Today in Labor History February 20, 1905: The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Massachusetts's mandatory smallpox vaccination program in Jacobson v. Massachusetts. There were lots of problems early on with the vaccine. For one, they reused needles, causing the transfer of syphilis from infected to uninfected people. They also had problems with bacterial contamination of the vaccine that made some people sick. On the other hand, because of the global mandatory vaccination program, the disease was eradicated in 1977, the only human disease to be completely wiped out. Keep in mind that as recently as the mid-1950s, over 2 million people were dying annually, worldwide, from the disease.

With respect to personal freedom, the Court ruled in Jacobson that individual liberty is not absolute and is subject to the state’s use of police power. Consequently, Jacobson has been invoked in other Supreme Court cases to justify police power. The ruling led to a mobilization of the anti-vaccination movement and the creation of the Anti-Vaccination League of America. The Jacobson ruling was later invoked to support the eugenicist forced sterilization of people with intellectual disabilities (Buck v Bell, 1927); the federal partial abortion ban (Gonzales v Carhart, 2007); drug testing of students (Veronica School District v Acton, 1995); and, most recently, COVID mitigation mandates, like face masks and stay-at-home orders.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #smallpox #vaccination #publichealth #vaccinemandates #liberty #freedom #SCOTUS #publichealth #antivax

Reinventing the wheel — badly

After leaving the #WHO, #Trump officials propose a replacement 3 times more expensive to duplicate it
#HHS proposes spending $2 billion a year to re-create systems the #US accessed through the #WorldHealthOrganization at a fraction of the #cost, according to officials briefed on the matter.

#idiocracy #kakistocracy #law #policy #GovernmentSpending #PublicHealth #health #USpol
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/02/19/alternative-world-health-organization-proposal/

“ #Spending 2 to 3 times the #cost to create what we already had access to makes absolutely no sense in terms of fiscal stewardship,” said Tom Inglesby, director Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of #PublicHealth, who served as a snr covid19 adviser during the Biden admin. “We’re not going to get the same quality or breadth of information we would have by being in the #WHO, or have anywhere the influence we had.”

#Trump #idiocracy #kakistocracy #law #health #USpol

“ #Spending 2 to 3 times the #cost to create what we already had access to makes absolutely no sense in terms of fiscal stewardship,” said Tom Inglesby, director Center for Health Security at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of #PublicHealth, who served as a snr covid19 adviser during the Biden admin. “We’re not going to get the same quality or breadth of information we would have by being in the #WHO, or have anywhere the influence we had.”

#Trump #idiocracy #kakistocracy #law #health #USpol

While #Trump accused the #WHO of demanding “unfairly onerous payments,” the alternative his administration is considering carries a price tag about three times what the #US contributed annually to the #UN #health agency. The US would build on bilateral agreements with countries & expand the presence of its health agencies to dozens of additional nations [starting from scratch], the officials said.

#idiocracy #kakistocracy #law #policy #GovernmentSpending #PublicHealth #USpol

The effort to build a #US run alternative would re-create systems such as laboratories, data-sharing networks & rapid-response systems the US abandoned when it announced its withdrawal from the #WHO last year & dismantled the US Agency for International Development [ #USAID], according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal deliberations.

#Trump #idiocracy #kakistocracy #law #policy #GovernmentSpending #PublicHealth #health #USpol

After pulling out of the #WorldHealthOrganization, the #Trump administration is proposing spending $2 billion a year to replicate the #global #disease surveillance & outbreak functions the #UnitedStates helped build & accessed at a fraction of the #cost, according to 3 administration officials briefed on the proposal.
#idiocracy #kakistocracy #law #policy #GovernmentSpending #PublicHealth #health #WHO #USpol

Reinventing the wheel — badly

After leaving the #WHO, #Trump officials propose a replacement 3 times more expensive to duplicate it
#HHS proposes spending $2 billion a year to re-create systems the #US accessed through the #WorldHealthOrganization at a fraction of the #cost, according to officials briefed on the matter.

#idiocracy #kakistocracy #law #policy #GovernmentSpending #PublicHealth #health #USpol
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/02/19/alternative-world-health-organization-proposal/

Explosive global measles outbreaks in North America. Mexico has reported more than 2,700 new cases so far this year. 900 new confirmed cases have been identified across the U.S. a fast-growing outbreak in South Carolina that’s the country’s largest since the disease was eliminated more than two decades ago, with hundreds of infections reported to date. Fast-growing outbreak in South Carolina, the country’s largest since the disease was eliminated more than two decades ago, with hundreds of infections reported to date. Dozens of new infections in Canada, with more than 70 cases in Manitoba.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/measles-global-travel-risks-9.7093765

#publichealth #measles #vaccines #antivax #worldcup

Today in Labor History February 18, 1955: The U.S. launched Operation Teapot at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site. Teapot included 14 nuclear bomb tests. Wasp was the first, detonated on February 18. It had a yield of 1.2 kilotons. During shot Wasp, ground forces participated in Exercise Desert Rock VI. This included an armored task force moving to within 3,000 ft of ground zero, while the mushroom cloud was still growing. From 1945 through 1962, the U.S. conducted 230 atmospheric nuclear weapons tests, with approximately 235,000 military personnel participating. Most were enlisted men, from the navy. However, millions of people were exposed to the fallout from U.S. nuclear weapons tests in the southwest of the U.S. and the Marshall Islands. University of Arizona economist Keith Meyers estimates that radioactive fallout was responsible for 340,000 to 690,000 American deaths from 1951 to 1973.

#workingclass #LaborHistory #nucleartest #nuclearbomb #coldwar #nuclear #radioactive #publichealth #radiation #indigenous #marshallislands #atomic #warcrimes

So, uh, breathing dirty air is not the brain-care routine we were promised.
A PLOS Medicine study from Emory tracked nearly 28 million older Americans and found long-term PM2.5 exposure raised Alzheimer’s risk—and “middleman” conditions like high blood pressure explained under 5% of the link. Who wants to pitch this to the people saying just treat it later? 😼

https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/02/18/044252/air-pollution-emerges-as-a-direct-risk-factor-for-alzheimers-disease

#AirPollution #Alzheimers #PublicHealth

So, uh, breathing dirty air is not the brain-care routine we were promised.
A PLOS Medicine study from Emory tracked nearly 28 million older Americans and found long-term PM2.5 exposure raised Alzheimer’s risk—and “middleman” conditions like high blood pressure explained under 5% of the link. Who wants to pitch this to the people saying just treat it later? 😼

https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/02/18/044252/air-pollution-emerges-as-a-direct-risk-factor-for-alzheimers-disease

#AirPollution #Alzheimers #PublicHealth

How did kakistocracy turn into quackistocracy so fast? Paul Krugman argues political decay now overlaps with anti-science thinking, shaping policy and public trust; the takeaway is that institutions need competence and evidence—read the full piece for the details. https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/how-the-kakistocracy-became-a-quackistocracy #Politics #Democracy #PublicHealth #MediaLiteracy

How did kakistocracy turn into quackistocracy so fast? Paul Krugman argues political decay now overlaps with anti-science thinking, shaping policy and public trust; the takeaway is that institutions need competence and evidence—read the full piece for the details. https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/how-the-kakistocracy-became-a-quackistocracy #Politics #Democracy #PublicHealth #MediaLiteracy

"...it should surprise no one that much of this work is being led by women. They come from all backgrounds and walks of life—immigrant women, mothers, teachers, healers, Black and Brown women, queer and trans women, grandmothers, young girls, women of faith, women who are simply fed up—to get involved, organize, support, nurture, fight, love, protect, and contribute in whatever ways they can."

https://www.glamour.com/story/the-women-holding-minneapolis-together

#PublicHealth #immigrant #immigration #ICE #women #community #minneapolis

"...it should surprise no one that much of this work is being led by women. They come from all backgrounds and walks of life—immigrant women, mothers, teachers, healers, Black and Brown women, queer and trans women, grandmothers, young girls, women of faith, women who are simply fed up—to get involved, organize, support, nurture, fight, love, protect, and contribute in whatever ways they can."

https://www.glamour.com/story/the-women-holding-minneapolis-together

#PublicHealth #immigrant #immigration #ICE #women #community #minneapolis