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posted by mrpg on Friday February 08 2019, @05:50PM   Printer-friendly
from the will-this-end? dept.

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

'It will take off like a wildfire': The unique dangers of the Washington state measles outbreak

[...] "You know what keeps me up at night?" said Clark County Public Health Director Alan Melnick. "Measles is exquisitely contagious. If you have an under-vaccinated population, and you introduce a measles case into that population, it will take off like a wildfire."

[...] Anti-vaccination activists, for their part, contend that state officials are twisting facts to stoke public fear.

"It shouldn't be called an outbreak," Seattle-area mother Bernadette Pajer, a co-founder of the state's main anti-vaccine group, Informed Choice Washington, said of the measles cases, arguing that the illness has spread only within a small, self-contained group. "I would refer to it as an in-break, within a community."

[...] Clements eventually changed her mind, deciding to give her kids the shots after a doctor at a vaccine workshop answered her questions for more than two hours, at one point drawing diagrams on a whiteboard to explain cell interaction. He was thoughtful, factual and also "still very warm," she said.

[...] In Washington, state lawmakers supporting tougher vaccine requirements are mounting their second effort in the past three years to make it harder for parents to opt out of vaccinations.


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  • (Score: 2) by SunTzuWarmaster on Friday February 08 2019, @08:14PM (2 children)

    by SunTzuWarmaster (3971) on Friday February 08 2019, @08:14PM (#798522)

    Luckily we keep all of the 1 year olds away from the un-vaccinated 2 year olds.
    /sarcasm - needed because we are talking about life/death here.

    Freaking vaccinate.

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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Sulla on Friday February 08 2019, @10:12PM (1 child)

    by Sulla (5173) on Friday February 08 2019, @10:12PM (#798563) Journal

    When my kids were born the doctors seemed very cautious about asking whether we planned to vaccinate. When we told them that we were fine with any vaccinations that they had the doc said she was greatful to not be yelled at. I live on the west cost though so I guess freaking out at the doctors is the norm here.

    --
    Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
    • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday February 08 2019, @10:53PM

      by Gaaark (41) on Friday February 08 2019, @10:53PM (#798577) Journal

      When we went in to see the team of doctors about our sons diagnosis of autism (he was around 3-4 years old) it was like walking in to a funeral:

      we had already guessed he was autistic (when you look down on him and he looks to the side, yeah...pretty good diagnostic guess)... i guess the doctors are so used to parents crying, wailing and gnashing their teeth (possible rending of clothes?) that it was LIKE pulling teeth to get them to say the diagnosis. We finally just said "He's autistic, right!".
      there was this quiet let out of breath from the team and then they got down to business.

      I guess everybody hates being yelled at and confirming parents worst fears, lol.

      --
      --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---