ANOTHER Message To KDKA Radio's Marty Griffin

Yes, yes, I know. Two in a row.

But what is going on at KDKA Radio these days? On the one hand, there's The Angel of Death in afternoon drive-time and then there's Marty Griffin.

Marty has spent days complaining about how Governor Wolf has suspended school immunizations, ranting all without any sort of reality-based context. He doesn't understand the reasoning behind Wolf's decision. Isn't this putting children at risk? Isn't it sending a mixed message now?

Then he trots out something else out-of-context. That the reason for the suspension of immunizations is because school nurses may be needed for  complaint. Marty saying that school nurses may be called away for "mass COVID-19 vaccination clinics."

But, Marty dutifully reminds his gullible audience, there are no COVID-19 vaccinations!

Listening to Marty, it would be easy to infer that Wolf has suspended immunizations forever for the stupidest of reasons.

WHAT MUST GOVERNOR WOLF BE THINKING?

Doesn't Marty Griffin do any research? Or if he does, why would KDKA Radio allow him to offer up an incomplete picture of the issue?

From official statement, titled:

Temporary Regulatory Suspension of Requirements for Children's Immunizations

Wait. "Temporary"? Marty didn't say anything about "temporary"!!

And it actually says:

Given the COVID-19 pandemic, there are risks and difficulties attendant on requiring immunization of children to enter and attend school. During last winter, spring and continuing to the present, preventive medical visits, including those associated with the administration of vaccines, have been postponed to mitigate the risk of transmission of the COVID-19 virus. Therefore, many children in Pennsylvania have not obtained vaccinations on the appropriate schedule and may not have the immunizations required to enter and attend school in the fall of 2020.

Typically, if normal vaccination is not possible, schools and the Department of Health (Department) hold "catch-up" vaccination clinics to administer the required school immunizations to children. The possibility of the persistence of COVID-19 into the fall and the potential need for school nurses and the Department's public health nurses to be tasked with pandemic-related mitigation, including the possibility of mass COVID-19 vaccination clinics, may prevent schools and the Department from holding "catch-up" clinics for children's well-child immunizations.

To enable children to enter and attend school or an early childhood program without the required immunizations, with Governor Wolf's authorization as conferred in the March 6, 2020 Proclamation of Disaster Emergency, the Department is temporarily suspending the regulations at 28 Pa. Code § 23.83, which provides the list of immunizations a child must have and the grades for which the child must have them; 28 Pa. Code § 23.85, which states that children who do not meet the requirements should be excluded and places certain duties on schools to verify that children with medical exceptions who are on a plan to get their immunizations actually obtain the vaccinations; and 28 Pa. Code § 23.86, which requires schools to report to the Department the numbers of vaccinations and children taking exceptions; and 28 Pa. Code § 27.77(b), which requires that a child currently enrolled in a child care program maintain updated immunizations in accordance with federal guidelines. The regulations are suspended for a two-month period after the beginning of the school year or the beginning of enrollment in an early childhood education program. [Emphasis added.]

See that, Marty? Two months. Did you ever tell your audience that? They trust you to tell them the truth. Did you tell them that it's a plan to give parents more time to immunize their kids if they didn't get a chance to go to a pediatrician's office during lock down?

No. You didn't.

All you did was spin the story into a Wolf-bash.

And it was embarrassing. Even for you.