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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 Azuma Hazuki on Saturday February 09 2019, @05:53AM (4 children)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Saturday February 09 2019, @05:53AM (#798722) Journal

    I started a job in healthcare in December and found out that the first M and the R of my childhood MMR routines had worn off somehow; I was positive for mumps antibodies but not for measles or rubella. This shouldn't surprise anyone; most people are not likely to encounter any of these once childhood is over thanks to widespread vaccination, and I'm in my early 30s now. If my immune system "forgot" a few things this shouldn't be a huge revelation.

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    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 09 2019, @09:26AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 09 2019, @09:26AM (#798765)

    This shouldn't surprise anyone

    I am also not surprised that "global warming" is causing a new ice age, etc.

    • (Score: 4, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday February 09 2019, @12:44PM (2 children)

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Saturday February 09 2019, @12:44PM (#798791) Journal

      It is? Some places are getting localized cooling effects but the entire planet is warming. No need for scare quotes; the planet's net energy budget *is* going up, it's just not evenly distributed because Earth isn't a barren, featureless, uniform ball of rock with no atmosphere.

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
      • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 09 2019, @04:15PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 09 2019, @04:15PM (#798846)

        Earth isn't a barren, featureless, uniform ball of rock with no atmosphere

        The earth isn't a "ball" at all. It is a flat planar disc that is slightly concave towards the sun. Just concave enough so that solar insolation is exactly the same at every point. There is a reason that "flat-earthers" is a grass roots phenomenon spreading around the globe.

        • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday February 09 2019, @11:44PM

          by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Saturday February 09 2019, @11:44PM (#798951) Journal

          Now THAT is how you troll! I love the last sentence especially :) Modded up because I want people to see this.

          --
          I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...