Measles outbreak in undervaccinated Texas area doubles—again
The outbreak now spans four counties.
The outbreak now spans four counties.
All cases are in unvaccinated people or people with unknown vaccination status. Of the 48 cases, 42 are in children, including 13 between the ages of 0 and 4. Thirteen people (27 percent) have been hospitalized.
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Just a reminder that this is bad for everyone, not just the unvaccinated. Every transmission represents millions of replications of the virus, and every replication is an opportunity for mutation. Every mutation has the potential to make the virus more infectious, vaccine resistant, drug resistant, or otherwise deadlier. This is not a darwin award thing, or an opportunity for schadenfreude. Anti-vaxxers pose a very real and violent threat to humanity.
One of the things that bugs me is this idea of "everyone is entitled to their opinion" has like metastasized into "no one is ever wrong about anything", and "don't ever make anyone feel bad about their 'opinions'".
Some ideas are wrong. If you're a anti-vaxxer or flat-earther you have bad ideas and we shouldn't be like well I guess that's just fine. Let the kids die and another pandemic roll in
I don't really want the state to be rolling around gagging anti-vaxxers willy-nilly because that can be a slippery slope, but there's nothing stopping a private person from telling their peer they're a fucking idiot. Peer pressure changes minds more than facts. And YouTube, a private org, could just.... not host anti-vax content.
I don't care anymore. I don't have the energy to keep caring. People keep making the same, selfish decisions and if you voice any opposition, you get push back and get told you need some "common sense".
Apparently 42/48 of the cases are in children. I just.. ugh. In no particular order, I wish parents were smarter, I wish the government had the power to force kids to get vaccinated no matter how braindead their parents are, I wish kids had more ability to get vaccinated without their parents permission (it's limited by age & by vaccine, even in supposedly liberal states like California), I wish there was less braindead fearmongering propaganda about vaccines, I wish people would recognize the importance of vaccines before the issue starts to affect them personally, etc
An article I read earlier on this included a quote from a (I think) public health official in the area, who said that it's not the church to blame for the low vaccination rates, but that many of these people don't regularly access healthcare. Knowing what I do about rural access to healthcare, it seems plausible that this isn't attributable to anti-vax sentiment (though regular access to routine healthcare is a big help towards "innoculating" people against anti-vax ideas).
If you're not familiar with the cultural context of healthcare in rural America, a friend who is/was a rural doctor says that Dr Glaucomflecken's short, humorous videos captures her experience remarkably well.
Fortunately, most rural areas have a Kroger, HEB, or a small hospital. No access to a primary care provider doesn't mean you can't go to a small chain to get the vaccine. If they cared, they would.
Best character in the Glaucomflecken cinematic universe is Texaco Mike.
Dr Glaucomflecken's content is classic! But yeah I have to say it's frustrating how many problems in the US just expound on themselves in a vicious cycle. People fear the healthcare system due to a lack of familiarity with it, which causes their communities to not produce doctors/not give enough patronage to primary care practices to thrive there, so instead healthcare practioners go to the cities where they're wanted and educated, then because of all the brain drain to the city rural areas start voting against their interests, making healthcare more expensive and imposing restrictions on doctors, which only makes healthcare even more inaccessible..
I'm not sure what to say. Conservatism is societal cancer. It's easy to want to throw up my hands and go 'oh well, natural selection' until I remember it's often children, the disabled, and the immunocompromised that are first to suffer..
So take away kids from anti vax parents? I'm down, probably will be less likely to generate stupid adults.
Gotta force sterilization of them too.