Anti-vaxxers Responsible for Large Measles Outbreak in Minnesota

Minnesota is currently experiencing it's largest Measles outbreak in almost 30 years. The majority of the sick are the children of Somali refugees that haven't received the MMR (Mumps, Measles, and Rubella) vaccination.

New York Times
The state has reported 44 confirmed cases of measles since April 11, and the outbreak is the largest this year in the United States, which had essentially eradicated the disease in 2000 before discredited research stoked fears of a link between vaccines and autism. As of Thursday, 11 patients have been hospitalized, Doug Schultz, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Health, said on Friday.

It is the largest outbreak in the state since 1990, when 460 cases were reported. All of the patients, with the exception of an adult health care worker, were children younger than 10. Most were under 5, he said.

Here's the reprehensible part: it seems that an anti-vaxx group targeted the Somali Community for an anti-vaccination propaganda campaign.

He said the community was “targeted” by members of the anti-vaccination movement, adding that vaccination rates in the community had been as high or even higher than those in the white population, but that began to change in 2008.

Members of the community came to believe incorrectly that they had an unusually high rate of autism and that the cases were related to vaccines. But later studies showed that their autism rates were not out of line with those of the state’s white population, he said.

Targeting a vulnerable group of people in a new country that may not understand the language entirely and lying to them to buy into your cause is pretty low.

The Father of the Anti-Vaxxer movement, Andrew Wakefield was involved in this.

Washington Post
Anti-vaccine activists defend their position and their role, saying they merely provided information to parents. “

The Somalis had decided themselves that they were particularly concerned,” Wakefield said last week. “I was responding to that.”

He maintained that he bears no fault for what is happening within the community. “I don’t feel responsible at all,” he said.

a reply to: PistolPete

What is your definition of an Anti-Vaxxer? I don't consider myself a part of any new movement, but I sure as hell support the individual's right to be in charge of their own body. The day a Government starts to hold people down and inject them with anything is the day civil war starts.

a reply to: Metallicus

I would consider someone that deliberately misleads a group of people to keep their children unprotected from a deadly disease to be an anti-vaxxer.

I would consider your stance to be libertarian.

My wife is an MD, FACEP ER physician at an inner city level I trauma center in north texas.
One of the biggest in the country...

Anyhow, she sees idiots all the time with completely curable diseases whose Dr Google parents chose not to vaccinate...

Mexicans/immigrants we can understand as they don't have a vaccine program of consequence south of the rio grande...

But if you choose not to vaccinate your kid then a pox on you...literally, a pox on you...it's gonna happen fool

Kids are dying and/or becoming mentally and/or physically handicapped by preventable diseases...

So to all hipster parents with a liberal arts degree:
please don't tell MDs why your kid doesn't need "western medicine" when u walked into my ER, through the giant automatic doors, under the fluorescent lights...

-Chris

a reply to: Christosterone

A large number of measles cases come from the Amish Community. And that's due to a religious belief.

In 2014, the United States had a record number of measles cases — 667 — since the disease was thought to have been eliminated in 2000. Nearly 400 of them occurred in unvaccinated Amish communities in Ohio.

That's not quite two-thirds of all cases in the US.

I don't vaccinate for the flu. Sue me.

a reply to: JinMI

That is reasonable, I wouldn't either..not getting kids vacc'ed for measles. polio..etc is a whole other kettle of fish.

a reply to: vonclod

The term anti-vaxxer still applies however. Them silly labels.

a reply to: JinMI

Agree's..labels suck.

Anti-vaxers are aunts that use wax to remove unwanted hair.

I am not an Anti-vaxer, I just can't take the flu shot because I have a severe cytokine reaction to it. My lats DTAP shot was no picnic either, but that was not as bad as a flu shot for some reason.

Some people need vaccines, others don't. The Amish may get people with the Measles, but there are very few deaths if any from them in their communities. Some vaccines are beneficial, but not that many. The mass vaccination program in this country is a scam, they want us to fear everything and make us think we are dependent on the Pharma companies to survive. They twist evidence to make it appear that these diseases are bad for us, I read somewhere that the measles virus actually helps to program our immune system to work a little better when we get it when we are young. That was a scientific article, one I deemed as probably correct, because they were not fear mongering or pushing any agenda.

The wife and I both got a little bug, coughing like we have spring seasonal allergies or maybe just a cold. It's not bad, definitely not the flu. Probably a type C virus, I think that group includes the common cold type.

a reply to: PistolPete

So...somali refugees are anti vaxxers ?

Somebody should tell them...i doubt they know it.

In any case...all this anti vaxxing is about feelings.in the end...and those should be protected under 2008 feelings act which states...

a person is allowed to feel like a 6 year old girl if one feels like one. the society should stand up and clap...and make way for a safe space.

If people would only consider how much torture they are putting their kids through by getting them vaccinated, they might not be so pro-vax. All vaccines stimulate the immune system and actually cause some harm. Anytime you stimulate your immune system there are inappropriate chemicals made if a real threat is not present. A doctor should know this, I do not believe a nurse would be taught this. All medicines are toxic to some point. Stimulating the immune system to act a certain way can actually have negative points. A few vaccines actually are not bad, the amount of vaccines they are giving now here in the USA is way too much.

I am not going to convince a pro-vaxer but I am going to warn them not to look only at the things that verify their beliefs. The present vaccines are not the right way to go, there will be a whole different way to keep us safe coming up in the future, one with less risk and negative side effects I hope. It has to do with the innate system.

a reply to: PistolPete

and what proof is there that this outbreak is due to antivaxers and no deficient or spiked vaccines

I got measles as a kid,that was back in the early 70's so idk what diseases were covered by the early childhood vaxes in my country back then.My adoptive mother would've made sure i got what babies+small kids were supposed to get.
They even came round the schools,nurses from the national health dept,i assume,and gave us shots.I was about 8yo then.These shots were like a multi-syringe thing,we called them "blommetjies" meaning little flowers,because the shot scars looked like tiny flowers.
The shot looked like a round cylinder with about 5 needles,it wasn't injected but jabbed into the upper arm.Don't know what it was supposed to prevent but i still got the measles.
Never got the flu again though,since then,and im 52yo now.
I had all 3 my kids get their baby+young child shots but that was it,we never vax against flu.My youngest gal had bird flu a few years ago but generally we don't seem to pick up flu,my son has never had it,and myself last when i was about 7yo back in the day.
My opinion is that unless you are a high risk person you don't need a flu shot.With all the crap they put into the shots you'd probably be better off in the long run just getting flu and recovering on your own.

The anti-vaxxer movement didn't "target" the Somali immigrants. Some anti-vaxxer people were invited to speak by the community. They came and they spoke. The Somali community already had misgivings about some vaccine programs. Probably due to organizations like the CIA using fake vaccination programs to conduct spy operations. In 2014 the CIA promised they wouldn't do that anymore. We can trust them to keep their word, right?

I'm also noticed that the article neglects one of the pro-vaccine crowds most common mantras, "correlation does not equal causation." They quote it often enough when they want to say there is no link between vaccines and autism. If they want to be consistent, they should refrain from saying that an increase in cases of measles is due to a lack of vaccinations until they have a peer reviewed study by reputable researchers to establish that link.

This could and should be a learning experience. It is unrealistic to expect to totally and completely eradicate measles (or any disease), and because there will always be such patients, there will always be a need to treat such patients.

Since the '50s, before vaccinations, when about .1% of measles patients died from measles-related conditions, we've learned much, including the role of malnutrition in adverse complications from measles, and the benefits of Vitamin A supplementation for some measles patients... surely we've learned even more than that???

The sky is not falling. The world is not coming to an end. Measles is not an automatic death sentence. It seems to me that we could learn and benefit much by applying modern medical knowledge and technology to this age old disease.

originally posted by: rickymouse
Anti-vaxers are aunts that use wax to remove unwanted hair.

I am not an Anti-vaxer, I just can't take the flu shot because I have a severe cytokine reaction to it. My lats DTAP shot was no picnic either, but that was not as bad as a flu shot for some reason.

Some people need vaccines, others don't. The Amish may get people with the Measles, but there are very few deaths if any from them in their communities. Some vaccines are beneficial, but not that many. The mass vaccination program in this country is a scam, they want us to fear everything and make us think we are dependent on the Pharma companies to survive. They twist evidence to make it appear that these diseases are bad for us, I read somewhere that the measles virus actually helps to program our immune system to work a little better when we get it when we are young. That was a scientific article, one I deemed as probably correct, because they were not fear mongering or pushing any agenda.

The wife and I both got a little bug, coughing like we have spring seasonal allergies or maybe just a cold. It's not bad, definitely not the flu. Probably a type C virus, I think that group includes the common cold type.

Its all that extra energy you get from losing your virility at such a young age.
Or those cute facial scars that stay with you for life.

originally posted by: SmilingROB

originally posted by: rickymouse
Anti-vaxers are aunts that use wax to remove unwanted hair.

I am not an Anti-vaxer, I just can't take the flu shot because I have a severe cytokine reaction to it. My lats DTAP shot was no picnic either, but that was not as bad as a flu shot for some reason.

Some people need vaccines, others don't. The Amish may get people with the Measles, but there are very few deaths if any from them in their communities. Some vaccines are beneficial, but not that many. The mass vaccination program in this country is a scam, they want us to fear everything and make us think we are dependent on the Pharma companies to survive. They twist evidence to make it appear that these diseases are bad for us, I read somewhere that the measles virus actually helps to program our immune system to work a little better when we get it when we are young. That was a scientific article, one I deemed as probably correct, because they were not fear mongering or pushing any agenda.

The wife and I both got a little bug, coughing like we have spring seasonal allergies or maybe just a cold. It's not bad, definitely not the flu. Probably a type C virus, I think that group includes the common cold type.

Its all that extra energy you get from losing your virility at such a young age.
Or those cute facial scars that stay with you for life.

Well,I never got any facial scars and I had plenty of sex drive and have two daughters. I had the measles when I was young, I had the Mumps. Almost everyone had the measles when I was a kid, I don't know any kids that got facial scars from it as a kid. People had acne, maybe a little zinc in the diet would have helped that. The only times I ever got symptoms of the flu was after taking the flu shots. I'm Finn, I had to do it twice before learning the cytokine storm was really caused by the flu vaccine. Sickest I have been in my life. I also have been diagnosed with Chronic bronchitis, when I quit taking the beta blockers for my rapid heart beat, I quit having the lung diseases like pleuracy and bronchitis and Pnemonia. Checking my records, the only time I ever got diagnosed with any of those diseases, I was on beta blockers. I would quit after six months of taking them because of other side effects, I took them three different times, each time I took them I was in the ER with one of those diseases, never in my medical history was I diagnosed with any lung disease problems unless I was on beta blockers. I also experienced a lot of lung problems when I was on the anti-epileptic drugs, but that is because a part of the medicine actually blocks immune response so you do not get a severe reaction to the medication.

Go ahead, keep taking those meds and blame the diseases for your problems instead of the people who are steering your immune system to fight one thing which leaves you more open to a different pathogen. It is your life, I would fight for people who want flu shots and need them if they banned them. About a quarter of the people actually need the flu shot, half do not really gain anything and another fifteen percent do worse with them overall and about ten percent react very badly to them. These people have hereditary factors that cause the reaction, they usually do not get the flu, they have good immune systems, maybe too good. They tend to go cytokine storm when vaccinated. A lot of the people who do not get vaccinated fall into this ten percent class that will get sick off the shot.

Pro-vaxers cannot see the writing on the wall, they need to actually look at this info on the pharma sites and major hospital sites like Mayo. It talks about this subject of negative effects on their sites, but remember all their evidence as to percentages who have these negative reactions is flawed, lots of people have got sick off of them or their close relatives got sick so they refuse the shots, some claim the religious excuse when in fact they do not want to get sick. The doctor years ago said my first major effects was a coincidence, I had never experiences anything that bad. The second time with my flu shot, they said it was probably I got sick before getting the shot, I wound up in the ER that time, never again.

The Pharma companies and Mayo Clinic along with many literatures state, if you have had a severe reaction to the flu shot, do not take it. Also if you get a bad reaction to it, you have innate immunity to most flu strands. But when you get older or if you take immune system depressing medicines you may need the shots. I'm sixty one, I won't take medicines ever again that suppress my immune system. I can control my immune systems overzealous nature with diet.

a reply to: Metallicus

Yeah, that's not how vaccines work. Or science for that matter.