Another Day, Another Bit of Bad Vaccine-Science News; CV Media Hall of Famer Lina Robles Has Died–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: April 2, 2026

Indy Digest: April 2, 2026

My father suffered from a bout of shingles while he was undergoing treatment for lung cancer. While the shingles were decidedly NOT fun, even worse was his case of postherpetic neuralgia: For the rest of his life, if a breeze hit his face at the right angle, it felt like hundreds of needles were attacking his skin.

I am now at that age—over 50—when doctors recommend the shingles vaccine, and after putting it off for a year or so, I decided yesterday that it was finally time to make an appointment. I went to the CVS website and made an appointment for 9:45 a.m. this morning. All told, I was at the CVS for less than 15 minutes, and I have now received one of the two recommended Shingrix doses. Since the second dose is recommended two to six months after the first, I set a calendar reminder in early June to make another vaccine appointment.

It was quick, easy and, since I have insurance, free. After my second appointment in June, I’ll know that I’ve lessened my risk, by 90 percent, of ever having to deal with the pain my father did. That’s pretty darned incredible, if you ask me.

Also incredible: The fact that most young adults in this country never had to worry about getting polio, or measles, or rubella, along with various other illnesses, because the diseases were eradicated in this country (a fact I’ve covered in this space before), thanks to the development of safe and effective vaccines. But that eradication status, at least for measles, is likely to be revoked.

Despite all of this incontrovertible evidence—even if you question the myriad studies about vaccines (and you have no reason to), just look around to see that people here don’t get polio any more—vaccines are under attack in this country. Seemingly every day, there’s a new news story about the vaccine science being set back.

Here are two from this week alone. First, from Reuters:

Vaccine makers Pfizer and BioNTech halted a large U.S. trial of their updated COVID-19 vaccine in healthy adults aged 50 to 64, saying enrollment in the trials had been too low to generate the needed data.

In a letter to trial investigators dated March ‌30, seen by Reuters and previously unreported, Pfizer said it would stop surveillance for signs of COVID illness of all participants in the study after April ‌3.

Enrollment was closed on March 6, following a review of current epidemiological trends, it said.

The move comes as COVID vaccine makers grapple with pushback from the U.S. administration and weak U.S. demand for the shots.

The U.S. Food ​and Drug Administration toughened requirements for COVID vaccine use last year, including asking for large, placebo-controlled trials in the 50-64 age group for it to be included in recommendations.

Next, from NBC News:

Prior to the (Haemophilus influenzae type b, commonly called Hib) vaccine, about 20,000 children in the United States—mostly babies and toddlers— developed severe forms of Hib every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many children were left with permanent brain damage. About 1,000 children died each year.

After vaccinations began, the number of Hib infections dropped to fewer than 50 a year. Many doctors who’ve trained in the past 40 years have never seen a case.

Now, parents who haven’t experienced the frightening effects of the highly contagious and fast-moving infection are increasingly opting out of vaccinating their kids against Hib. Last week, the CDC reported that the percentage of babies who got the full series of Hib shots fell slightly from 2019 to 2021, from 78.8% to 77.6%.

Doctors … who a year ago was treating children hospitalized with measles during the West Texas outbreak, are sounding the alarm on Hib, fearing it could be the next vaccine-preventable disease to make a comeback.

From a couple of weeks back is this piece from ProPublica, headlined “How Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Vaccine Agenda Risks a Resurgence of Deadly Childhood Plagues.” Key quote: “ProPublica reviewed hundreds of studies on vaccines and outbreaks of the diseases they prevent and interviewed more than three dozen people who have worked on U.S. immunization programs here and abroad, dating back to the days of smallpox. Some had never spoken publicly about their experiences. They shared a pit-of-the-stomach dread that American children will end up fighting for their lives against infections that have long been preventable.”

Pit-of-the-stomach dread.

Vaccines aren’t perfect—nothing in medicine is. Yes, there can be side effects and, in rare cases, adverse reactions, some serious. But again, the proof is incontrovertible: Vaccines save lives and decrease suffering.

I am grateful to live in a time and place where I can walk in to a drug store and get affordable, potentially life-saving vaccines—almost without delay. But because of the unbelievably dumb actions of RFK Jr. and co., there will be fewer vaccines, with less availability, in the future.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• A group of news outlets wants to know more about the justifications used by Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to seize ballots from last year’s election. Our partners at Calmatters report: “CalMatters and a national consortium of news organizations on Wednesday filed a motion in Riverside County court seeking public access to the warrants a judge approved allowing Sheriff Chad Bianco to seize hundreds of thousands of ballots for an unprecedented investigation into the outcome of the November 2025 special election. The groups are also filing a separate petition with the California Supreme Court that also seeks to have the records unsealed. A Riverside County judge had ordered the warrants sealed, along with the sworn statements Bianco’s deputies made to a judge justifying their request to seize more than 1,400 boxes of Proposition 50 election materials from the Riverside County Registrar of Voters. Lawyers representing CalMatters along with The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Riverside Record, other newspapers and local television network affiliates filed a motion to unseal the warrants and the sworn statements.”

• The president signed an executive order to severely restrict mail-in voting—and Democrats are fighting it. PBS News says: “Democrats sued Wednesday to block President Donald Trump’s latest executive order restricting mail voting, arguing that the U.S. Constitution empowers states and Congress, not the president, to determine who is eligible to vote by mail. The lawsuit marks the second round of battles over the president’s power to control elections. Trump’s opponents handily won the first round last year, blocking his initial executive order intended to reshape election procedures by convincing multiple federal judges that it was likely unconstitutional. Trump on Tuesday announced that his administration would compile lists of who is eligible to vote in states and that the U.S. Postal Service would only mail ballots to those who met that criteria. Critics note that there’s little time to comb through voter rolls before ballots start going out for this fall’s elections, in some places as soon as September, and question whether the administration’s list would be reliable.”

• Pete Hegseth has demanded that the Army’s top general resign … while we’re in the middle of a war (or whatever we’re calling it) in the Middle East. The Washington Post reports: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has asked the Army’s top officer to step down and retire, defense officials said Thursday, an extraordinary move amid the war with Iran and the latest in a series of clashes between the Pentagon chief and the service’s senior leadership. Gen. Randy George had been expected to hold the job of Army chief of staff for more than another year, until the fall of 2027, and complete what is typically a four-year assignment as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But Hegseth decided to go in another direction, representatives for the defense secretary said. … With George’s ouster, Hegseth has remade nearly the entire Joint Chiefs of Staff, a panel of senior military officers at the Pentagon that advises both the president and the secretary. The only ones remaining from when Hegseth took office in January 2025 are Gen. Eric M. Smith, commandant of the Marine Corps, and Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, head of the Space Force. … In many cases, the firings and forced removals have occurred without explanation, though Hegseth has long criticized senior military leaders who championed diversity initiatives or exhibited what in his view was a lack of loyalty to President Donald Trump. A disproportionate number of those targeted by Hegseth have been women and minorities.”

• Also from Calmatters: A lack of snow in the state has raised concerns about the upcoming “fire season”: “California clocked its second-worst snowpack on record Wednesday, a potentially troubling signal ahead for fire season. It’s an alarming end to a winter that saw abnormally dry conditions briefly wiped from California’s drought map in January, for the first time in a quarter-century. Though precipitation to date has been near average, much of it fell as rain rather than snow. Then March’s record-breaking heat melted most of the snow that remains. The state’s major reservoirs are nevertheless brimming above historic averages and are flirting with capacity, and a smattering of snow, rain and thunderstorms are dousing last month’s heat wave. But experts now warn that California’s case of the missing snowpack could herald an early fire season in the mountains. … ‘I think everyone’s anticipating that it will be a long, busy fire season,’ said Lenya Quinn-Davidson, director of the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources Fire Network. ‘Without a snowpack, and with an early spring, it just means that there’s much more time for something like that to happen.’”

• Turning to local news: The organizer of TedXRanchoMirage is bring the event back in August—and he’s looking for speakers. From a news release: “Following a highly successful inaugural year, TEDxRanchoMirage is officially returning to the Rancho Mirage Library and Observatory on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026. Event organizers announced today that the official ‘Call for Speakers’ is now open to the public, and they are searching the Coachella Valley for fresh voices and ‘ideas worth spreading.’ The theme for this year’s event is ‘Under the Same Sky.’ The speaker submission portal is completely open to the public, and organizers are emphasizing that anyone from the community is encouraged to apply, regardless of their background or previous public speaking experience. ‘You don’t need to be a CEO, a published author, or a professional speaker to take the TEDx stage,’ says Eric Cunningham, curator of TEDxRanchoMirage. ‘Our community is overflowing with so many incredible, unshared ideas and unique perspectives. We are looking for everyday people who have a compelling, fact-based idea that can spark a conversation and leave a positive impact on the entire Coachella Valley.’” Learn more and apply to speak at www.tedxranchomirage.com.

• And finally … Lina Robles has passed away. She was one of my fellow Coachella Valley Media Hall of Fame inductees earlier this year. I only briefly met the longtime La Poderosa 96.7 morning show co-host at the event; at the time, she said she was about to retire. KESQ News Channel 3, a sister station of La Poderosa, reports that her death was unexpected. Click here to see News Channel 3’s report, and click here to see her Media Hall of Fame introduction video. Our sympathies go to Lina’s family, friends and colleagues.

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