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Medicine

We May Be In a 'Post-Herd Immunity World', says Immunology Expert (theguardian.com) 168

Dr. Paul Offit, an expert on infectious disease and immunology, told the Guardian that "We're living in a post-herd-immunity world. I think the measles outbreak proves that. Measles — because it is the most contagious of the vaccine-preventable diseases, the most contagious human disease really — it is the first to come back." Three large outbreaks in Canada, Mexico and the US now account for the overwhelming majority of roughly 2,300 measles cases across the World Health Organization's six-country Americas region, according to the health authority's update this week. Risk of measles is considered high in the Americas, and has grown 11-fold compared with 2024. Only slightly behind, data released earlier this week from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and WHO also noted that measles cases across Europe were up tenfold in 2024 compared to 2023. That data also indicated that the 2024 measles cases in Europe followed a seasonal pattern, which was not previously noted in 2021 through 2023. Of the European cases, which reportedly hit 35,212 for 2024, 87% were reported in Romania. The ECDC said the dip in vaccine rates has impacted the recent spike in measles, with only three countries, Hungary, Malta and Portugal, having coverage of 95% or more for both doses of the measles vaccine.

We May Be In a 'Post-Herd Immunity World', says Immunology Expert

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  • by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Sunday May 04, 2025 @11:44AM (#65351231)

    Because not vaccinating is simply one thing: dumb. And not vaccinating your childen is child abuse.

    Yes, anything has risks. Not doing something alos has risks. The smart thing is to honestly and neutrally look at the data and then make a decision. Instead panicky, insight-less and idological approaches have replaced rationality. Pathetic.

    • by battingly ( 5065477 ) on Sunday May 04, 2025 @12:59PM (#65351409)

      Because not vaccinating is simply one thing: dumb. And not vaccinating your childen is child abuse.

      It's worse than that. It's abuse of an entire community of children.

    • by gtall ( 79522 ) on Sunday May 04, 2025 @01:14PM (#65351433)

      Vaccinations have risks and are widely marketed as such. Unless the kid was tested to know the precisely link between her vaccination (and even then it might be unknowable) and her health problems, this just anecdotal evidence..... and the poster might be some anti-vaxxer making shit up. Gee, they have never been known to do that.

      Vaccination risks are backed by statistics and real data, not some anti-vaxxer insinuating something nefarious but unable to point to the precise reason, and this on a data point of 1.

  • This shit from the conspiracy crowd is killing their own members and kids, I am glad my parents had me have all the available vaccinations.
    Since many years we can see the proof vaccination are for the vast majority of the population very safe, and, they add to our communal safety.
  • by Luthair ( 847766 ) on Sunday May 04, 2025 @11:51AM (#65351251)
    Unfortunately if one existed the people who need it are too dumb to take it.
  • I am tired of the vaccine conspiracy theorist disease deniers. It's a form of selfishness. Yes, there is always a risk with any medical procedure, and a vaccine is no exception. With a vaccine there is a tiny risk of an allergic or other reaction. It's very small, but non-zero. Vaccine refusers are basically saying that they refuse that risk and defer it onto everyone else. Drafting off of the idea that everyone else will assume the risk and the diseases won't progress to threaten them.

    The unfortunate reality, is even those who get the vaccine still have a small chance of contracting the disease. So as the community of vaccine deniers grows, they are not only a risk to themselves but to everyone around them who may either not be fully immune, or who are too young to have received the vaccine.

    When my youngest son was an infant, a woman in my (then) church contracted pertussis and passed it to him. She was an early vaccine denier ("THEY CAUSE AUTISM" was her cry from the rooftops). She was too old for pertussis to be a threat to her, and likely thought she just had a cough. But when my son contracted it, it was life threatening. He developed a sneeze, then a cough, then had trouble breathing, then his lips turned blue and that wheeze "whooping" cough started. We rushed him to hospital, but it was a rural one and they were unequipped for a newborn needing intensive care. They put him on oxygen then shipped him by ambulance to the next larger center. They still couldn't intubate him, but they did suction his lungs and then he was put on an air ambulance to a major center. That finally saved his life, but for four horus it was touch and go, with him getting just enough treatment at each stop to keep him going until the next.

    Vaccine deniers make me angry. They need some tough talk, and perhaps strict legistlation. Namely:
    - Call a spade a spade. A vaccine refuser is a danger to themself and others and offloads risk to others. In short they are shirking their public responsibility and are being selfish.
    - Even if you don't subscribe to the view that they can be forced to receive vaccines, it is the absolute right of the rest of us to say "we just don't want to play with you". Vaccine refusers should be forced to be identifiable. They should then be barred from all public travel, barred from the public workplace, or in fact any public place where more than 10 people gather as being a danger to themself and others.
    - De-insure them from all public health plans (I'd do this with smokers too, but that's another discussion). If a private company wants to insure them, that's fine, but they must be forced to identify that they are not vaccinated. And, yes, as part of the previous point, I would absolutely bar them from public hospitals.
    - Or, just avoid all the trouble, and simply make them take their medicine like any good parent would do for a recalcitrant and temper-tantruming child.

    • by Teun ( 17872 )
      I feel with you!
      In my country (The Netherlands) there's always been a bunch of "Christian churches" that deny vaccination because it would be against the will of their God.
      Luckily they stayed below the 5% threshold but although 'sex' is a banned word for them they do fuck like rabbits...
      Now we also have (anti)social media and a bunch of generally uneducated Muslims and together they lower the herd immunity below the required 95% of vaccinations in the population.
      Sad.
      • The number of vaccinated in the Netherlands is dropping across the board: a little under 95% for non-religious people, 90% for Christians, and 60% for Muslims. The interesting part about the latter group is that it seems to be the 2nd and 3rd generation of immigrants who do not get the shots; 1st generation ones do... because vaccination is a normal thing in their country of origin, considered Halal. Morocco for instance has a much higher degree of vaccination than the Netherlands.
    • by skam240 ( 789197 ) on Sunday May 04, 2025 @12:35PM (#65351361)

      What kills me is vax deniers claim to have "done their research" but seem oblivious to what life was like before vaccines. Pretty much every one of us would know someone who had died or had lasting side effects from diseases that we now have vaccines for. We really don't want to go back to the way things were before vaccines or we'd have shit tons more horrible stories like yours, many of which would end a lot worse.

      • Humans have a negativity bias that causes us to focus on the bad things that happen and ignore the good. This means a hand full of vaccine reactions has a more profound effect on people than the doubling of life expectancy over the past century.
      • I went through Chicken Pox, and I wish I'd had a vaccine so I didn't have to go through that. Vaccines don't cause autism.
    • by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      I am tired of the vaccine conspiracy theorist disease deniers. It's a form of selfishness.

      It's not selfish in their mind, they are protecting their family from "wokeness". Too many actually believe dumbass anti-vax conspiracies. They are taught that gov't and subject matter experts are all bribed and/or part of a left-wing club, and that AM-radio pundits and prayer are the best source of truth.

      The Age of Morons is Here!

    • Very well said, and so sorry for the experience you went through due to the religious Luddite infecting your son. My username summarises everything I believe about vaccines. Good day to you.
  • Where was the reservoir of measles that initiated the outbreak?

  • I know it's not something i was exposed to myself till i went looking for it on my own in the middle of high school.

    We'd have a lot less stupid people killing their children by misunderstanding the safety of vaccines if we taught them how to properly evaluate statistics young. Or at all.

  • Measles outbreaks are completely preventable, at least in wealthy developed countries. There's absolutely no excuse for them to happen other than human stupidity.

    And yes, there are some people who legitimately cannot take vaccines for medical reasons, and they rely on most other people being vaccinated for their protection. So not only are stupid people harming themselves and their kids, they're also harming other people.

    And also yes, there are very occasionally serious side effects from vaccines. Th

  • The new slogan for the US Dept of Health and Human Services. MHCMA. Not sure how well that will fit on a hat though.

    Seriously though, have you seen the hhs.gov website? It has been turned into a propaganda platform. We live in scary times.

    • I have bought 4 year option contracts on beaky plague doctor outfits.
    • by kackle ( 910159 )

      Seriously though, have you seen the hhs.gov website? It has been turned into a propaganda platform. We live in scary times.

      +1 Unsettling.

  • Let's hope so (Score:2, Insightful)

    by quonset ( 4839537 )

    The planet is crowded enough with idiots. Having some of them die off because they're anti-science is a good thing.

    This will probably be accelerated in the U.S. because of cuts made by anti-science [propublica.org] bear killer Kennedy. At a time when measles cases are soaring in Texas due to anti-vaccine Christians [apnews.com], he decided it would be a good time to pull funding [nbcnews.com] for free* measles vaccination clinics [npr.org].

    * Free in the European sense that it's free to person because they paid for the vaccine with their taxes

    • by bsolar ( 1176767 )

      The planet is crowded enough with idiots. Having some of them die off because they're anti-science is a good thing.

      The problem is idiots are not always the victims of their idiocy. As example:

      • Children depend on their parents making non-idiotic decisions for them.
      • People with a compromised immune system might not be able to be successfully vaccinated regardless of their decision, so they have to rely on herd immunity for protection.
      • For children, all that means is the defective genes won't survive to pass on to another generation.

        For the immune compromised, they can at least take precautions to minimize their risk.

    • So you're hoping kids die because of their parents?
      I hear the IDF is hiring drone pilots for the following exciting opportunities:
      Refugee tent bombing
      Baby-seeking missile guidance
      Food and aid interdiction
      You've already impressed us with your personality, go get em, tiger! Those babies were coming right at us!

  • Countries need leaders who are at least nominally concerned with the general welfare. That includes balancing rights against responsibilities.

    You should not have the freedom to roam around as a virus reservoir, threatening your community. You should have the responsibility to be properly vaccinated for communal safety, and this responsibility should be encouraged with significant legal sanctions if you don't get it done.

    I don't care if you're MAGA or Mennonite, I don't care how loudly you scream about you

  • by 50000BTU_barbecue ( 588132 ) on Sunday May 04, 2025 @03:21PM (#65351681) Journal

    Must be true. It's just a coincidence It's on the side of selling new vaccines.
    One expert says we just need to vaccinate the vulnerable, its wrong to rely on just one expert.
    Science!

    • Read the actual summary and articles, dipshit.

      In the mind of an antivaxxer, the World Health Organization and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control are “relying on just one expert”.

      Tell us you literally do your research whilst taking a dump on the toilet reading Facebook and Reddit, without telling us

  • It sounds inhumane, but allowing everyone to survive and procreate just makes for a weaker herd. No one left behind!

    Eventually we will have watered down our own species to a point that a major event wipes out over 90 percent of the population.

    I am sure drugs will save us all though.

    And yes, I have bad eyesight and was born C-section - I realize it sounds hypocritical, doesn't make it less true.

Truth has always been found to promote the best interests of mankind... - Percy Bysshe Shelley

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