In a high-profile Feb. 25 confirmation hearing for President Trump’s Surgeon General nominee, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski falsely asserted that Hepatitis B is being spread via mosquito bites in Alaska villages.
“In Western Alaska, where we see Hep. B as endemic, we find that it’s being spread through mosquito bites, where a child is itching it – itching an arm,” Murkowski told surgeon general nominee Dr. Casey Means.
Murkowski’s claim, which has no documented medical or scientific credibility, was made as part of her critique of Means’ belief that Hepatitis B shots should no longer be universally given to all children, but only after consulting with parents to assess risks and benefits.
Murkowski’s comments are part of a wider pushback, supported by Big Pharma, to undermine the CDC’s Vaccine Advisory Committee’s recent decision to cease universally recommending Hep. B shots for all newborns.
“Individual-based decision-making, referred to on the CDC immunization schedule as shared clinical decision-making, means that parents and health care providers should consider vaccine benefits, vaccine risks, and infection risks, and that parents consult with their health care provider and decide when or if their child will begin the hepatitis B vaccine series,” the CDC guidelines now state.
Without naming names, Murkowski suggested that “many in my state” are opposed to this decision.
Among U.S. adults, however, Hepatitis B is most commonly spread through sexual contact, especially with those who have multiple partners, men who have sex with men and those who use dirty needles that contain the disease. In general, children are at much lower risk but can be infected if their mother has Hepatitis B and they are exposed to her blood during childbirth.
Claims that Hep. B can be spread via mosquito bites has been debunked for decades, and there is not a single verified instance of this ever occurring.
It’s unclear why Murkowski claimed otherwise, but her line of questioning was clearly aimed at undermining Means’ support of the new CDC guidelines.
Means is a Stanford educated doctor who has the full backing of U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“The Surgeon General is a symbol of moral authority who stands against the financial and institutional gravities that tend to corporatize medicine,” he said last year. “Casey Means was born to hold this job. She will provide our country with ethical guidance, wisdom, and gold-standard medical advice even when it challenges popular orthodoxies. She will be a juggernaut against the ossified medical conventions that have helped make our people the sickest in the world at the highest cost per capita. Casey is a breath of fresh air, and we can’t wait for her to get started.”
If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Means would serve in the Dept. of Health and Human Services as the nation’s top doctor, leading more than 6,000 members of the U.S. Public Health Service who work in various federal agencies.
Her Feb. 25 committee hearing lasted more than two hours and concluded without a vote.
It is clear, however, that her support of the CDC’s updated guidelines are not welcome by Murkowski and many of her Democrat colleagues.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
The CDC’s new updates, though, are part of a larger comprehensive review of the traditional childhood vaccination schedule that has long been pushed on perfectly healthy children. This results in more than 70 vaccine doses by the time a U.S. child reaches age 18.
Child health advocacy groups have long criticized the sheer number of vaccines that U.S. children are exposed to, citing concerns about long-term side effects of overdosing children, which has coincided with a rapid rise in neurological diseases, including ADHD, sleep disorders, language delays, ASD, autism, Tourette’s syndrome, ticks and narcolepsy.
In response, Trump recently signed a Presidential Memorandum directing the Department of Health and Human Services to launch a comprehensive evaluation of vaccine schedules from countries around the world. Kennedy is overseeing this evaluation, amid heavy criticism from large pharmaceutical companies that stand to lose billions of dollars if children receive fewer vaccinations than in the past.
For decades, Kennedy has raised concerns that a number of U.S. childhood vaccines were created to increase profits for Big Pharma. Last year, he explained the history of the Hepatitis B vaccine, noting that the FDA and CDC directed the pharmaceutical giant Merck to create shot for vulnerable adult populations. When they showed little interest in getting the jabs, the CDC stepped in and issued a widespread recommendation that all children get the shot.
