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Measles Outbreak In NYC

Posted by Soulskill on from the please-vaccinate-your-brood dept.

sandbagger writes "New York City may have to deal with a measles problem. New Yorkers are being urged to make sure all household members, including young children, are vaccinated. To date, there have been 16 confirmed cases and four hospitalizations. This follows news from the CDC in December that 2013 saw triple the average number of yearly measles cases. 2014 is off to an even worse start; there have been cases recently in the Boston metropolitan area and more than a dozen in the Bay Area as well. Vaccinations seem to be a victim of their own success — people look around and see no polio or measles and wonder why they should bother. Others repeat bogus claim about vaccines causing autism. How do you think we can get through to the anti-vaxxers?"

8 of 747 comments (clear)

  1. Thanks Jenny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Thanks a lot you dumb bitch.

    1. Re:Thanks Jenny by hrvatska · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Jenny McCarthy couldn't have done it without news and talk shows presenting her views as being just as valid as real medical experts. It isn't so much 'Thanks Jenny' as 'Thanks Oprah for being more interested in ratings than public health'.

  2. Obvious Answer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We should present to them the facts! That will sway their minds. /sarcasm...

    1. Re:Obvious Answer by Gr8Apes · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Expose them to measles, mumps, diptheria, etc seems to work. Maybe not compassionate, but neither is preaching ignorance and endangering society.

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
    2. Re:Obvious Answer by ibwolf · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Remember, those who do not vaccinate their children put their children at risk, but these are THEIR children, not 'ours'.

      This is simply not correct. There are a number reasons some children can not be vaccinated, including allergies and other health problems. Generally, if vaccinations are widespread, those that can not be vaccinated will benefit from the herd immunity afforded by general vaccination. When the number of non-vaccinated kids goes up, the effect of the herd immunity goes down putting the children that can not be vaccinated at risk.

  3. Tell them a story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Tell these people a story about a kid that got sick and nearly died because of not being vaccinated. It was recently shown to be effective, which makes sense, since these people seem to think emotionally rather than rationally. Evidence does nothing to convince them.

  4. People need to realize... by dosius · · Score: 5, Insightful

    People need to realize that Andrew Wakefield, the father of the anti-vax movement as we know it today, was discredited and disgraced for the shoddiness of his so-called "research".

    Oh yeah, and he had a vested interest in kids not getting MMR vax - I think he had ownership of a patent on a different rubella-only vaccine. Herp derp.

    --
    What you hear in the ear, preach from the rooftop Matthew 10.27b
  5. Why worry - its natural selection in action by Viol8 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Its sad, but if the kids of parents who only think on a base emotional level die then its clearing out the human gene pool. We should thank them.