Measles again...

[BTMO]

I see that measles is on the rise yet again in the UK (and probably elsewhere) and that deaths are predicted and this is due to ... low vaccination rates.

Can anyone explain why it makes more sense to listen to someone like Jenny McCarthy (who is, admittedly, quite yummy eye-candy, but is not skilled in science or medicine) over doctors and scientists?

 

[dropzone]

I used to think Jenny McCarthy was yummy, but I know people who both grew up with her and hung out with her (and Michael Flatley, Mr Riverdance) in standard Southside (Chicago) Irish bars and it turns out, surprise-surprise, they are just trashy Southside Irish (I was raised Old-Country, pre-Potato Famine, Lace-Curtain Irish and am naturally negatively judgemental, especially regarding other Irishmen ). To hear my friends tell it, Jenny was cool, but dumb, and Flately thought he was (you'll be surprised) God's gift to WOMEN, of all people.

To me, now, she's an over-inflated woman with a lantern jaw who has sex with Jim Carrey. Any one of which is a potential dealbreaker, though I'm likely to make a personality-based exception with the second.

ETA: The deal was broken long before her vaccine-based killing spree. This is the difference between us Boomers and thems what came after: Folks like me remember Polio, and in the case of a lot of diseases they have vaccines for, we got immunized the Old Fashioned Way, with heart damage and partial deafness to prove it.

 

[MattusMaximus]

Sadly, there are a lot of people who listen to Jenny McCarthy precisely because she is yummy looking eye-candy. They see a young, attractive, wealthy, and successful woman and they want to be her (or nail her, or both). In addition, many young parents see a couple to whom they can relate when it comes to the fears & concerns that all young parents have with their children. Put it all together, and some parents think that forms the basis for a rational decision to not vaccinate their kids.

 

[Miss_Kitt]

Or, more precisely, it forms an emotional basis for a decision that they prefer not to evaluate on a rational basis.

 

[BTMO]

Folks like me remember Polio, and in the case of a lot of diseases they have vaccines for, we got immunized the Old Fashioned Way, with heart damage and partial deafness to prove it.

Yes... I remember a couple of people with "mild" cases of polio - they wore leg irons. To a small child, this was quite creepy, knowing that it was a pretty much completely preventable disease.

I also know that I had mild cases of chicken pox and measles as a kid. I assume I was vaccinated against them, and just got a mild strain, or didn't really suffer any serious symptoms from either - other than a few days off school.

I don't recall it being considered a dangerous disease as a child - which I now assume to be *because* of vaccination.

 

[lionking]

Folks like me remember Polio, and in the case of a lot of diseases they have vaccines for, we got immunized the Old Fashioned Way, with heart damage and partial deafness to prove it.

I remember polio, and how it was one of a parent's greatest fears. Now virtually eliminated.

 

[SezMe]

Agreed. My mom was a nurse and she went crazy whenever I got a cold, sneezed, or had sign of illness. She was just scared poopless. Only looking back can I understand her fears.

 

[ponderingturtle]

I see that measles is on the rise yet again in the UK (and probably elsewhere) and that deaths are predicted and this is due to ... low vaccination rates.

Can anyone explain why it makes more sense to listen to someone like Jenny McCarthy (who is, admittedly, quite yummy eye-candy, but is not skilled in science or medicine) over doctors and scientists?

It is her mommy instinct. Who would dare to say she does not know what is happening with her own children?

 

[edd]

Jenny McCarthy is not well known in the UK. The AVers here don't even seem to agree with your lot over which vaccines are a problem or the mechanism. Low uptakes here and any resulting illness and death are more the responsibility of certain newspapers.

 

[casebro]

BTMO, I think chicken pox and measles vaccines are relatively recent. You suffered the usual course of those diseases. Generally, not much long term problems.

But what was the morbidity rate before vax? 1:10,000? Vs now, with vax- 1:1,000,000 ? That 100 times improvement is not significant to a particular child, but epidemiologists and 'big pharma' think it important.

 

[Cuddles]

BTMO, I think chicken pox and measles vaccines are relatively recent.

The general use of chickenpox vaccine is fairly recent, although it was actually first developed in the early '70s. The measles vaccine has been in use for almost 50 years though, so it's not really that recent.

You suffered the usual course of those diseases. Generally, not much long term problems.

But what was the morbidity rate before vax? 1:10,000? Vs now, with vax- 1:1,000,000 ? That 100 times improvement is not significant to a particular child, but epidemiologists and 'big pharma' think it important.

Before the measles vaccination was introduced, over 95% of people caught it before they were 18. The case mortality rate for measles in the US is 3/1,000. In undeveloped countries it can be as high as 1/3. I'd say that's pretty significant to more than just epidemiologists.
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/377712?cookieSet=1

Measles vaccination was associated with a 36% decline in overall death rate and a 57% reduction in the rate of death directly attributable to measles or diarrhea, respiratory illness, or malnutrition in Bangladesh

Measles vaccination is one of the most cost-effective health interventions ever developed.

 

[Dancing David]

And there can be complications from the measles , even if you do live.

 

[Ivor the Engineer]

<snip>

The case mortality rate for measles in the US is 3/1,000.

<snip>

Lies, damned lies, and statistics.

 

[Soapy Sam]

The sole place I have seen the name Jenny MCarthy is on this forum.
I just googled the name and found some tarty pics of a big bazonka'd blowsy blonde- is this the person to whom you refer? Apart from soft porn, what does she do for a living?

 

[Delscottio]

The sole place I have seen the name Jenny MCarthy is on this forum.
I just googled the name and found some tarty pics of a big bazonka'd blowsy blonde- is this the person to whom you refer? Apart from soft porn, what does she do for a living?

She does hard core porn for Jim Carey, In private which I can't figure if thats a good or bad thing

I am surprised more in the UK don't know of her, then again it may be just us of a certain taste...

 

[Delscottio]

Forgot to add the North East of England is currently going through its biggest measles out break for years, its been on the regional news alot. Hopefully it may have pushed a few more families towards the MMR vaccine.

 

[Niggle]

The deal was broken long before her vaccine-based killing spree. This is the difference between us Boomers and thems what came after: Folks like me remember Polio, and in the case of a lot of diseases they have vaccines for, we got immunized the Old Fashioned Way, with heart damage and partial deafness to prove it.

My aunt had polio when she was nine years old. I've never known her without the full-torso and leg braces. She went through the post-polio thing a few years ago and now can barely move one arm as well.

Whenever the anti-vax thing comes up, my dad goes ballistic. Damn right all my sibs' kids got their full vaccine schedules. But he was in a panic when he found out my older brother's kids got the live-vaccine polio dose. My brother wanted to be sure they got the higher level of protection. My father was sure they were going to be in the fraction of kids who actually contracted the disease from the vaccine (and so would my mother, who was immune-suppressed due to a liver transplant). He's always been a major pessimist. But in this case, I can understand his fear.

It might help if some of you eye-witnesses could find an outlet to show these idiot anti-vaxxers that there IS damage done from measles and all the other diseases they're so blithely dismissing. Jenny waves them away as a case of the sniffles. She can't wave away my aunt's braces. Yes, my aunt has been quite outspoken about the whole debate.

Maybe another website? The body count one can only do so much; all it shows is numbers. This needs to be personal. Show people the faces of those affected by these diseases so they can SEE what they're sentencing their children to by refusing vaccination.

She's not a scientist. She's making an emotional argument. Fight fire with fire.

I do not know how to make a website. I am willing to ask my aunt for a picture if someone else does know how to do that.

 

[Estellea]

Yes, Jenny is a non-entity in the U.K. MMR uptake was decreasing just prior to Wakefield's nonsense and then really plummeted after that media fiasco. They have never really recovered; although the U.K. aren't the only ones, the DACH has notoriously large clusters of vaccine refusers and the measles cases and exportations speak volumes.

 

[Professor Yaffle]

Forgot to add the North East of England is currently going through its biggest measles out break for years, its been on the regional news alot. Hopefully it may have pushed a few more families towards the MMR vaccine.

Yes, its very worrying for me, as I have a niece who lives in that area - she is just at the age when she would normally get the MMR, but she can't have it because she has to take immunosuppressants because she had a heart transplant. So she can't be protected by vaccination and has a weak immune system that might not be able to cope well if she did become infected.

 

[SRW]

Jenny McCarthy is not well known in the UK. The AVers here don't even seem to agree with your lot over which vaccines are a problem or the mechanism. Low uptakes here and any resulting illness and death are more the responsibility of certain newspapers.

By way of an Introduction to Jenny: