding support training, nutrition education. Leave when you feel ready. I stayed almost a week for both of mine born there (although it WAS noisy!).
And the visiting nurse will come to your flat once a week, then once a month, for the baby's first year. Yes, it's like a national HMO with your GP as gatekeeper. Pediatricians are considered specialists and you don't get one unless the GP can't handle something. So yeah, they make sure you comply with the vaccine schedule, even to the point of going to you if you miss an appointment.
Americans probably wouldn't stand for that amount of intrusion and would want to schedule their own appointments, which many would fail to do.
I caught "the rarest form" of meningitis when I was six months old, well before vaccines were available. The doctors told my parents to "replace" me as I would not survive. Thanks to various miracles, I did survive, and have few signs of the awful fever. I feel for Antoine and Claire, and call on everyone to get their vaccines. F*#k RFK.
The insanity under Kennedy is and will continue to kill and maim people especially children and the coward Bill Cassidy has blood on his hands, and trump is primarying him anyway, a coward deserves what he gets.
This is heartbreaking. It seems to me there is a fundamental misunderstanding in how vaccines work. The true effectiveness of vaccines is not how much it protects an individual, but rather how it protects the group as a whole. If a vaccine is 99% effective at preventing disease, that means there is a 1% chance of contracting the disease every time the patient comes in contact with it. So the more people that potentially carry a disease, the greater the chance a vaccinated person encounters it, which means a greater chance of the vaccinated person catching the disease. For example, three encounters, multiply the probability of NOT getting disease: 99% x 99% x 99% = 97%. BTW if I am wrong in this interpretation of efficacy, please correct me!
My point is this: The anti-vax line that its about "individual choice" is misleading. The choice of an unvaccinated individual absolutely impacts vaccinated individuals. It is NOT an individual choice.
Isaac Azimov, the famed science fiction writer and equally famed academic biochemist and author of one of the then-standard texbooks, said more lucidly than I could...and I'm green with envy:
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'” And:
“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”
Thank you, Mr Cohn. Fantastically well reported and informative. Also, harrowing and heartbreaking. Expertise and empiricism are being slashed everywhere, yet another feature, not a bug, of authoritarianism.
As an RN, I saw any number of children with meningitis. Years later I am still terrified when I think of it! A few dies and some never recovered entirely. RFK understands nothing about clinical medicine and decision making.
During my residency we had a teenage girl who was sent home from the ER because we thought she had the flu. She died that night. None of us will ever forget. Meningococcal disease is absolutely one of every pediatrician's worst nightmares. Thank you so much, Jonathan and Antoine and Claire, for this timely, well-researched and heartbreaking article.
Thank you Jonathan.
Wow. There’s so much in this article to digest. This is so dangerous. Heartbreaking.
This might seem unrelated, but yesterday my husband was weeping for Alex Pretti. We lost my husband’s youngest son to pancreatic cancer in 2024. My husband said: I can’t imagine how I would feel if my own government had killed my son.
I am convinced this administration is trying to kill as mnay people as they can. God bless Antoine and Claire for sharing their story - I know I would not be as strong as they are if I lost my 6 month old son.
As a parent of three adult children, the first two of whom were born in Denmark, I can tell you that the population is very cooperative, because the Danish medical system makes it easy for them to comply with recommendations. When an appointment time is assigned to you, you show up, because your employer has to give you paid time off. There are no co-pays. There is a Danish "way" of having a baby (including prenatal care, free vitamins, etc.) which includes liberal post-partum time in the maternity ward. Not a deluxe private, hotel-like room where the other parent can room-in (and they kick you out after 24 hrs), but a large ward with as many as 8 mothers and babies. But you can stay as long as you like, provided they don't need your bed. Attend exercise classes, breast-feeding support training, nutrition education. Leave when you feel ready. I stayed almost a week for both of mine born there (although it WAS noisy!).
And the visiting nurse will come to your flat once a week, then once a month, for the baby's first year. Yes, it's like a national HMO with your GP as gatekeeper. Pediatricians are considered specialists and you don't get one unless the GP can't handle something. So yeah, they make sure you comply with the vaccine schedule, even to the point of going to you if you miss an appointment.
Americans probably wouldn't stand for that amount of intrusion and would want to schedule their own appointments, which many would fail to do.
I caught "the rarest form" of meningitis when I was six months old, well before vaccines were available. The doctors told my parents to "replace" me as I would not survive. Thanks to various miracles, I did survive, and have few signs of the awful fever. I feel for Antoine and Claire, and call on everyone to get their vaccines. F*#k RFK.
The insanity under Kennedy is and will continue to kill and maim people especially children and the coward Bill Cassidy has blood on his hands, and trump is primarying him anyway, a coward deserves what he gets.
This is heartbreaking. It seems to me there is a fundamental misunderstanding in how vaccines work. The true effectiveness of vaccines is not how much it protects an individual, but rather how it protects the group as a whole. If a vaccine is 99% effective at preventing disease, that means there is a 1% chance of contracting the disease every time the patient comes in contact with it. So the more people that potentially carry a disease, the greater the chance a vaccinated person encounters it, which means a greater chance of the vaccinated person catching the disease. For example, three encounters, multiply the probability of NOT getting disease: 99% x 99% x 99% = 97%. BTW if I am wrong in this interpretation of efficacy, please correct me!
My point is this: The anti-vax line that its about "individual choice" is misleading. The choice of an unvaccinated individual absolutely impacts vaccinated individuals. It is NOT an individual choice.
As someone who had bacterial meningitis in my 20s this makes me sick. I was lucky and recovered, after a week in a coma, but many others do not
Isaac Azimov, the famed science fiction writer and equally famed academic biochemist and author of one of the then-standard texbooks, said more lucidly than I could...and I'm green with envy:
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'” And:
“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”
Res ipsa loquitur. Have a nice day...anyway.
Thank you for covering this incredibly important story. I pray Americans will listen.
Thank you Jonathan. This one weedsy and I'm totally here for it. I learn a lot from your reporting.
If I was a parent, I would ignore all advice from RFK Jr. His brand of health care will kill you.
Thank you, Mr Cohn. Fantastically well reported and informative. Also, harrowing and heartbreaking. Expertise and empiricism are being slashed everywhere, yet another feature, not a bug, of authoritarianism.
As an RN, I saw any number of children with meningitis. Years later I am still terrified when I think of it! A few dies and some never recovered entirely. RFK understands nothing about clinical medicine and decision making.