Trump signed an executive order demanding fewer childhood vaccines because he believes they cause autism. They don't. This has been studied more times than retail traders have blown up their accounts on 0DTE options, which is saying something.
The order tasks HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a man whose primary qualification is being wrong about medicine for decades, with reshaping the childhood vaccination schedule. Kennedy has spent years claiming vaccines cause autism despite every credible study showing they don't. The man looked at correlation and causation, picked causation, and built a career on it. Bold.
This is like putting someone who thinks the earth is flat in charge of NASA's flight navigation. Except in this case, the planes are full of children and the destination is measles.
The scientific consensus on vaccines and autism has been settled for over two decades. Andrew Wakefield's fraudulent 1998 study was retracted. He lost his medical license. Subsequent research involving millions of children found no link. But why trust peer-reviewed science when you can trust a Kennedy who isn't allowed to release bears in Central Park anymore?
Retail traders will somehow find a way to lose money on this. They'll panic-buy pharmaceutical stocks, thinking vaccine manufacturers will pivot to "autism-free" formulations, only to discover that's not a thing that exists. Then they'll switch to shorting Moderna based on a Reddit post and lose the other half.
The real innovation here is appointing a vaccine skeptic to oversee vaccine policy, which is the equivalent of appointing your friend who "doesn't believe in charting" as Secretary of Technical Analysis. Actually, that would make more sense, because at least charts can't give you polio.
Polio's coming back, and your portfolio's still red.
Photo by History in HD on Unsplash
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