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Idaho Mountain Express Claims “insanity has already begun in Idaho”

On November 8, 2024, The Idaho Mountain Express published an article titled “The insanity has already begun in Idaho,” under the heading “Our View,” which “represents the opinion of the newspaper editorial board, which is made up of members of its board of directors.”

The following is the article and comments posted under it:

Board members who govern Idaho’s Southwest District Health department voted last month to ban the COVID-19 vaccine in its clinics.

The news broke just 12 days before President-elect Donald Trump’s landslide victory on Tuesday.

The insanity had already begun.

Trump vowed to put Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer, in control of public health. Kennedy has been a vocal critic of vaccines and other disease prevention measures. He has spread misinformation and stoked fears about vaccines.

Misinformation was front and center at an hours-long meeting of the Southwest District’s seven-member governing board in late October. The board accepted public comments not only from Idahoans, but from out-of-staters including anti-vax activists.

The Health District includes Canyon County, the second largest county in the state with a population of 257,674. Its governing board, composed of six county commissioners and a physician, approved the ban in a 4-3 vote. Boise-based KTVB reported that the physician cautioned that “if we have the possibility that we are doing harm, we need to take a step back.”

The statement left a lot to unpack about any medical treatment, all of which carry risks. If mankind had waited for all treatments to be free of the possibility of risk, few would be available.

Polio was once the scourge of the world. Anyone born before the polio vaccine was released in 1955 remembers the palpable fear of parents that their children would get the terrifying disease that could leave them crippled, land them in an iron lung or kill them because they couldn’t breathe on their own.

Anyone who grew up in that time knew people who had survived polio but suffered lifelong disabilities. Their lives were daily reminders of the torment polio inflicted. When the vaccine was released, people rushed to get it.

Pregnant women also feared contracting measles, mumps or rubella because of the risk of stillbirths and miscarriages. Rubella can have detrimental effects on a fetus that include deafness, heart defects and cataracts.

Vaccines developed in the 1960s wiped out those fears. Today, children receive MMR vaccinations for the diseases that usually protect them for life. Unfortunately, the vaccines evidently wiped out the memory of the ravages of those highly contagious diseases as well.

Critics said Southwest District Health’s decision would hurt people who have difficulty affording vaccines, even though Idaho’s health districts provide medical services to people of all income levels.

Although it’s less lethal today, COVID-19 is still no joke. It’s less deadly than when the virus emerged in 2020 because of vaccines and the population immunity that emerged as human bodies gained more experience with the new virus.

The Southwest District’s ban on the vaccine that prevents or minimizes its effects is the result of a misbegotten revolt against science that has been fueled by junk science, conspiracy theories, misunderstandings about how drugs are tested and how their benefits are balanced against risks.

Idaho’s health boards should stop the insanity before they render Idahoans defenseless by denying them access to the science that tamed global plagues with the prick of a needle.

Comments

richard gouley Nov 15, 2024 9:05am

“Lastly, drug-based medicine has a stranglehold on this country but we have the highest infant mortality rate and close to the lowest life expectancy as adults”

FACT – Afghanistan has the highest infant morality at 101 per 1000 in the first year.

FACT – Nigeria has the shortest life expectancy at 54 years of age whereas the USA has a life expectancy 79.89 years. Ms. Manookian’s comments are not fact based -garbage in/garbage out.


Leslie Manookian Nov 8, 2024 4:38pm

Al Pine, how about the School of Public Health at the University of Alabama? Do those experts matter? Because they awarded The Greater Good, a documentary on vaccines that I and other locals made, an award for our treatment of an issue important to pubic health? I researched that film for over ten years and have researched vaccines for over 20 years. I would gladly debate ANY doctor or science on vaccines, but they won’t do it because they don’t know the science and because vaccines have never been properly studied. Please identify one point for which I cherry picked the data.


Iron Core Nov 8, 2024 2:46pm

So, in Our View, we have an argument that goes something like this:

Some people (Board members) who have banned the COVID vaccine are beginning the insanity (of Trump).

The people of the Board of SW District Health Department banned the COVID vaccine.

Therefore, the SW District Health Department is beginning the insanity (of Trump).

Never mind that we don’t know how “insanity” is defined, MTE’s argument suffers from the same logical fallacy as this argument does:

Cats are mammals.

Dogs are mammals.

Therefore, cats are dogs.

Our View is a weekly screed. You can’t possibly make a cogent argument if it isn’t logically valid to begin with. And for an argument to be logically valid, it has to be based on the truth.


Steven Brown Nov 8, 2024 2:16pm

You say that: “The Southwest District’s ban on the vaccine that prevents or minimizes its effects (Covid-19’s) is the result of a misbegotten revolt against science that has been fueled by junk science, conspiracy theories, misunderstandings”. It seems the entire narrative promoted by IME during the pandemic has proven to be fueled by junk science while real scientists and doctors doing their jobs were silenced and denied the basic right of free speech by being de-platformed and threatened with a loss of their license to practice medicine or science. It turns out keeping six feet apart was junk science. Wearing masks is junk science. They said taking Ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine doesn’t help treat covid, turns out that is junk science. The MRNA “vaccines” it turns out are not effective at stopping the spread of the disease and they are much more harmful than all other vaccines combined (VAERS). Yet it continues to be pushed as safe and effective. Why? Maybe the IME should do some serious investigative research and try to get to the truth instead of blindly reporting whatever the three letter government agencies and pharmaceutical industry is telling you. Where is the skepticism and reporting on both sides of a story. How about trying to create healthy discourse and demanding more investigations into some of the questions and concerns expert doctors and scientists are raising. Trying to be dismissive of their points of view by labeling them “anti-vaxxers” or “conspiracy theorists” is cheap and lacks any merit. Check out the Substack accounts of Dr. Peter McCollough or Dr. Robert Malone both at the top of their given fields. They don’t deserve to be dismissed as “conspiracy theorists or anti-vaxxers.” They are scientists. There are serious health concerns within our country and studies need to be done to get to the bottom of the root causes. There is an epidemic of autism, obesity, cancer, heart disease and chronic diseases. Nothing is being done about it. Ask what studies need to be done. Is it the level of toxins in our environment? Is it toxins in our food? Has the impacts of the childhood vaccine schedule contributed to the huge increase in childhood ailments? You should be asking why isn’t the NIH doing independent studies on a whole list of questions. Maybe if the CDC had good independent studies to guide them they could make recommendations that would actually prevent disease with something other than a prick of the needle.


Carlos Mejia Nov 8, 2024 12:50pm

Yes, this is TRUMPS fault. It happened 12 days before the election so yeah, TRUMPS fault. The parking in Ketchum, TRUMPS fault. The traffic up and down the valley, the stupid bike paths in Hailey, yeah, TRUMPS fault. I am so glad the paper see’s this and lets us all know the truth.

Iron Core Nov 8, 2024 2:47pm

I think for once we agree Carlos.


Daniel C. Nov 8, 2024 11:01am

The Covid boosters are not being trialed in humans anymore. That’s not the regular way vaccines are evaluated. It’s controversial. It is right that the health district made that decision. They’re actually leading the way. Take a chill pill IME, we know you’re seething at the election results but please don’t let your emotions get the best out of you.


Leslie Manookian Nov 8, 2024 10:35am

Wow, you are so ill informed. Just because CDC says something doesn’t make it true. I don’t know what happened, but once upon a time, this paper published different opinion and questioned authority,. Sadyly, that’s not the case any more. So much to say here.

1) MMR vaccines fail all the time – there have been thousands and thousands of cases of mumps vaccines in the last two decades in fully vaccinated individuals. Same for whooping cough.

2) Polio died out in countries that did not use the vaccine. One reason “cases” of polio plummeted was because concurrent with introduction of the polio shot, the diagnostic criteria was changed to exclude aseptic meningitis and coxsackie virus whereas before they were all lumped in together; to require a confirmatory blood test when no test was required before; and to extend the period of paralysis from 48 hours to several weeks, all of these mechanically reduced cases. The other major issue was the phasing out of neurotoxic lead and arsenic-based pesticides. Imagine that, elimination of neurotoxins reduces neurotoxic disease!

3) If a shot has to be given multiple times a year, any thinking person would conclude that the so-called vaccine does not work, but according to this Orwellian paper, that’s all good and dandy. And never mind the 15-20% increase in excess deaths experienced all across the western world that began 6 months or so after introduction of the deadly covid shots.

4) Federal law, the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act acknowledges that vaccines injure and kill; he US Supreme Court deems vaccines unavoidably unsafe” yet you continue the canard that RFK Jr. is spreading misinformation when it is you that are misinformed and spreading misinformation.

5) Vaccines, unlike drugs, are given to HEALTHY people for a theoretical benefit and, as such, should carry zero risk, but a federal study found that 2.6% of vaccine recipients suffered a serious reaction and that fewer than 1% of vaccine injuries are reported. You can continue disseminating false information, but anyone who does more than a cursory investigation of the science surrounding vaccines will discover you are either woefully uninformed or simply dishonest.

Al Pine Nov 8, 2024 12:43pm

” Just because CDC says something doesn’t make it true”, and just because you say something does make it true either. Tell us what’s your back round in science.

Leslie Manookian Nov 8, 2024 1:34pm

Oh, your argument is the experts? The experts who told us to distance even though they made that up, to mask even though science shows that’s a farce, who told us that sitting at a table in a restaurant is safe unmasked but walking through that restaurant is not?? LOL. These are the same people who also told you the covid shots stop transmission and infection even though they were never studied to determine that and who assured us they were safe after studying them for a few months. Those experts?

Al Pine Nov 8, 2024 3:31pm

Up against your cherry picking of statistics to support your prejudices, I’ll take science, educated people over your lack of expertise.

Leslie Manookian Nov 8, 2024 4:56pm

Al Pine, one other question for you – do you think any industry should enjoy a liability shield such that they cannot be sued for the damage their products cause? I ask because vaccine makers and those who administer them bear effectively no liability for their vaccines even though they injure and kill many, the only question is how many. So we have a situation where govt mandates a product while simultaneously indemnifying the manufacturer and those who inject the products from liability. Does that seem fair to you? What incentive does the vaccine maker or the medical professional have to ensure the product does not cause harm? Doesn’t this situation incentivize the companies and medical workers to ignore harm? Most Americans have no idea this is the state of affairs but it is true. Take a look at this if you want to learn about it: https://www.nvic.org/law-policy-federal/vaccine-injury-compensation/1986-national-childhood-vaccine-injury-act

Jim Baldwin Nov 8, 2024 4:44pm

I would like Leslie to comment more considering her local knowledge, professional expertise and her National reputation. But Why? The rudeness is despicable. TDR.

Leslie Manookian Nov 8, 2024 7:36pm

Jim, for what it’s worth, I have submitted several respectful, scientifically referenced letters and opinions to the paper and while they used to print my submissions, they have not even responded to me in years. Every claim I make I support in the published peer reviewed literature – but the paper won’t publish them. If those who run the paper have nothing to fear and have the truth on their side, why won’t they publish them? I also know that a bunch of WR valley families submitted letters to the paper several years ago about their children’s vaccine injuries and the paper didn’t publish a single one of them. It’s really a shame as the health and wellbeing of our children and our community are at riskbut the IME seems more concerned about dogma than protecting our kids and community and getting to the truth.

badger underground Nov 9, 2024 8:44am

If your house is on fire call a fire-fighter. If your car wont start call a mechanic. If youre building a house call a carpenter. If youre tooth hurts see a dentist. If theres a health crisis listen to an…………..MD!

Jim Baldwin Nov 10, 2024 8:03am

Thank you Leslie.

John Doxxanapolos Nov 9, 2024 5:17pm

I’ll listen to people who modern medicine instead of homeopathy.

John Doxxanapolos Nov 9, 2024 6:43pm

*who practice

Being a “licensed” junk scientist makes it hard to take someone seriously.

Leslie Manookian Nov 10, 2024 1:51pm

John D and badger – you are more than welcome to listen to whomever you choose when it comes to your health, the problem is this paper is deciding that for you. You may not know that 40,000 Americans are injured or killed every day in American hospitals by licensed, regulated doctors, nurses and other professionals. Many of us would prefer other ways to maintain our health and to address the situation when we fall ill. The issue here is that this paper behaves as if there is only one side to this issue when there is not. The covid shots are a perfect illustration of this – while the mainstream narrative touts them as a success, those who have read the research themselves and follow the issues closely know that the shots are associated with hundreds of side effects resulting in thousands of deaths and injuries, but the paper either is oblivious or concealing this information. CDC admits covid shots do not stop transmission or infection – they admitted that in summer of 2021 but they continue to say otherwise on TV and in front of Congress. My view is that health does not come in a bottle, pill, or injection, but if those methods are your preference, that is your prerogative. What I don’t like is this paper and the media in general, concealing information from the public and telling those of us with another perspective and approach to our health that we are bad and even dangerous people. Lastly, drug-based medicine has a stranglehold on this country but we have the highest infant mortality rate and close to the lowest life expectancy as adults in the developed world despite the fact that we spend more per capita and as a percentage on healthcare than ANY other country in the world. In addition, US children are the most highly vaccinated in the world. If that is helping our children, why are they dying at higher rates than in other developing countries?

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