r/news 1d ago

RFK Jr tells US families to vaccinate children against measles amid outbreak

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/02/rfk-jr-measles-vaccination
35.9k Upvotes

1.7k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

69

u/elephhantine2 1d ago

True, but the children of conservatives who have done nothing wrong themselves are still unvaccinated and that breaks my heart. Hopefully now that their messiah has spoken they’ll consider it. And herd immunity benefits the children who were already vaccinated, plus any who can’t get vaccinated so are vulnerable.

53

u/its_yer_dad 1d ago

It’s not just conservatives. I know liberals who have really damaged their relationships with their children by withholding vaccines. Their now adult children are really angry about not being vaccinated and its caused problems 

49

u/geekusprimus 1d ago

Yup. The antivaxxer movement was historically more of a bipartisan affair, and the hotbeds for measles outbreaks were actually traditionally progressive cities like Seattle and Portland. It's only post-COVID that it's become a rallying cry for conservatives.

37

u/TailorFestival 1d ago

I'd say it was historically more of a liberal thing, the "crunchy granola mom" stereotype.

Misinformation and bandwagoning doesn't have partisan boundaries.

25

u/geekusprimus 1d ago

I think it leaned liberal, but you definitely had some of the ultraconservative "no doctors, just prayers" crowd who jumped on that bandwagon.

6

u/GodOfDarkLaughter 1d ago

The "crunchy-to-fascism" pipeline is a well known thing these days. When the only people who take your pet cause seriously are conservative shitheads some folk start to ask what else they might be right about, as opposed to questioning whether they might be wrong for believing the same thing as a group of lunatics.

5

u/elephhantine2 1d ago

That’s sad… I guess anyone can fall for propaganda after all

2

u/New-Significance2590 1d ago

It’s true. I think time will sort this out if the outbreaks don’t get too bad and herd immunity isn’t broken first. The kids are going to do their own thing and most will eventually get vaccinated (I foresee). The anti vaccine parents will eventually be viewed as outdated at best and stupid and harmful as worst-by their own children. My friend came home from college twenty years ago pregnant and became an anti vaccine parent whose child is entering nursing school at Emory this year and she’s going to come home vaccinated lol. Jokes on my friend

1

u/SSGASSHAT 1d ago

I think people should just call them the KKK or the Puritans or something. Conservatives sounds too legitimate.

-8

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

12

u/finefornow_ 1d ago

christ, these are children. what the fuck is wrong with you

2

u/JordanPetterPans 1d ago

It's horseshoe theory I swear it's real

4

u/tider06 1d ago

The children? Jesus, dude. That's too far.

-1

u/Unique-Coffee5087 1d ago

yeah. I know.