Measles on the rise worldwide

[louisa05]

We have a new anti-vaxxer in the family. She is convinced that her oldest child developed nearsightedness due to vaccines. She stopped vaccinating him and her younger two have received no vaccines. 

Extreme nearsightedness, degenerative myopia, retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration and early cataracts as well as the less serious issue of extreme light sensitivity all run in our family with numerous cases of each one (the first two are basically one in the same for us) occurring across at least four generations that we know about.  I have four of these conditions myself. So, obviously, her kid needs glasses because she started his routine vaccinations when he was a baby. 

These people...

[Howl]

Excerpt from an article in Foreign Policy by Laurie Garrett  

The World’s Many Measles Conspiracies Are All the Same

The deadly disease is spreading rapidly around the globe, fueled by a cratering of social trust.

Spoiler

 

The unvaccinated French travelers, however, reflect a growing trend across Europe, where refusing immunization has become mainstream. As a result, last year Europe recorded more cases of measles than at any time in the last 20 years, with nearly 83,000 confirmed cases and 72 deaths. Worldwide measles incidence jumped 50 percent in 2018, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), prompting the agency to declare vaccine refusal one of the 10 greatest challenges to global health in 2019.

Vaccination isn’t just an individual choice; it’s a social contract entered into by the public and its government.

Most vaccine refusal worldwide goes hand in hand with public distrust in government.

But the global anti-vaccination movement that predominantly confronts public health advocates today is dominated by highly educated, typically well-heeled individuals, such as the wealthiest residents of posh West Los Angeles communities like Santa Monica, Brentwood, and Beverly Hills, where rates of child vaccination are as low as those seen in civil war-torn South Sudan.

Meanwhile, in Portland, Oregon, the Russian émigré community exhibits a high level of vaccine skepticism. According to the American Public Health Association (APHA), Russian-language media and social media trolls operating out of Russia actively promote hysterical claims about contamination and harm from vaccines. The APHA study found that Russian trolls recognized that vaccine concerns offered a wedge issue that could be exploited to sow anti-government feelings,

There is a strong link between the rise of populism and anti-vaccination sentiments. France’s National Rally party and Italy’s Five Star Movement-League coalition government both oppose vaccines. League leader Matteo Salvini, Italy’s interior minister, lifted all vaccine requirements last year, arguing that immunization was “useless and in many cases dangerous, if not harmful.”

There is no good reason that immunization should be a partisan issue, but in the United States, it increasingly is. For example, in Arizona, Republican state Rep. Kelly Townsend has tapped into widespread sentiments that the imposition of compulsory vaccination undermines liberty.

Unfortunately, there is no simple recipe for cooking up bonds of trust amid a broken social contract. Public health leaders and pediatricians are hard-pressed to counter anti-vaccination messaging that is tied to larger political, religious, and cultural divisions and suspicions. Once the obligations of herd immunity are cast aside, the individual trumps the needs of the community. And once the one is more important than the us or all, it’s very hard to reverse that equation.

 

 

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

@Howl, I see that our old friend, Darla Shine is quoted in that article.

Quote

Darla Shine, the wife of White House communications director Bill Shine, has repeatedly in recent weeks tweeted her belief that vaccines are dangerous and the diseases they aim to prevent are actually “healthy.” “Come breathe on me!” she wrote, claiming a case of measles could give a person lifelong protection against cancer. 

It really hurts to see so much willfull stupidity in one single person, doesn't it?

[Dreadcrumbs]

@Howl It's interesting (but not surprising) how distrust of vaccines ties into a bigger sociopolitical issue. This can only get worse before it can get better.

[Ozlsn]

11 hours ago, WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? said:

@Howl, I see that our old friend, Darla Shine is quoted in that article.

It really hurts to see so much willfull stupidity in one single person, doesn't it?

Can anyone bring her into contact with ebola? Or smallpox?

[Syriana]

13 hours ago, Dreadcrumbs said:

@Howl It's interesting (but not surprising) how distrust of vaccines ties into a bigger sociopolitical issue. This can only get worse before it can get better.

It is both interesting and terrifying!

Unfortunately, the 'establishment' (for want of a better name) have displayed such a lack of integrity over an extended period of time, that people no longer believe anything they say.  Even things that had previously been well established are now treated with suspicion; some people are treating anyone who tries to counter any part of the anti-establishment sentiment as being a government mouthpiece, that includes representatives of the medical profession.  This distrust opens the door to dangerous narratives (religious and secular) because people who feel politically and/or socially disenfranchised will look for a new direction.  The other factor that doesn't help is a longstanding distrust of big pharma, they've shot themselves in the foot with bad management of their public image and now a chunk of society no-longer believe that there is enough financial incentive in prevention - so now questions are being asked about what the population is being set up for/poisoned by ?

Rebuilding shattered trust is incredibly difficult, a lot of lives are going to be needlessly lost or permanently changed before things get better.

Edited April 8, 2019 by Syriana

[Terrie]

This weekend, a bunch of my friends and I had a cheesy sci-fi movie night. Time travel movies of the 60s. In one of them, there was a "mutant" with no feet. I looked up the actor in IMDB, and he really had no feet, the result of congential rubella syndrome. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0835285/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm Rubella is, of course, the "R" in the MMR vaccine. Wakefield's bogus study was published in 1998, so the kids first impacted are on the cusp of becoming parents. I worry that we're going to need a major outbreak and cases of CRS making the news to get some people to understand what they are doing to their children. 

[Dreadcrumbs]

7 hours ago, Syriana said:

It is both interesting and terrifying!

Unfortunately, the 'establishment' (for want of a better name) have displayed such a lack of integrity over an extended period of time, that people no longer believe anything they say.  Even things that had previously been well established are now treated with suspicion; some people are treating anyone who tries to counter any part of the anti-establishment sentiment as being a government mouthpiece, that includes representatives of the medical profession.  This distrust opens the door to dangerous narratives (religious and secular) because people who feel politically and/or socially disenfranchised will look for a new direction.  The other factor that doesn't help is a longstanding distrust of big pharma, they've shot themselves in the foot with bad management of their public image and now a chunk of society no-longer believe that there is enough financial incentive in prevention - so now questions are being asked about what the population is being set up for/poisoned by ?

Rebuilding shattered trust is incredibly difficult, a lot of lives are going to be needlessly lost or permanently changed before things get better.

This makes addressing the issue much more difficult. I am now beginning to think make vaccines compulsory would only add fuel to the fire, and huge, nationwide PSA campaigns would also have the potential to backfire.

Something has to give.

[HarryPotterFan]

20 hours ago, WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo? said:

@Howl, I see that our old friend, Darla Shine is quoted in that article.

It really hurts to see so much willfull stupidity in one single person, doesn't it?

BRB, asking my cousin who is an infectious disease doctor to inject Ebola into this dumbass

If a preventable disease kills you decades before you would have been diagnosed with cancer, does that mean it provided lifelong protection against it?

Like if due to genetic predisposition, someone who would have been diagnosed with breast cancer at age 60 does of the measles at age 4, did the measles give them lifelong protection?

[Syriana]

16 hours ago, Dreadcrumbs said:

This makes addressing the issue much more difficult. I am now beginning to think make vaccines compulsory would only add fuel to the fire, and huge, nationwide PSA campaigns would also have the potential to backfire.

Something has to give.

It's a catch 22 situation; the message about how important and generally safe vaccinations are needs to to be re-delivered in a way the public believe, yet almost all of the usual mechanisms for getting the message out will be misinterpreted (deliberately or out of fear) and potentially exacerbate the problem.  Compulsory vaccination would almost certainly cause a large scale rebellion.

This is the kind of situation where social media could actually be very useful if employed skillfully, it's scary how influential the various platforms can be but if a few of the major influencers got on board it could have a dramatic impact. 

Edited April 9, 2019 by Syriana

[KeshetParparNesicha]

https://www.apnews.com/13ef6b7b83914b9b84ef8dc6e06d071b

https://abc7ny.com/health/measles-outbreak-nyc-orders-mandatory-vaccines-for-some/5239006/

What a disgrace. In case anyone is wondering, there is nothing in Judaism that forbids vaccines, and a whole lot that could be interpreted as making them mandatory. If these people have religious exemptions, they got them by lying. This is no different than the average know-it-all antivax mom, only instead of these sheltered people finding conspiracy theories on Facebook, which they don't have, they've picked them up from friends and neighbors. Stupidity is universal.

Sincerely, an Orthodox Jew.

 

[Buzzard]

12 hours ago, KeshetParparNesicha said:

https://www.apnews.com/13ef6b7b83914b9b84ef8dc6e06d071b

https://abc7ny.com/health/measles-outbreak-nyc-orders-mandatory-vaccines-for-some/5239006/

What a disgrace. In case anyone is wondering, there is nothing in Judaism that forbids vaccines, and a whole lot that could be interpreted as making them mandatory. If these people have religious exemptions, they got them by lying. This is no different than the average know-it-all antivax mom, only instead of these sheltered people finding conspiracy theories on Facebook, which they don't have, they've picked them up from friends and neighbors. Stupidity is universal.

Sincerely, an Orthodox Jew.

 

I actually think it would be AGAINST their religion to ignore medical directives and risk your child's health and the health of others.   By behaving in this irresponsible way they risk life, which is a no no.

My Rabbi always taught us that it was our duty to do what we can to preserve life, whether through food drives, blood donation, registering on live donor registries for bone marrow etc.  Intentionally denying your child a shot and lessening herd immunity for those who cannot protect themselves would definitely not be accepted.

[nausicaa]

14 hours ago, KeshetParparNesicha said:

If these people have religious exemptions, they got them by lying.

I've learned that this is sadly very common. I was volunteering last year and there were a couple teen girls there getting their high school volunteer hours in. Both were seniors and were talking about prep for college. They'd both need to get vaccinations before going  since :giggle giggle: they'd never been vaccinated before. The one girl said "Yeah, my mom just mentioned the religious exemption even though we're like atheists" and the other girl had a similar story. Cool. Not only are your parents dip shits who don't understand medicine, they are also flagrant liars. Oh, and they don't even have the courage of their convictions, since once they realized their precious darlings couldn't go to college without being vaccinated, they relented. 

I just silently fumed while stacking cans the rest of the day. 

These were upper-middle class WASP-y teens, btw. It does make me wonder if making vaccinations mandatory for public school admission would work because most parents do relent for college. If you don't want to vaccinate, cool. Go find a private school willing to put up with your bullshit or find a way to home school. We don't let kids play sports on public high school teams without a physical. 

[nausicaa]

On 4/8/2019 at 12:14 PM, Dreadcrumbs said:

I am now beginning to think make vaccines compulsory would only add fuel to the fire

I don't know. I do wonder how many of these people really have the courage of their convictions? Like in the college example above.

 You'll always have your die hard Alex Jones-listening chemtrail believing types. But to be painfully blunt, most anti-vaxxers I know are middle aged women with few accomplishments or outlets of their own. Getting to believe they are smarter than others (even those pesky doctors!) by following/specializing in "alternative medicine" is a way to soothe their egos as the sexual currency they once relied on depreciates. I think for most women at least, being anti-vax is more akin to following an MLM than it is to following an ideology. 

[Terrie]

Depending on the state, you can get a "philisophocal" exemption, which is basically the religious exemption without the religion. Both exemptions need to go.

[adidas]

There have been 92 cases of measles in Australia so far this year  

We have just started getting TV add recommending vaccination for the upcoming flu season - I can’t remember them being so proactive in the past. We’ve had a few nasty strains of influenza over the past few winters, I hope this year isn’t as bad (our family will still all be vaxed of course). 

[refugee]

2 hours ago, nausicaa said:

I don't know. I do wonder how many of these people really have the courage of their convictions? Like in the college example above.

 You'll always have your die hard Alex Jones-listening chemtrail believing types. But to be painfully blunt, most anti-vaxxers I know are middle aged women with few accomplishments or outlets of their own. Getting to believe they are smarter than others (even those pesky doctors!) by following/specializing in "alternative medicine" is a way to soothe their egos as the sexual currency they once relied on depreciates. I think for most women at least, being anti-vax is more akin to following an MLM than it is to following an ideology. 

Can I upvote this x1000? You really struck a chord there. (Slightly edited because I had to re-create some of your comment after trying to bold part of it) You hit the nail on the head exactly, at least in terms of some of the most strident, shrill, rabid rabble-rousers. The ignorance they spew... “measles is just a normal mild, childhood disease” and “it’s much healthier to just let your kids get measles than to risk the vaccine”—tell that to the families of the 5 I heard are in ICU in the latest outbreak figures.

I’ve had to mute some people on Facebook to get away from the hysteria.

[Dreadcrumbs]

5 hours ago, nausicaa said:

I don't know. I do wonder how many of these people really have the courage of their convictions? Like in the college example above.

 You'll always have your die hard Alex Jones-listening chemtrail believing types. But to be painfully blunt, most anti-vaxxers I know are middle aged women with few accomplishments or outlets of their own. Getting to believe they are smarter than others (even those pesky doctors!) by following/specializing in "alternative medicine" is a way to soothe their egos as the sexual currency they once relied on depreciates. I think for most women at least, being anti-vax is more akin to following an MLM than it is to following an ideology. 

You've got a point about the alt med crowd. I just fear that passing legislation will cause the conspiracy types to double down and that people on the fence might join them.

This is such a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation.

[Briefly]

5 hours ago, refugee said:

Can I upvote this x1000? You really struck a chord there. (Slightly edited because I had to re-create some of your comment after trying to bold part of it) You hit the nail on the head exactly, at least in terms of some of the most strident, shrill, rabid rabble-rousers. The ignorance they spew... “measles is just a normal mild, childhood disease” and “it’s much healthier to just let your kids get measles than to risk the vaccine”—tell that to the families of the 5 I heard are in ICU in the latest outbreak figures.

I’ve had to mute some people on Facebook to get away from the hysteria.

Yeah normal childhood disease but those normal childhood diseases can still be fatal or cause severe issues.  I have not had anyone that I've had to mute yet, but there are a couple of people that I expect to be anti-vax.

[Ozlsn]

I think one of the other factors driving the measles outbreaks here is that people born between 1966-96 only recieved one MMR shot (current practice is to give two in childhood), and a reasonable proportion of that group don't actually have protective antibody titres. Certainly at least some of our imported measles cases had had childhood vaccines and were still susceptible - there is discussion here about a public health campaign to get people in that age range to either get their titres tested or get a booster shot.  This was kind of touched on in the recent randomised controlled trial of homeopathic "vaccines" which not only found that the homeopathic vaccines did nothing (surprise!) but also that "while most of the participants has protective levels of antibodies for diphtheria (88%) and tetanus (97%), only 52% had adequate antibodies against measles and 66% against mumps".

So yeah there is some scope for improving community immunity without having to convince the die hard nutters.

Also the states of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland made being up to date with inmunisations a requirement for daycare programs, and the Australian federal government tied getting your child vaccinated to a particular payment - both convinced a surprisingly high number of parents that their kids should in fact be vaccinated. Amazing how some people change their mind when money is involved.

Edited April 11, 2019 by Ozlsn

[squiddysquid]

Mhm, no jab no pay did wonders!

Most of the Australian adults who caught measles traveled overseas and didn' get the rash until they were home, meaning they were on long distance flights when they were contagious (4 days before and after the rash) if your titres are too low or you haven't been vaccinated, you have a 90% of catching it - the airplane of course being the perfect breeding ground.

The flu ads may be a reaction to the 2017 influenza wave - the worst in Australian history. (I worked in an ER at the time, we had fit people in their 20s coming in with respiratory failure - fun times.)

[Themanda Duggar]

59 minutes ago, Ozlsn said:

I think one of the other factors driving the measles outbreaks here is that people born between 1966-96 only recieved one MMR shot (current practice is to give two in childhood), and a reasonable proportion of that group don't actually have protective antibody titres. 

I was born in 66, and when I was a senior in high school all of the  individual health records of everyone at my school  were reviewed, it may have been a city wide thing, and many of us, including me, had to be re -inoculated  for measles.  We probably all just got another MMR, but I think it seemed like it was really just the measles part they were concerned with.  I hated shots, and was totally fine with the idea of being indefinitely banned from school, but my parents felt differently.

[Ozlsn]

14 hours ago, squiddysquid said:

The flu ads may be a reaction to the 2017 influenza wave - the worst in Australian history. (I worked in an ER at the time, we had fit people in their 20s coming in with respiratory failure - fun times.)

Yeah I think last year's flu vaccine uptake increased significantly after the stories of previously healthy adults and children being hospitalised and dying. Certainly they ran out of stock a couple of times at my GP - we ended up getting it at a local hospital where my father-in-law was recovering from a heart attack (nice of the hospital to have a free clinic going at the place we were already spending a lot of time, saved us a lot of effort.)  And yet again this year there are people in the ex-prem baby groups asking if their child "really needs" the flu vaccine. Your child came home on oxygen, why are you even asking that?

13 hours ago, Themanda Duggar said:

I hated shots, and was totally fine with the idea of being indefinitely banned from school, but my parents felt differently.

For some reason I am finding this hilarious.  Parents can be such killjoys!

[Howl]

I find myself gobsmacked that there is not a huge outcry and educational campaign over the danger of rubella to the fetuses of pregnant women -- stillbirth, miscarriage, severe birth defects are all possible, if not likely.  It's also a virus, but not as contagious (or as prevalent) as measles.  However, considering the number of unvacinated women of childbearing age, and the number of unvaccinated children, from a public health aspect, it's just a matter of time. 

[smittykins]

On 4/11/2019 at 4:38 AM, Themanda Duggar said:

I was born in 66, and when I was a senior in high school all of the  individual health records of everyone at my school  were reviewed, it may have been a city wide thing, and many of us, including me, had to be re -inoculated  for measles.  We probably all just got another MMR, but I think it seemed like it was really just the measles part they were concerned with.  I hated shots, and was totally fine with the idea of being indefinitely banned from school, but my parents felt differently.

1966 here as well, and I remember having to get another MMR before the school year started, although I was in junior high(eighth grade maybe).  And when the chicken pox vaccine came out, there was some talk about “chicken pox is mild for most kids, is it really necessary?” and someone theorized that it was just so parents didn’t have to take time off work to care for their sick kids.