TalkoftheTown: RFK jr.'s appointment would endanger the future of public health

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. should be rejected as HHS secretary

My father’s life expectancy when he was born in 1901 was almost 50 years. My grandson’s life expectancy when he was born in 1999 was almost 80 years.

Much of this 30-year gain over a century is due to vaccines, which multiplied in the 1960s while I was in medical training. Serious infections like polio, diphtheria, tetanus, measles, and mumps became much less frequent. The danger now is that vaccines have been so successful that many deadly diseases aren’t on most people’s radar.

There are some signs of backsliding.

Measles is highly contagious and can be fatal for small children. Once thought to be eliminated, it’s now on the rise, with 16 worrisome U.S. outbreaks last year alone. Mumps is also making a comeback, with annual U.S. cases now sometimes as high as 6,000. The CDC reports that whooping cough is up five-fold, to over 30,000 cases a year.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a man with a famous family but sad personal history, including heroin addiction, has been proposed as the new secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He has no administrative experience, let alone medical or public health training. Despite recent backpedaling, his long-standing misinformed prejudices against vaccines are matters of public record.

His ideas are contrary to science, common sense, and public opinion, which all overwhelmingly favor continuing routine vaccinations. Please contact your senators and urge them to reject his candidacy in favor of someone more appropriate. Your and your family’s health, and perhaps even lives, are at stake.

JEROME WALKER

Las Cruces

I’m trying to buy a concert ticket, not an ocean liner

Hearing on the radio that the great jazz pianist and singer Diana Krall was playing at Albuquerque’s Kiva Auditorium, I resolved to buy a ticket. So, I opened my computer. This ended up being my big mistake.

I went to what I thought was the Kiva Auditorium website, found the concert, and clicked “Buy Tickets.” Unfortunately, I was switched to one of the third-party vendors, ticketcenter.com. I noticed the price of the tickets seemed to have gone up, but I soldiered on. I did not read the “terms and conditions.” Has anyone, ever? Besides, I was just buying a concert ticket, not an ocean liner.

After the purchase, I read that I am supposed to bring my phone to the concert. Apparently, they email the ticket to your phone at the last minute for security reasons. But here’s the kicker: I am not set up to receive emails on my phone. After all, I’m an old fart, a late adapter, a caveman. So, this is a problem. How do I get my tickets?

I called them and suggested they email the ticket to my computer, and I would print it out, or mail me the ticket. These are all time-tested, practical, and inexpensive methods of distribution. They refused all three. Apparently, it’s their way or sit at home and pound sand.

I think we all know by now that the ticket “industry” skims off the top without adding any value. They make us poor users jump through unnecessary hoops in the name of security. It reminds me of the scalpers at Wrigley Field, except they were humans with faces. Now it’s “e-scalpers.”

The venues have made a deal with the devil. To avoid the “great” expense of selling tickets, they sub it out. Of course, it’s the customers that lose out.

Next time, if there is one, I will drive to the venue and buy my tickets directly from them and cut out any middle people.

I bet they’ll still charge a service charge.

MARC BONEM

Santa Fe