Mick Clifford: Ireland must trust science as US vaccine politics puts children’s health at risk
US president Donald Trump with health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and Jayme Leagh Franklin after signing an executive order calling for childhood vaccine shots to be spaced out into separate visits. Picture: Getty Images
This week we saw a glaring contrast in how two separate societies regard their duty to protect the health of the public. In one, public health was viewed through the lens of science. In the other it is filtered through politics in a manner that is likely to cost lives.
Last Monday it was announced that a Wexford GP had been found guilty of professional misconduct over posts he issued on social media during the covid pandemic.
Dr Billy Ralph, who runs his own practice in Enniscorthy, had denied that the posts had undermined public health guidelines.
The allegations related to 34 posts on X (formerly Twitter) which criticised measures, including vaccinations, introduced to tackle the spread of the virus. Not all of the posts were deemed to render the doctor culpable of misconduct, but most were.
Here is one example of his publicly disseminated thoughts on the pandemic at the time. “There is no pandemic just a lot of misguided fascist professionals who have lost the run of themselves.”
In relation to vaccines for children, he described any parent getting such “pointless and dangerous products” as “a vile individual”.
In November 2021, he tweeted this: “Because scientists/government/doctors/RTE’s lies, some children watching the tonight will receive the covid jab and not see another Christmas.”
That’s strong stuff. If I had issued such a tweet it could be dismissed as the ramblings of an angry or deluded hack. Dr Ralph is a qualified doctor, the first port of call in the public health system. During the pandemic, a frightening and uncertain time for many, the role of GPs was elevated, their advice highly-valued.
Read More
The available science suggests that if a parent had taken Dr Ralph’s apparent advice at face value they may have been endangering the health of their offspring.
The Medical Council thought so and found him guilty of professional misconduct for “entirely inappropriate, dangerous and undermining of the National Public Health Emergency Team and public health guidelines.”
The GP accepted that some of the language he used was “strong and sometimes imperfectly expressed”, but that the case against him was about “an expression of views in a period of unprecedented uncertainly in modern medicine”.
He had proffered two expert witnesses in defence of his case. The inquiry chair found one of these witnesses to be “not persuasive” and the other “an articulate propagandist”.
The GP had his supporters. At various times during the six-day hearing up to 30 people were present. One of his witnesses suggested in evidence that the authorities and the media had the power to “terrify the population” during the pandemic. This was greeted with a loud round of applause from the supporters.
Following the ruling, Ireland South MEP Michael McNamara referenced the case in terms of “Orwell’s 1984”. He had previously tweeted that the hearing was a “show trial”.
In contrast to the Medical Council hearing in Dublin, there was this week on the far side of the Atlantic a gathering publicising an alternative approach to public health.
In a televised appearance in the Oval Office, the health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jnr, announced a new programme to upend how vaccines are administered to children. Kennedy’s scepticism of vaccines is well known. Since assuming office he has attacked the use of vaccines by various means.
This week he announced a plan to reduce the number of vaccines to be administered to children from eighteen to eleven. His plan also includes separating the MMR vaccine into individual components. The latter was the source of controversy a few years back after suggestions that it could cause autism. It is widely accepted now that this is entirely groundless, but the discredited conspiracy theory fits into Kennedy’s view of vaccines.
During the event, Kennedy stood beside a seated Donald Trump, reading out the new programme while his hands were shaking madly. Trump can be seen nodding off, falling asleep during Kennedy’s speech, and every so often suddenly waking up with a start.
On the far side of his desk was a young woman whose head keeps bobbing as she swayed and rubbed her stomach. She is Jayme Leagh Franklin, who runs some conservative lifestyle outfit. Optically, she appears to have been present to take the bare look off two elderly politicians waffling on about how young parents should listen to them rather than medical experts on protecting their kids from infectious disease.
On social media, Ms Franklin went viral after some wag gave her the handle “the zapper”, suggesting that every so often she pressed a button on her stomach that somehow shook the president awake with a start. Ms Franklin responded to one of these by posting “I’m pregnant, you moron”.
Once upon not long ago, the whole scene would have worked well in a Hollywood satirical movie on politics. But that’s no longer possible in a White House that is beyond satire.
Meanwhile, out in the real world, removed from populist politics and conspiracy theories, the USA is going through the worst outbreak of measles in 35 years.
In 2025, there were 2,289 confirmed cases. One outbreak of over 750 cases in west Texas, a MAGA heartland, resulted in at least two children dying.
By last month there had been as many cases of the condition this year as were recorded for the whole of 2025. Health experts have all linked the outbreaks with falling vaccine rates, after Trump’s election in 2024 and his appointment of Kennedy as health secretary.
Since the surreal event in the Oval office, numerous health bodies in the US have pointed out falsehoods and baseless theories propagated by Trump and Kennedy around vaccines. Many experts have posited the view that there will be more infectious disease and that will inevitably lead to the death of more children.
Yet for Trump and Kennedy there will be no consequences for the spreading of misinformation, the endangering of health and lives. They can say what they want, propagate whatever suits an agenda or conspiracy theory, and their supporters will give them a pass because it’s all about sticking it to the other side, rather than considering the health of a nation.
In our democracy, there will always be questions to ask about the implementation of public health policy. From the pandemic, for instance, there are questions still outstanding about the allocation of power at the time, the lengths of lockdowns and the competing priorities in terms of what constitutes public health.
But at least the vast majority in this country know the value of science. They accept its imperfections but are reassured by verifiable evidence.
They know that conspiracy theories are all very well but children’s health should always be the main priority. They know that free speech is vital in a functioning democracy, but it comes with responsibilities that are not consequence-free.
Where once many of us may have looked across the Atlantic with admiration or even envy, today it’s difficult not to simply look away in pity.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
