Measles outbreaks – time to stop the madness of the anti-vaccinationists

We have repeatedly discussed on this blog the fact that many alternative practitioners are advising their patients against vaccinations, e. g.:

• Governments take action to prevent vaccination-rates from falling 
• Use of alternative medicine is associated with low vaccination rates 
• Integrative medicine physicians tend to harbour anti-vaccination views 
• Vaccination: chiropractors “espouse views which aren’t evidence based” […]

Read the rest here: Measles outbreaks – time to stop the madness of the anti-vaccinationists

Addressing misconceptions on measles vaccination | ecdc

Since the introduction of vaccination, myths and misconceptions regarding vaccination have been present. Scientific research in psychology has shown that addressing these misconceptions is difficult: mere reading about a myth, even about a myth’s refutation, can strengthen the myth, rather than weaken its influence. Likewise, an explicit and strong negation of a risk can paradoxically increase rather than decrease the perception of risk in readers. The steps outlined below, proposed in the scientific literature, aim to help public health professionals address vaccination misconceptions in the best possible way.

• Core facts: a refutation should always emphasize the facts, not the myth. The introduction should only present key facts easy to memorize.
• Explicit warnings: before any mention of a myth, text, visual or oral cues should clearly warn that the upcoming information is false.
• Alternative explanation: any knowledge gaps left by addressing misconceptions linked to vaccination should be filled by providing an alternative casual explanation for why the myth is false.
• Graphics: core facts should be displayed graphically when possible.
• Careful language: moderate language and formulations should always be used when saying that there is no risk as strong negations of risk may backfire and lead to a higher risk perception.

Measles is a serious disease ...

Read on: Addressing misconceptions on measles vaccination (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control)

EU Launching New Health Award for NGOs Working on Vaccination

Vytenis Andriukaitis, aka Facepalm Man and Seat 123, has a lot to say about the harm anti-vaccination activists do:

In papers today: #Measles epidemic in Italy. 1st measles death in Portugal. Measles rise in Germany. Deplorable. Shame on you #antivaxers! pic.twitter.com/OvSuHmHHHw

— Vytenis Andriukaitis (@V_Andriukaitis) 20 April 2017

The fact is: your ancestors would have vaccinated

The post The fact is: your ancestors would have vaccinated by Anarchic Teapot first appeared on Plague of Mice.

It’s Friday evening, and a Twitter moron has to go and post this:

fact-I vaccinated my kids. Fact-my son suffered an encephalopathy. Let’s talk facts…

Facts. Oh yes, facts are great. You can use them as bricks to construct whole edifices of knowledge. The trouble with buildings, though, is that they need rather more than bricks to be of use. You have to use the right bricks for the type of construction, where it’s situated, etc. There’s got to be some kind of mortar to bind them together, or your building of unrelated facts will just fall apart at the first puff of wolf’s breath. And you need a roof, and a door etc.

For example, I’ve had a great time this week trying to build up my family tree using an online genealogy database. You input what you know about your family, it goes and looks up records that … Continue reading →

Aggressive vaccination effort reduces transmission of measles among North American Amish communities

An aggressive vaccination effort in response to the 2014 measles outbreak among North American Amish communities in Ohio significantly reduced the transmission of measles and the expected number of cases, according to a new study, even though...

anarchic_teapot's insight:
Vaccination is effective. QED.

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Baby contracts measles, father hits out at anti-vaccination parents

A FATHER whose five-month-old daughter has been diagnosed with measles has written a scathing letter aimed squarely at anti-vaccination advocates....

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Child pays price for anti-vaccine misinformation

This article is by Dorit Rubinstein Reiss, Professor of Law at the University of California Hastings College of the Law (San Francisco, CA). She is a frequent contributor to this and many other blogs, providing in-depth, and intellectually-stimulating, articles about vaccines (generally, but sometimes moving to other areas of medicine), social policy and the law. Her articles unwind the complexities of legal issues with vaccinations and legal policies, such as mandatory vaccination and exemptions...

Child pays price for anti-vaccine misinformation

Sharyl Attkisson: The 2015 U.S. Measles Outbreak

It’s nearly 2 am here and I should be abed, but this is important. I’ll make it a quickie. 

There is a lot of stealth fuckwittery being spouted by the antivax brigade. As an example, take self-styled investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson. She recently shat out a rant on the ongoing measles outbreak in California, a hotbed of organic quinoa detox fiends of ever there was one. Unlike the more insane antivaxers, though, she is prepared to admit that measles isn’t a laughing matter. However, she is just as prepared to massage the figures and even tell complete porkies if it suits her position. Let’s pick them out:

But CDC says one in four will become so sick, they have to be hospitalized. In the California outbreak, CDC reports a slightly lower hospitalization rate of 20%. 

Dishonest. The sample consisted of 84 patients at that time. That’s tiny. Nobody would claim … Continue reading →

The post Sharyl Attkisson: The 2015 U.S. Measles Outbreak by Anarchic Teapot first appeared on Plague of Mice .

It’s a small world after all!

When Andrew Jeremy Wakefield told us that it was his gut feeling that the MMR vaccine caused autism, I doubt that he had any idea of what he was about to unleash on the world. I really don’t think that he wanted to trigger outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases in places where vaccines had suppressed those […]

Read more at: It’s a small world after all! by Reuben

Who is to blame for all the measles? | The Poxes Blog

There’s a massive outbreak of measles underway in China. It’s big, really big:

“In the first five months of 2014, China has reported nearly 36,000 cases of measles, well over the 27,646 cases reported for all of 2013 and almost six times the number reported in 2012.”

In a country with that many people (over 1.3 billion at last count), 36 thousand cases may not seem like a lot. It’s 0.003%, but remember that we don’t do math that way in epidemiology. We divide 36,000 by the number at risk, and the number at risk is indicated by the number who are not vaccinated or have lost their immunity due to disease (e.g. cancer) or treatment for a disease (e.g. cancer, again). That number, the number at risk, is pretty much uncertain because the public health infrastructure in China is, well, lacking.

But this post is not about China. It’s about the good ol’ US of A. We have a somewhat robust public health system that, in my humble opinion and when it comes to immunization, is probably up there with the best in the world. There is no child in this country that does not have access to immunizations. If you have a child in the most remote corners of this country, you can get them vaccinated at little to no cost, especially against the killers like whooping cough and measles. So why do we have measles making a comeback here in the US? Is it just the anti-vaccine crew that have done this to us? (Don’t be fooled, it is us, you and me, that will be affected if vaccine-preventable diseases make a comeback.)...

Read the full story by Reuben on Who is to blame for all the measles? | The Poxes Blog