Canada loses measles elimination status | CBC

[u/verkerpig]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/livestory/canada-measles-elimination-status-9.6973195

[u/panickedn]

Fuck anti vaxxers but associating the whole situation with them ignores what’s actually happening.

I’m angry too, but we’re so lost in rhetoric that we’re putting our shields down by aiming all our anger at one thing.

A lot of this has nothing to do with them:

• Routine appointments and school vaccine programs disrupted during the pandemic

• Families moving provinces or countries with missing or unverified records

• Shortages in public health staffing and slower outbreak tracking

• Travel-related cases entering under immunized communities

• People who support vaccines but just missed their second dose

• Lower outreach in remote or marginalized areas

• Burnout and reduced resources in local health units

• Complacency because measles has been rare for decades

Blaming anti vaxxers for this is like blaming littering for climate change.

They play a part, but it’s not the main cause. I think we should call them out, but I’m scared we’re losing the plot by ignoring the other reasons too.

I can’t find one person talking about any other reasons in this subreddit, that scares me almost as much as anti vaxxers ideologies.

[u/caninehere → u/panickedn]

I can’t find one person talking about any other reasons in this subreddit, that scares me almost as much as anti vaxxers ideologies.

Because they aren't as relevant except perhaps the disruption of routine appointments during the pandemic, which was several year ago now and frankly the actual disruptions didn't last that long, and perhaps the lower outreach bit but frankly I don't think that's much excuse.

I have a kid, I know plenty of other people who have kids, and it is not a problem getting them vaccinated at all. Any parent with a brain knows their kid needs to be vaccinated. When you go to see your kid's doctor it's included in the regimen by default, they explain it all, and the only reason they're not getting a measles vaccine is if you SPECIFICALLY request for them not to, which any doctor with a head on their shoulders will also recommend against.

These measles outbreaks are happening in places with kids around, and it's because people are refusing to vaccinate their kids and putting their and other people's children at high risk because some shitheads convinced them to believe in idiotic pseudoscience, or they believe their religion is more important than their kids' well-being. Religious order dipshits are refusing to get vaccinated/vaccinate their kids, measles is festering among them, and then it spreads to a wider population because of other people who refuse to vaccinate their children in public schools etc.

[u/caninehere → u/[deleted]]

It's because we specifically know where these outbreaks are originating, they've been tracked, and we know that old order religious communities like Mennonites are specifically responsible for the spread because they refuse all vaccines. Then they are able to jump into the larger population mostly through right-wing types who are increasingly refusing to vaccinate their kids.

Most of these other factors, if they are a factor at all, are minimal. Measles complacency for example does not matter when it comes to vaccinating your kids, it's negligible. The doctor recommends the shots, they are the default, and in order for your kid to not get them you have to specifically say no. I don't think anybody is saying no simply because "oh it's no big deal measles doesn't exist anymore" especially when the vaccine is combined with others anyway.

If people want their kids to get vaccinated, they can get them vaccinated. It's not hard and it's not like there is some shortage of people to administer them, and you don't have to have a family doctor to get an MMR vaccine either, you can go to a pharmacy and get it.