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How an Amish missionary caused 2014's massive measles outbreak

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Re: How an Amish missionary caused 2014's massive measles outbreak

#31
post #3

it breaks my heart to see so many "adults" making "informed decisions" about NOT vaccinating their children. They should really go live in undeveloped countries where vaccines are scarce and unavailable to experience first hand what lack of vaccinations actually means, what the implications are for the general population. I grew up, fortunately with out any problems, seeing so many kids suffering from polio, handicap…

While I agree I'd do anything to help my child, I also realize it's not up to me or most importantly, the government to dictate how other parents should raise their children. The right to raise your child the way you see fit, obviously without any major abuse is an universal right any parent has and it's above any social construct. Abuse, in this context, should be real abuse, which means physical or psychological vi…

agreed. but we live in a society ... not isolated from each other. if not vaccinating your child poses risk to everyone else around him, you NEED to take responsibility for it.

Its like ... you have the right to raise the child as you see fit and if you feel its within your rights to teach the child to defecate and urinate wherever he/she feels like it, dont be mad when someone else objects to it.

This is the biggest problem with vaccinations. By the time you realize what you have done, its already late. Compare that with the horror people see immediately when someone insists on teaching their child something like bad hygiene and say its their right.

Re: How an Amish missionary caused 2014's massive measles outbreak

#32

Did the missionary eschew modern technology in order to get to the Philippines? Got it guys, the answer is no. They use technology when it suits them.

You do not understand the Amish. They do not have some simplistic "all modern technology is bad" ban. They selectively use some modern technologies, and eschew others.

my house builder was amish. He OWNED all the equipment (huge tractors, cranes, etc.), he will ride in them but he WONT drive them. He hired someone else to drive. And he would stand on the crane to reach the roof. And he has no TV and stitches his own clothes etc.

So, while I am not against or for their way of life, one can plainly see them adapting to new way of life but still denying something as basic as vaccinations when they feel like it.

Re: How an Amish missionary caused 2014's massive measles outbreak

#33

I think a lot of anti-vax stuff might be fixed with a compelling documentary. Vaccines need their own "Blackfish" documentary. Simply producing that one vivid, compelling movie is now completely changing how whales and dolphins are kept at aquariums. The power of a well produced documentary is really unbelievable. It makes sense. People are visual creatures, and natural story tellers (and listeners) so sometimes show…

Absolutely. And it should explain herd immunity very clearly, a bit like this demo: http://op12no2.me/toys/herd/ People need to stop believing that it's a personal choice for them alone. That is no more true than if they were to go around blowing cigarette smoke into the faces of other people. It's anti-social behaviour and even worse, the consequences are potentially deadly.

And this is why i find the whole economics idea, that multiple entities doing their thing for individual profit will produce general social improvements, questionable at best.

Re: How an Amish missionary caused 2014's massive measles outbreak

#34

I think a lot of anti-vax stuff might be fixed with a compelling documentary. Vaccines need their own "Blackfish" documentary. Simply producing that one vivid, compelling movie is now completely changing how whales and dolphins are kept at aquariums. The power of a well produced documentary is really unbelievable. It makes sense. People are visual creatures, and natural story tellers (and listeners) so sometimes show…

The case is different. There isn't a competing conviction about orcas. People are generally susceptible to that kind of information. But once someone has bought into misinformation it seems very hard to sway that person in the other direction. I would like it if there was a silver bullet for misinformation but it seems we haven't found it so far.

Re: How an Amish missionary caused 2014's massive measles outbreak

#35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely. And it should explain herd immunity very clearly, a bit like this demo: http://op12no2.me/toys/herd/ People need to stop believing that it's a personal choice for them alone. That is no more true than if they were to go around blowing cigarette smoke into the faces of other people. It's anti-social behaviour and even worse, the consequences are potentially deadly.

And this is why i find the whole economics idea, that multiple entities doing their thing for individual profit will produce general social improvements, questionable at best.

I thought the current economic theory was that everyone should do what's best for them AND the group?

Case in point, tobacco companies sponsoring anti-smoking ads because talk of smoking increases revenues for the smoking industry as a whole. Instead of trying to advertise themselves individually.

Re: How an Amish missionary caused 2014's massive measles outbreak

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do not understand the Amish. They do not have some simplistic "all modern technology is bad" ban. They selectively use some modern technologies, and eschew others.

Anything that's convenient for them, I guess?

They generally don't electrify their homes.

That doesn't seem like it is a contrived choice designed to enhance convenience.

(My understanding is that the choices tend to hinge on whether something creates an ongoing reliance on the greater world)

Re: How an Amish missionary caused 2014's massive measles outbreak

#37
The media is filtering out the logic from this debate. I would have hoped HN would be more informed.

Its well established that no vaccine has an effect that lasts longer than seven years. This is the reason for booster shots. Every vaccine researcher and pharma company will tell you this.

The reason we immunize children is because their hygiene practices are poorer than most adults and they are a marginalized class. They get more diseases due to poor hygiene which encourages adults to look for easy solutions. And adults are in a position to force those solutions on the powerless.

Adults do not immunize themselves every seven years because the risk/reward profile simply isn't worth it. Every shot, vaccine or not, is a risk. On the other hand, adult-quality hygiene and typical first world nutrition cause people to avoid dying from diseases already. For a recent example look at Ebola. Many people simply can't get it because they are too healthy. This is why ebola never went anywhere in the USA and many other countries.

Adults with poor hygiene that get more diseases are ignored because they are a smaller group and in a position to resist so they are not worth targeting.

Most people aren't aware that the USA stayed polio-free for many years while a live attenuated virus was given to children. It was known by pharma companies that the live attenuated virus would become a full strength virus in the child's stool. Look it up, I remember at least one American woman catching it from changing a diaper and it was in the news. Now we use dead virus because of people like her. But the larger point is that for many many hundreds of thousands of diaper changes, there just wasn't a problem. Other countries with the live vaccine had lots of problems. What was the difference? Hygiene and nutrition.

Vaccines are a great tool. Like any tool they should be voluntary. People who choose not to use them are not a problem because if they were then every adult who hasn't had a vaccine in seven years is also a problem so the blame should be pretty thin.

And finally, please note that no one died and many were hospitalized for precaution, not an actual need. Healthy, first world people die from measles at an extremely small rate. I know it doesn't sell newspapers or get people to read your blog but this was not a deadly epidemic. All of the angry rhetoric around this event could have been avoided if people were informed ahead of time that there would be no deaths in otherwise health people. Meanwhile, heart disease is a deadly epidemic and there is no vaccine for that.

Re: How an Amish missionary caused 2014's massive measles outbreak

#38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do not understand the Amish. They do not have some simplistic "all modern technology is bad" ban. They selectively use some modern technologies, and eschew others.

Anything that's convenient for them, I guess?

What it boils down to, is whether or not taking advantage of a technology puts them under the influence of those outside their community. For example, if they use electricity then they have to be involved with the affairs of the town, and not self-reliant. But they can choose to use a diesel engine to power equipment for their farms, as they have the ability to make their own bio-fuel. And they use modern refrigeration and battery-powered lights on their carriages for safety reasons.

In short -- does a technology pull them away from their faith, or is it needed for a greater good? Not to mention, that each Amish community is independent and sets their own rules (there is no central Amish version of the Pope, for example).

Re: How an Amish missionary caused 2014's massive measles outbreak

#39
post #3

it breaks my heart to see so many "adults" making "informed decisions" about NOT vaccinating their children. They should really go live in undeveloped countries where vaccines are scarce and unavailable to experience first hand what lack of vaccinations actually means, what the implications are for the general population. I grew up, fortunately with out any problems, seeing so many kids suffering from polio, handicap…

Polio is about literal shit in the water in places like India, not so much the vaccines. Polio was eliminated in the developed world mostly by way of water chlorination.

I'm not an "anti-vaxer" and am not well read on the subject of vaccination, but online discussions of this topic seem essentially religious. People who clearly have no particular expertise go on about how we will be damned if all are not vaccinated. Note in the article that nobody died from the measles outbreak. Some kids just got sick, like they still do from chicken pox. Please also note that people do in fact die every year from vaccines. They are not risk free. Might some calm discussions about statistics and risk assessment be in order? Maybe, maybe not, but the quality of discussion online I've seen essentially precludes it.

Also consider that the essential problem here, as seems to happen over and over again with infectious disease outbreaks, is travel to and from the third world. People are ready to crusade for vaccines but apparently the highly effective 19th century technology of mandatory quarantine is totally out of the question.

Re: How an Amish missionary caused 2014's massive measles outbreak

#40
post #3

it breaks my heart to see so many "adults" making "informed decisions" about NOT vaccinating their children. They should really go live in undeveloped countries where vaccines are scarce and unavailable to experience first hand what lack of vaccinations actually means, what the implications are for the general population. I grew up, fortunately with out any problems, seeing so many kids suffering from polio, handicap…

While I agree I'd do anything to help my child, I also realize it's not up to me or most importantly, the government to dictate how other parents should raise their children. The right to raise your child the way you see fit, obviously without any major abuse is an universal right any parent has and it's above any social construct. Abuse, in this context, should be real abuse, which means physical or psychological vi…

circumcision is absolutely child abuse and I cheer for every country that bans it.
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