A common clapback from measles minimizers is that, "Measles was no big deal when I was a kid. Everyone had it. So why are you so panicky now?" Let's break it down with some national Canadian data... Thread [1/6] - ThreadSky

deonandan.bsky.social • 7 days ago

A common clapback from measles minimizers is that, "Measles was no big deal when I was a kid. Everyone had it. So why are you so panicky now?"

Let's break it down with some national Canadian data...

Thread [1/6]

Comments

sanleekelly.bsky.social•7 days ago

The selfishness is off the charts

lacompa.bsky.social•6 days ago

The ignorance too.

susananddogs.bsky.social•6 days ago

Melinda Gates (2015):

‘Vaccine denial is a privilege that those in developing countries, which see the daily toll of diseases like measles, simply don’t have.’

‘Women would walk 10 kilometers in the heat with their child and line up to get a vaccine, because they have seen death’

ckerkhof.bsky.social•7 days ago

@deonandan.bsky.social Thank you! Very clear and concise.

gabituto.bsky.social•7 days ago

I was born at end of the '50s. I can remember being so so sick,feverish and in pain when I was about 5 or 6,with a terrible rash,blurry-eyed, watching tv. It was never definite, but I'm now certain it was measles. Horrible illness.

beachlover.bsky.social•5 days ago

I had it in the late 60s. It’s one of my earliest memories. How sick I was. The dark room. It’s awful.

elizabeth-sullivan.bsky.social•7 days ago

I can remember when we all went to our school's gym to get vaccinated. I don't recall any of the kids I grew up with becoming autistic from that event.
I've been wondering what the ratio of autistic people to vaccinated people actually is. Being AuDHD myself, it's an important issue to me.

tommysalami420.bsky.social•7 days ago

Question: in 1980 did Canada do one MMR shot only or were they doing the 2 shot spaced out over a few years?

deonandan.bsky.social•7 days ago

The 2-dose schedule was widely adopted in the mid 90s.

tommysalami420.bsky.social•7 days ago

Ok so my decision to get another booster shot recently was necessary then, thanks for the info

blitzen13.bsky.social•5 days ago

I had the measles as a kid and it wasn't a big deal, BECAUSE I HAD BEEN VACCINATED and so my symptoms were very mild. I also had rubella and mumps, again both very mild cases. My mother had rubella at 17 and almost died. I am VERY grateful for vaccinations!

dcrinyyc.bsky.social•5 days ago

A point that a lot of people don't make is that even though there is a low incidence of breakthrough infections, they do actually happen when local vaccination rates are low enough to sustain an outbreak.

biolgeek.bsky.social•7 days ago

Dude had chicken pox and called it measles that why.

eastpole.bsky.social•7 days ago

Had chicken pox when I was 15 and it wasn't much fun either. Real risk of encephalitis there too, but no immune amnesia. Got my kids vaccinated against both.

deonandan.bsky.social•7 days ago

koksilah-kickass.bsky.social•3 days ago

Thanks for the data, much appreciated.

lacompa.bsky.social•6 days ago

Measles is no big deal but for the deaths, long term health problems and disability it causes.

deonandan.bsky.social•7 days ago

Measles vaccination became widely available in 1963. The superior MMR vaccine was only introduced in Canada i 1975.

Before 1963, Canadians saw 300k-400K cases per year. Back then, pretty much EVERYONE was guaranteed to be infected by age 15, hence the blasé attitude.

[2/6]

deonandan.bsky.social•7 days ago

But hidden in those stats are these numbers:

-10–15% of cases per year required hospitalization (i.e. 40 THOUSAND cases), for pneumonia, encephalitis, or severe dehydration

-With a mortality rate of 0.1%, there were 300–500 deaths per year, mostly in children under 5.

[3/6]

deonandan.bsky.social•7 days ago

Among those 300K-400K cases per year, about 400 would suffer some kind of permanent neurological damage, particularly among the infants.

This was the norm during the TV golden age, which pre-dates the age of universal vaccination.

[4/6]

deonandan.bsky.social•7 days ago

So that's why there's this sense of "no big deal" from that era: a combination of survivor bias, normalcy bias, empathy gap, and availability heuristic. (Google those terms if you're interested.)

[5/6]

deonandan.bsky.social•7 days ago

Bottom line: it's best for a population to AVOID getting infected with measles. Immunization is worth the effort, expense, and minute risk.

[6/6]

emilyrose.bsky.social•4 days ago

If measles was “no big deal” when they were a kid, it’s because they were born after 1963. Back when “everyone had it,” it was scary every time. People knew there was a real chance their child would die or become disabled. Measles was common because we couldn’t make it not be. It wasn’t nbd.

emilyrose.bsky.social•4 days ago

And even if you came through it unscathed, having measles was miserable. My grandma had it as a child, and so was thrilled to vaccinate her boys and save them that experience. The people claiming measles is no big deal are not people that had it themselves.

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply