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Anti-vaccine nonsense spurred NY's largest outbreak in decades
Health officials in New York are cautiously optimistic that they have a large measles outbreak under control after tackling the noxious anti-vaccine myths and unfounded fears that fueled the disease's spread.
Since last fall, New York has tallied 177 confirmed cases of measles, the largest outbreak the state has seen in decades. It began with infected travelers, arriving from parts of Israel and Europe where the highly contagious disease was spreading. In New York, that spread has largely been confined to ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities. As measles rippled through those insular religious communities, health officials ran into members who were wary of outsiders as well as those who harbor harmful myths and fears about vaccines. This included the completely false-yet-pernicious belief that the measles vaccine causes autism.
To quash the outbreak, health officials met with rabbis and pediatricians in the community, who in turned urged community members to be vigilant and, above all, get vaccinated, according to The New York Times. "Good people, great parents were terrified," Rabbi Yakov Horowitz, founder of Darchei Noam yeshiva in Monsey in Rockland County, told the Times. Despite the fears, he insisted parents vaccinate their children. "They felt that I was asking to give their children something that would harm them."
(Score: 2) by Rosco P. Coltrane on Friday January 18 2019, @09:25PM (7 children)
Anti-vaxers got sick for rejecting something out of fear of getting sick. How ironic - and sadly stupid at the same time.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by cmdrklarg on Friday January 18 2019, @10:00PM (6 children)
Were it just them I'd have no problem with letting them kill themselves. Unfortunately their stupidity also affects others due to the loss of "herd immunity" and those who are unable to be vaccinated for various reasons.
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 18 2019, @10:02PM (4 children)
There is no measles herd immunity...
(Score: 3, Informative) by cmdrklarg on Friday January 18 2019, @10:05PM (1 child)
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/herd-immunity-and-measles-why-we-should-aim-100-vaccination-coverage/ [iflscience.com]
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 18 2019, @10:18PM
Measles vaccine is supposed to be only 97% effective, so the percent vaccinated required to achieve herd immunity is even higher (~98%).
They originally promised measles would be eradicated in 1967, didn't work out that way:
https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?noupdate=1&sid=28571&page=1&cid=761716#commentwrap [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 18 2019, @10:10PM (1 child)
I don't know what you are talking about.
https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/herd-immunity-and-measles-why-we-should-aim-100-vaccination-coverage/ [iflscience.com]
This page is explaining why the largely touted 90-95% herd immunity level is not as clean cut as you'd hope, but a herd immunity still exists.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 18 2019, @10:15PM
Herd immunity means a large enough percent of people are immune (not vaccinated, but immune) so that the virus dies out (for measles they estimate ~95%). Obviously it isn't dying out.
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday January 19 2019, @01:32PM
They don't say died. They say cases. And they say, under control. Meaning, some folks got sick. But they're getting better, very quickly. Which is what happens with Measles. And I think if anybody died, if anybody is dieing -- about to die -- we'd hear about it. A lot. That would be in the headline for sure. But you say, "oh, they can kill themselves." Something even the Crooked Doctors aren't saying. I know your kind, believe me. You love to scare people. Over a NOTHING. Which is what Measles is. It's a very very minor thing.