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October 17, 2025 5 mins

Dr. Nicole Saphier examines two major health and humanitarian crises. She begins with the harrowing return of hostages from the Middle East, detailing their extreme malnutrition and psychological trauma. Dr. Saphier then turns to the latest CDC debacle — where a “coding error” resulted in the mass layoff of 1,300 public health workers during a growing measles outbreak. She warns that government incompetence and crumbling public trust in health institutions are putting Americans at risk, calling for urgent reforms to restore accountability and protect families nationwide. Wellness Unmasked is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network - new episodes debut every Tuesday & Friday.

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Wellness Unmass. I'm doctor Nicole Sapphire and this
is your weekly Rundown. Well, it has been quite the week.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
We have seen incredible historic things happening. One thing that
we also saw coming out of the Middle East piece
deals are the return of the remaining hostages.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
There have been recounts of malnutrition, starvation, targeted starvation, for
psychological terror. It's going to take a long time for
these hostages to recover, but I am happy that they
are receiving the medical care they need and they are
home and they are on their way to recovery. We're
going to talk about two other things for this week's

(00:40):
Weekly Rundown. Earlier this month, chaos hit the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention when roughly thirteen hundred employees were
abruptly laid off. This included epidemiologists, immunization experts, and many
receiving notices. While the government is still navigating a shutdown,
but within days the back Jusha Swift facing mounting pressure,

(01:02):
federal health officials have reversed course, reinstating about seven hundred
of those positions, but still leaving roughly six hundred people
without jobs. Now the administration has since called the incident
a coding error, but whether or not that's true, the
consequences clearly are undeniable. For days, key programs, including the
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the CD's flagship for outbreak tracking,

(01:26):
were effectively paralyzed. The reason this is a problem is
because we're actually having outbreaks, record breaking outbreaks here in
the United States, specifically when with measles. As of October,
the United States has recorded over fifteen hundred confirmed measle
cases this year. This is the highest total number in

(01:48):
more than two decades. Outbreaks are spreading across Utah, Arizona,
South Carolina, and largely amongst the unvaccinated communities, and we're
seeing a rise in unvaccinated communities in the Arizona Utah
border region. Health departments have confirmed more than ninety linked cases.
In South Carolina, they had to quarantine one hundred and

(02:10):
fifty unvaccinated students after they were exposed to measles. Now,
that's an entirely different conversation about whether some of the
quarantine parameters are a bit too harsh, but needless to say,
that is what we do right now because we don't
want measles to continue to spread. If you remember, measles
was declared eliminated nd US back in two thousand, that

(02:32):
means that we stopped continuous transmission. It doesn't mean that
the virus disappeared.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
It's actually one of the most contagious pathogens known. A
single infected person can spread it up to ninety percent
of nearby unvaccinated people. The tragic part is we know
how to prevent it. The measles, MOMPS and rubella vaccine
has been shown effective at preventing transmission and severe illness

(02:57):
from measles, Yet the national vaccination rate among kindergarteners has
fallen from ninety five percent to just under ninety three
percent in recent years. Now, I know this two percent
dip doesn't really seem like that big of a deal,
But when the vaccination rate dips, measles finds its way
back in, and we're living that right now. So both

(03:17):
of these stories, the CDC shakeup and the measles resurgent,
I mean, they certainly go hand in hand. The conversation
right now regarding vaccines specifically MMR is causing a lot
of confusion when institutions appear disorganized or obviously politically influenced.
We saw a lot of that during COVID confidence in
their guidance weekends. And when people lose trust, they're going

(03:39):
to hesitate in following health recommendations and vaccinating their kids
and even in believing what the data tells them. So
public health really runs on two things, resources and credibility.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
We can rebuild the former, but the latter is going
to take years. So when it comes to the CDC,
the shakeup. Listen, I get it, we're in a government shutdown.
We just have to make sure that we're putting our
best face forward.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
Because people are already in a state of flux and
confusion and skepticism coming out of COVID. The CDC really
needs to dot their eyes, cross their t's and really
get it together because the amount of measles cases and
whipping cough cases and others that we're seeing in the
United States, I can tell you it's scary, and we
do not want to take ourselves back several decades we

(04:28):
have progressed.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
So let's get it together, people, Let's get out of
this government shutdown. Let's put our best foot forward. When
it comes to the CDC and the HHS, and do
everything we can to regain that public trust because unfortunately,
the resurgence of measles is a very harrowing situation that's happening,
and we don't want to see it getting worse.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
I'm doctor Nicole Sapfire. This is well in this unmass
weekly Rundown. I hope you have a great weekend and
we will see you soon. Make sure you listen on

Speaker 2 (04:57):
iHeartRadio wherever you get your podcast us, and I'll see
you next week.

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