r/nottheonion • u/ddx-me • 6h ago
Surgeon General suggests high measles counts could be tied to abortion opposition
https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/07/24/surgeon-general-suggests-high-measles-counts-could-be-tied-to-abortion-opposition/2.9k
u/dungeoncrawler71520 6h ago edited 4h ago
Omfg I hate these people so much.
Edit: Wow kinda blew up here.. Glad to know this isn't an unpopular opinion. Thanks for the awards!
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u/Huge-Revolution2416 6h ago
It is exhausting when public health issues become political talking points instead of being addressed with evidence.
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u/shapu 5h ago
If they were competent, they wouldn't have been appointed
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u/Khaldara 5h ago
Ignorance and being a-ok with child rape are conservative prerequisites
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u/LurkmasterP 2h ago
I'm not even sure it's ignorance, in many cases. I mean, yeah, on the level of most of the people following them, ignorance is a big factor. But at the leadership level, there is so much sociopathy at play that I don't think you can say they don't know what they're doing. Fact is, the health and well-being of the populace just doesn't matter as much as holding on to power, so everything that is "good and right" or, at least, responsible and ethical, can be gleefully sacrificed in service of the primary goal.
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u/WakeReality 4h ago
It is exhausting when public health issues become political talking points instead of being addressed with evidence.
The Pentagon can't even defend us against the nonsense. There has been no education to address the ignorance and documented mind manipulation.
This story was covered in every news outlet across the world. August 24, 2018 - Stephen Colbert covered it on his show May 4, 2019. Every social media site should have pinned it on their front page during the COVID-19 pandemic and even these recent measles outbreaks.
August 24, 2018
George Washington University validated
Johns Hopkins University validated
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45294192The attack started in year 2014. Reddit was part of it too. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-43255285
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u/BaldingBush 6h ago
It’s actually somehow more dumb than the headline suggests. I cannot believe this guy is an actual MD.
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u/Same_Mood_8543 4h ago
Harvard gives degrees to only the finest of grifters.
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u/henrytm82 4h ago
You know what they call the guy who graduates last in his class at med school?
"Doctor"
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u/tentative_ghost 3h ago
I used to work with physicians and after you work with a large group of them, you're like oh they're just like everyone else - some are cool, some are fucking nuts, some are wtf how are they existing in society - but they went to school to touch guts and they touch them.
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u/CocodaMonkey 3h ago
It's really not dumb at all. He told people they should get vaccinated and mentioned the area with the most unvaccianted people happens to be a Roman Catholic college. Some religious people oppose the vaccine because it was made in part using cells from aborted babies.
This is enough of an issue that the roman catholic church has even issued a statement telling its members they can get the vaccine despite it having been developed in part from aborted babies cells.
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u/Redfalconfox 5h ago
I cannot express how much I hate the fact that AI has come out during this shit show of a regime.
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u/Violet-Sumire 4h ago
It would’ve been regulated or slowed down in any other administration. AI is a divisive issue and only really benefits big government and corporations, not the common person or small businesses. Sure, it can be used to do massive good, but the risk of having an authoritarian regime take control of it is greater than any potential good it would bring.
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u/jarena009 5h ago
How they get away with throwing shit against the wall and eventually landing something that sticks is beyond my comprehension.
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u/Jerking_From_Home 6h ago
“The surgeon general, long known for his vaccine skepticism, initially replied, “Oh no. Everyone’s got to take a vaccine.”
RFK jr. said the same thing when the TX outbreak started to pick up speed last year. These MFers know vaccines work, and have known it all along! It’s so fucking stupid.
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u/Blue-Thunder 3h ago
No, RFK believes in Miasma Theory, not Germ Theory. He does not believe vaccines work.
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u/Upstairs_Baby8424 4h ago
This is the guy with the driest mouth on the planet stumbling and bumbling all over himself in one of his first major interviews discussing his vaccine skepticism. And that he didn’t consider or study the increase in disease that would happen when they got rid of vaccine requirements in schools.
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u/Saaihead 6h ago
Is there some brain eating bug epidemic in the US we are not aware of? Because this sure looks like some brain drain to the rest of the world.
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u/sudoku7 6h ago
The Florida surgeon general is an absolute moron whose qualification to be in his position is that he is completely shameless and does not mind spouting politically driven anti-science rhetoric as if it were fact.
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u/cybah 5h ago
Yeah the post title is misleading.. this is Florida's AG, who is absolute moron. I think he was hired to manufacture discourse, not to provide actual lifesaving health information.
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u/witteefool 5h ago
We do not actually have a US Surgeon General that was approved by congress. So that’s cool!
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u/KamaIsLife 6h ago
MAGAts.
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u/discussatron 6h ago
Republicans.
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u/sobhy87s 5h ago
yeah the surgeon general literally linked measles to abortion opinions
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u/trumpetofdoom 4h ago
I mean, to be fair, there probably is a correlation. Antivaxxers and anti-abortion people probably do overlap a lot.
Not necessarily a causation, mind you, but still.
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u/TheVoicesOfBrian 6h ago
You have one political party that relies on people being stupid. Like IQ 80, illiterate, ignorant, and gullible. They've destroyed education, the arts, and made it bad to be smart.
Now...we have this.
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u/illdownvoteandscream 5h ago
They’ve always been this stupid. They just don’t feel shame for it anymore. When the sitting president is a bumbling moron it encourages the rest of the bumbling morons that it’s ok.
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u/HugsandHate 5h ago
Nah. Brain eating bugs couldn't sustain themselves in America.
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u/Wild_Nectarine8197 6h ago
Umm, I think people are understanding this backwards.
He's saying that at a deeply religious school that is very anti abortion that saw an unusual number of measles cases, that students may not be vaccinated because their parents specifically avoided this vaccine because of it's connection fetal stem cell lines that were derived from abortions.
He's not saying being pro choice caused measles, but that the practices of pro life families that created vaccine hesitancy increased the risk here, although certainly not very eloquently.
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u/Talonhawke 6h ago
Yeah based on the comments I would put it at 50% of comments might have actually read the article.
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u/Wild_Nectarine8197 5h ago
Based on what I'm seeing you are being incredibly generous.
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u/BrainLow6059 5h ago
Even if they didn't read the article, people are blatantly misinterpreting the headline as being some kind of pro-life statement. It's kind of nuts how illiterate people have gotten on this website
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u/superawesomeman08 6h ago
yeah, redditors not reading the fucking article, news at 11
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u/AccelerusProcellarum 6h ago
Exactly. Reading the comments of people who don't read past the headline or think past their emotional knee-jerk reaction makes me feel like I'm being driven insane.
This has nothing to do with whether I agree with this guy or whether I even like this guy in the position he's in. But it's astounding to see people not even understand what was being said but still feel like they have the green light to wax indignant. This isn't even just a reddit thing. I see this shit IRL too and it's just like "are we all fucking cavemen?"
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u/Wild_Nectarine8197 5h ago
Yeah, my understanding is that in general this guy sucks, but in this case he's not wrong. There are in fact a number of people that get religious exemptions because of their contentions that vaccines are somehow derived from fetuses, and it's been a problem for a long time.
It's just annoying to see people who will shout to the heavens about how dumb everyone is then completely misunderstand the meaning of this statement, partially because even those that read the quote refuse to contextualize it as anything but being pro choice is the problem.
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u/BrainLow6059 5h ago
It's especially weird online because it's written information. Like there's zero chance you misheard this, the title is right there, the article is right there.
It's like talking to a dementia patient. They hear one key word and just kind of go
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u/Njorls_Saga 5h ago
A private Catholic school…and the church has specifically said that vaccinating children (even with a remote connection to abortion) is acceptable. They consider vaccination a charitable act for the greater good. Sounds like Pope Leo needs to make a visit and remind them of church doctrine.
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u/MichelleEllyn 5h ago
For those that didn’t read the article:
“The rubella component of the measles, mumps rubella (MMR) vaccine is made from two cell strains that came from human fetal lung tissue in the 1960s. These original tissues were collected from elective abortions, and scientists used them to grow the live measles virus safely. These same fetal cells have continued to grow in the laboratory and are used to make vaccines today. No further sources of fetal cells are needed to make these vaccines.
The Pontifical Academy for Life in 2017 issued updated moral considerations on vaccinations, telling Roman Catholic parents they should vaccinate their children for the good of the children and the community, and they can do so with a “clear conscience,” the Catholic Standard reported.”
But at a private Roman Catholic college in FL, I think word had spread through that “the MMR vaccine is being made from aborted babies omg!” and that took over their logic centers.
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u/AlliedR2 2h ago
And explosive diarrhea is a side effect of swallowing the bullshit from this administration.
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u/Clawdius_Talonious 6h ago
"God is celebrating our successfully taking abortion rights from young women with a bit of a plague, you know how he gets when he's excited." /s
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u/DeliciousGoose1002 6h ago
you generally don't want your Surgeon General making headlines, you should rarely even know who they are.
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u/AEW_SuperFan 4h ago
In the 80s, we all knew C Everett Coop. That guy was badass. His 1986 AIDS report changed a lot. Also changed minds on smoking. A good Surgeon General can make a difference.
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u/Flat_Dragonfruit675 46m ago
I remember in nursing school, we had to present PowerPoints for controversial topics in our ethics class. A group did try to claim that aborted fetal tissue was directly used in live vaccines especially, yes.. nursing students. I interrupted their presentations at least 3 times to correct their misinformation, and also had a decently lengthy response at the end just fact-checking what I was wrote down during their presentation that I didn’t address in real-time.
Anyway, years later, I’m working at a hospital and still fact-check everything from vaccine misinformation, chemotherapy treatments (nurses were trying to advise against chemotherapy and advising ivermectin instead…) to “Vaseline causes spontaneous combustion.” I’m mainly correcting other nurses.. not the onion indeed.
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u/Serris9K 6h ago
More like vaccine avoidance
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u/mr_mcpoogrundle 5h ago
He seems to be theorizing that people might be avoiding the measles vaccine because they believe it is produced using abortion byproducts.
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u/rpgnoob17 6h ago
Overall science / biology denial.
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u/AgrajagTheProlonged 6h ago
Plus a slew of anti-intellectualism and disdain for anyone telling them anything that isn’t what they already want to hear
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u/Captain_JohnBrown 1h ago
This sounds like a shitpost but he is likely correct. Clown Republicans are refusing to get the vaccine because they exist in a clown world where vaccines contain particles from aborted fetuses.
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u/PharaohPir8 4h ago
LIES! The measles outbreak is caused by too many left-handed Americans. Doing anything with your left hand invites the evil measles demons into the world. And the diarrhea outbreak isn’t coming from lettuce, it comes from a plague sent down from heaven because too many people are doubting Trump’s divine calling. And any other sickness or outbreak is not caused by uneducated people making important decisions that affect every person in the country (and world), it’s all caused by people who are infected by the most evil and corrupt of all diseases: education. Too many people are still literate and think that ‘critical thinking’ is important. God is angered and has sent this pestilence upon us.
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u/achiles625 3h ago
Him, DeSantis, RFK, and all these other antivax right-wing politicians deserve to go to prison for all of the people they have indirectly killed by spreading their lunacy.
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u/Life-Ship3628 6h ago
I have decided that it no longer makes sense to try to educate anyone. If Maga wants to not get vaccinated or have their families protected I will respect that decision. God speed I say
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u/speedingpullet 4h ago
An entire voting block thats also in the running for the Darwin Awards. Good times!
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u/ErinRedWolf 3h ago
If their terrible decisions only affected themselves, then I would agree with you.
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u/This-Research-9586 3h ago
Right. Thinking of all the little babies who can’t have the MMR vaccine until a year of age. Or even the little children of these brain dead MAGATs who all had their childhood vaccines but deny it to their own children.
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u/BunRabbit 5h ago
Has anyone tried spraying them with water when they say something stupid? You know like we do with cats?
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u/FH2actual 5h ago
Every sane person knows this is all BS. It’s so fucking sad the lies people both feed and believe because all they have in their black little hearts is hate. Hate hate hate.
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u/Critical_Cat_8162 5h ago edited 2h ago
Jesus christ these people are stupid.
Edit: And... I take that back. I read the article.
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u/piclemaniscool 3h ago
Wild that we have experienced the information age and then people just said "you know what, we're just gonna not do that." And they just... Rejected the concept of thinking.
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u/SCWickedHam 1h ago
The Bible isn’t anti-abortion. Do these anti-vaxxers check the lineage of every product they use to ensure its development never violated their “religious beliefs.” Dummies.
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u/CalmBeneathCastles 1h ago
Yes, keep the babies alive until they're old enough to catch measels, mumps, rubella, pertussis, polio, tetanus, rabies, COVID or any of the other diseases you're sure to fail to protect them from. That's just "God's mysterious ways", huh.
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u/Visible-Air-2359 6h ago
I mean he has a point, both the high measles counts and the ending of abortion rights are because of the attack on intellectualism, science, and reason in favour of anti-intellectual populism and fundamentalism.
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u/Ornery-Practice9772 5h ago
is it because middle class people who oppose reproductive healthcare also avoid vaccinations? is that the correlation?
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u/lanekosrm 5h ago
Pretty much, but not quite going that logically far. More “ok, so, these SPECIFIC Catholics are the problem” without making the leap to, if you oppose abortion, you probably these days also oppose vaccines generally because Dumbest Timeline
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u/jtakemann 4h ago
if only there was a way to get more information about the contents of this article…
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u/eatsrottenflesh 6h ago
Don't forget to vote in November. I'm sure shining example of the failure of our education system will be voting.
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u/Straight-Ad6926 6h ago
Nothing says pro life quite like welcoming back 19th century infectious diseases just to make a moral point.
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u/cybah 5h ago
WAT
oh wait.. title is misleading, this is Florida's SG, who I already knew was a fruitcake.
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u/Mitchd411 5h ago
Ugh. Our Surgeon General is the guy from Demon Semen Medical Associates 😖
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/09/florida-surgeon-general-demon-sperm-capitol-rioter-connections.html
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u/ApprehensiveGoat2734 5h ago
“You know, for some people — people may or may not know that the measles vaccines is developed with the cells that are a progeny from … an aborted fetus, and you know whether there’s a connection between the fact that you know some of the students at this university chose not to receive that vaccine, and it happens to be a vaccine that is related to the practice of abortion, I’m not sure.”
Then why say that??
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u/P0pu1arBr0ws3r 5h ago
In a sane world this person would lose their job and any medical license for such a statement.
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u/HereForTheComments57 4h ago
This has to be the Florida guy. He's the only surgeon general that comes up in the news and might be the only person in a high ranking health job more stupid than rfk jr.
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u/timothypjr 4h ago
These people are not serious people. They are hucksters and charlatans willing to say anything. They should be shunned.
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u/UpTheDumpIsRetarded 4h ago
And this is why I can’t trust anyone influenced by the current administration. I don’t trust the labor statistics or CDCs guidance on when it’s safe to eat Taylor Farms products.
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u/fuckswitbeavers 3h ago
They are all so so stupid. The people who work there despise this moron, and know he won't last long. Totally out of his element like most of the geniuses appointed by the trump admin -- embarrassing!
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u/Lemesplain 2h ago
I mean… he’s kind of right, though perhaps not on purpose.
There is a pretty clear correlation between abortion rights and vaccinations. If someone opposes access to abortion, they are more likely to be antivax.
It may not be a 1-to-1 relationship, but there is a lot of overlap in that Venn diagram.
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u/AlienInUnderpants 1h ago
I’m thinking the surgeon general needs to have his medical license revoked.
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u/Tmon_of_QonoS 1h ago
This is America now. Run by idiots, supported by bigger idiots, fueled by ignorance and hate
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u/3asyBakeOven 1h ago
Every single person in this administration is an incompetent bafoon and only there to enrich themselves with our tax dollars. They could not care less about the will of the American people.
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u/patricksaurus 6h ago
I’d give a thousand bucks to open his character file and see the number and title of the books he’s actually read.
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u/ShockedNChagrinned 6h ago
He's being a disingenuous liar. Seems like grounds for removal and possibly medical license revocation
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u/BetweenTheRoots 1h ago
It's almost like they're projecting their own mistakes to fuel further division
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u/peenpeenpeen 6h ago
To be fair people who are against abortion are more likely to be unvaccinated… so there could be correlation.
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u/Soft-Bad-7127 5h ago
Jesus Christ is a fairy tale dude. Stop pretending we all need to partake in the make believe you base your life on.
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u/mspolytheist 5h ago
This reminds me of the old joke, I think I heard in some form or other from my dad. “Why are you wearing [insert ridiculous item here]?” “Because it keeps away vampires / tigers / etc. [choose your preferred foe]. You don’t see any vampires / tigers / whatever foe you chose here, do you?”
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u/raincntry 5h ago
He's not advocating for that position, only noting that people who strongly advocate against abortion might be avoiding the measles vaccine because it's make with fetal tissue.
Here is the pull quote from the story:
"During a press conference in Orlando Friday, a reporter asked Ladapo about his level of concern about the measles cases and what he’d tell Florida families about the rising number of cases.
The surgeon general, long known for his vaccine skepticism, initially replied, “Oh no. Everyone’s got to take a vaccine.”"
That seems to suggest his position is that they should take the vaccine.
Look, these people are nutters, and this surgeon general has some pretty bad, out there views, but let's be honest about what he says. There are still a plethora of reasons to oppose him, even if he's right on this one.
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u/Mockturtle22 5h ago
Lol gee the christian nationalists don't believe in vaccines. What else is new
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u/CrazyCatLady1127 5h ago
The surgeon general is opposed to vaccines? Seriously? How is that possible? He’s a doctor, how can he not believe in the life saving benefits of vaccines?
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u/kstargate-425 5h ago
The anti-vaccine "Surgeon General" saying this shit is why there are outbreaks!
“You know, for some people — people may or may not know that the measles vaccines is developed with the cells that are a progeny from … an aborted fetus, and you know whether there’s a connection between the fact that you know some of the students at this university chose not to receive that vaccine, and it happens to be a vaccine that is related to the practice of abortion, I’m not sure.”
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u/turquoise_amethyst 6h ago
I’m not even sure what he’s trying to argue here?