The Super Bowl Measles Epidemic That Wasn't: Reason #4,362 to Get Your Kids Vaccinated

Officials in Indiana have identified 14 cases of measles linked to the Super Bowl, apparently tracable back to two infected pre-game visitors to the Super Bowl village. The Washington Post's On Parenting blog offers a terrifying only-slightly-alternate-reality scenario:

The most disturbing element of the mini outbreak is the potential for might have been. Measles has an incubation period of more than a week, so hundreds of thousands of fans might have been exposed. If the measles vaccine were not as widely used as it is now, this story would not be on a parenting blog. It would be front and center on every news outlet in the country.

In fact, the reason there was an outbreak at all was apparently because of the small but persistent group of people who refuse to vaccinate their children. According to the official quoted by PBS, 13 of those who have been diagnosed with measles in Indiana have said they had previously declined the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

For God's sake people. Stab your kids with needles. Lots of them. Do it now.

Reason's pro-vaccination archive.

Comments

[John needs to GAMBOL]

Vaccinations are a way to control us invented by the genocidal agricultural city-state.

Officer, am I free to gambol about forest and plain?

[Almanian Native American]

That's what we thought till the Europeans arrived...idiot

[Fat Indian]

Plus I'm scared of needles.

[Gambols With Pop Tarts]

Also bees. Insects in general, actually.

[Gambols on Couch]

Make that the outdoors in general.

[R C Dean]

New frontiers in Godwin's Law:

The SS recommended yoga for death camp guards. To help them deal with the stress.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....tress.html

[John Thacker]

In other Daily Mail news, new frontiers in Godwin's Law and bad puns:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....March.html

[mr simple]

I wouldn't be surprised if this was mostly bullshit considering modern Yoga (the poses and stuff done in the US) wasn't invented until around the 30s.

[Hugh Akston]

Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey told me that getting vaccinated could make me retarded. Those two may not be scientists, but they know being retarded.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

Don't speak about Ace Ventura that way.

[Sharon Stone]

Ace Ventura is essentially a video tutorial on how to act like a retard.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

I've never seen a retard solve a dolphin kidnapping case or save an African tribe.

[Sharon Stone]

Touche.

[Okay but]

Ever shrunk yourself to fit on a giraffe's kidney and then played Clue?

[Episiarch]

Hi, Captain Stubing! How are Gopher and Doc?

[Warty]

What about Cap'n Stabbin' now?

[Episiarch]

Get your mind out of the gutter.

[Warty]

Fuck you, you're not my dad. I think.

[Episiarch]

Don't think too hard about it, because you might not like where it takes you. Son.

[A Serious Man]

My favorite Jim Carrey moment ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jOnmdUcuG8

[Tulpa]

It was all downhill from Fire Marshall Bill.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Just thinking of Fire Marshall Bill makes me smile. 🙂

[Almanian]

^^this^^

LEMME SHOW YA SOMETHIN'!!!!

[Episiarch]

Hugh, I came to confess. I was the second gunman on the grassy knoll.

ALLLLLRIIGHHTYTHEN

[Tulpa]

::Brit enters Buddhist monastery::

Excuse me, I'm looking for a man by the name of Ace Ventura.

-- None of us have names here.

He's an American.

-- We are all children of the one world.

He likes to bend over and pretend to talk out of his rear end.

-- Oh. Him. Right this way.

[Episiarch]

Jesus, dude, the second one was so bad it shouldn't even be mentioned, let alone quoted. What the hell is wrong with you?

[Tulpa]

This is what I'd expect from someone who didn't grok Con Air.

[Episiarch]

Just keep digging that hole, dude. What next, you loved Battlefield Earth?

[Translucent Chum]

"Excuse me, your balls are showing. Bumblebee Tuna."

[Tulpa]

Can't really quote this one, but

AV2:WNC rhino scene

[Tulpa]

Say what you will about Battlefield Earth's plot and cinematography, but the hairdressing was impressive.

[Montani Semper Liberi]

If I'm not back in five minutes, just wait longer.

[Episiarch]

Well, I'm not really ready for a relationship, Lois, but thank you for asking. Hey, maybe I'll give you a call sometime. Your number still 911? ALLLRIGHTYTHEN

[Sparky]

If you want to get your kids vaccinated until they become autistic go right ahead. And if the vaccine works then you won't get infected so leave me alone.

/Jenny McCarthy

[Pro Libertate]

Has she recanted yet?

[Almanian]

It is NOT a heresy!
And I will NOT recant!

/White Zombie

[Gojira]

Quick, name the movie that the quote at the beginning of the song comes from. No cheating!

[Episiarch]

You talking about Living Dead Girl?

[Gojira]

No no no, the song that he is quoting from, Super-Charger Heaven.

[Sparky]

Super-Charger Heaven is the RZ song.

[Sparky]

Sorry, that should be WZ song. And I peeked at the movie title so I won't give it away.

[Gojira]

It's actually a really good, atmospheric scary movie. No blood or guts, barely any special effects even, but effective on a dark Sat. night when you're home alone.

[Tulpa]

I'm by no means a McCarthyite, but the second sentence seems a rather shrewd dig, particularly for a libertarian POV. Does the very low likelihood of your own kids' measles vaccine not working really justify forcing other people to have their kids stabbed with needles?

[Zeb]

I'm ambivalent about forcing vaccination. But I am 100% in favor of calling out the anti-vaccination idiots and mocking them mercilessly.

[Gojira]

*pinches self* Got to agree with Tulpa here. Herd immunity be damned; no one has a right to demand that other children be vaccinated. Now, if private institutions want to make that a requirement before they'll allow your little Typhoid Mary into their playground, then quit yer bitchin and get the damned vaccines.

[albo]

no one has a right to demand that other children be vaccinated.

C'mon. We're a civilization. Even a Libertarian paradise couldn't let people just randomly crap in the public drinking water supply.

Until bubble-boy fashions are the rage or I can walk around with my own air supply, vaccines are basic public sanitation. You know how virulent something like small pox is?

[Gojira]

Then get the vaccine for yourself, and let the ones who don't want to suffer the consequences. Doesn't matter if it leads to a pandemic; you still have no right to demand action on behalf of others that doesn't directly violate your rights.

[Sparky]

When we ditch the idea of a national healthcare risk pool then I'll be fine with your idea.

[albo]

you still have no right to demand action on behalf of others that doesn't directly violate your rights.

You're violating my rights by getting your ass infected with a highly communicable disease that spreads in the public.

What about my newborn child who's not old enough for measles or pertussis shots yet? Your unvaccinated ass could kill him. That sure as hell violates his right to live.

[Gojira]

That's fucking retarded. If your newborn gets the flu and dies, are you going to track down everyone who had a cough that sat near you over the last few weeks? Influenza has a vaccine and is more prevalent and deadlier than many of the other diseases being discussed.

Communicable illness is part of living around other humans. Deal with it.

[albo]

Communicable illness is part of living around other humans. Deal with it.

Dead infants used to be part of living around other humans, too.

Is it a step toward liberty to tolerate a minority of anti-science idiots who choose to live their lives in a way that endangers others through polluting the public spaces with infectious disease?

[Gojira]

...polluting the public spaces with infectious disease?

Yeah, freedom sucks because it doesn't promise to make you safe and keep you in foam padding. Guess I should get sanctioned for not getting the flu vaccine, since that's a much larger health threat than the conditions you're having a problem with.

[fish]

Maternal antibodies are generally protective of infants too young to receive all the inoculations on the schedule.

[albo]

Plus vaccines aren't 100 percent perfect, and they do wear out. It would be nice for the rest of us not to have to negotiate public spaces with disease-spreading anti-social cementheads.

[Gojira]

It would be nice for the rest of us not to have to negotiate public spaces with disease-spreading anti-social cementheads to be able to use government force so that I'm not afraid of going out in public. It's for the children!

[Cyto]

It is much worse than just the notion of a few folks getting sick because herd immunity is compromised. By allowing these diseases to continue circulating, the luddites are creating a pool for mutation. Eventually genetic drift or lateral gene transfer will lead to a new strain that is not handled by the current vaccine. Perhaps even a more lethal variant than it's predecessor.

There are ample precedents for this. Shigella is a pretty nasty intestinal infection. The Shiga toxin has been transferred laterally to E. Coli. So now strains of the common gut bacteria can produce the potentially lethal shiga-toxin. Nice. There's lots of other examples. Allowing lethal disease organisms to continue circulating in human hosts speeds the development of human-adapted variants that are capable of causing pandemics.

[fish]

Plus vaccines aren't 100 percent perfect, and they do wear out.

Then I suggest you get re-inoculated regularly.

[Zeb]

I think that there is an argument to be made that not getting vaccinated and going out in public is reckless and a violation of others' rights. You are actually doing something that can harm other people (as seen in this mini-outbreak). Vaccines don't work all the time, so just getting yourself vaccinated is no guarantee of protection from those irresponsible people.
But, as I said above, I am ambivalent about it. I am not comfortable with forcing people to do things. Perhaps strict liability for anyone you infect woudl be better. Though if you infect a more than a few people, you will be bankrupt pretty fast.

[Gojira]

I just don't think having a disease = committing assault. I keep bringing this up over and over, and the pro-vaccine crowd won't give me an answer: what about the flu? That's much more widespread, and is a much larger cause of death, than any of the scarier-sounding things usually brought up in these arguments.

And there is a vaccine for it. So why is it somehow perfectly acceptable for someone to walk around coughing and spreading the flu, but not measles, when both can be prevented? And if it's not OK to walk around with the flu, what kind of sanctions are we talking about imposing on people? And how can one prove who actually made them sick to begin with?

[Tulpa]

One thing about the flu is you have to get the vaccine every year. It's more of a burden than just getting it a couple of times when you're a kid.

But in general I agree with your point.

[Jen]

And you know what? It isn't just a matter of a few sticks as a kid.. If you dont get a booster as an adult? you arent fully immunized against MMR-- measles, mumps, rubella. Are you current? Dont know? FIND OUT jf you are going to rail on people. I noticed the article about the NFL outbreak didn't mention the ages of the people innfected. Was is mostly non-boostered adults?

[Zeb]

All valid points. I may let my hate of the anti-vaccine people get the better of me. If they woudl just fuck off we wouldn't have this problem.

The flu is kind of a good point. And I never get flu vaccine. I also never get the flu, so... buttons, I guess.

[Zeb]

Although the difference with the flu is that even with the vaccine, no one believes that the flu can be eliminated. The MMR vaccine can pretty well eliminate occurrences of those diseases if used widely enough. Smallpox vaccination has been an amazing world-transformingly successful thing. The flu vaccine on the other hand only targets certain strains that people predict will be most prevalent.

I don't know. I guess I agree that people should not be forced to vaccinate. But such people should be shunned and mocked by decent folk everywhere.

[Tulpa]

Opening a bag of peanuts can kill a person nearby, so if you're going to lower the bar for "aggression" to anything that might possibly harm someone with an unusual medical condition we can throw libertarianism out the window.

Vaccines don't work all the time, so just getting yourself vaccinated is no guarantee of protection from those irresponsible people.

Then work on improving the vaccines. Or get them more frequently.

[Gojira]

...if you're going to lower the bar for "aggression" to anything that might possibly harm someone with an unusual medical condition we can throw libertarianism out the window.

Bingo.

[Zeb]

I consider simply having a peanut allergy an act of aggression. Gluten too. God those people are annoying.

[shamalamadingdong]

"Doesn't matter if it leads to a pandemic..."

This is where Libertarian dogma goes over the cliff into the river of the absurd.

Personally, I am a big fan of public health measures such as the one that iradicated small pox.

[Sparky]

I don't completely disagree with you. The idea that kids get autism from vaccines isn't any dumber than most other religious beliefs.

However, unless these people are willing to pay out of their own pocket when their precious little one gets infected with some disease they could have gotten vaccinated from, it does affect me in a way.

[Gojira]

Sure, but that's the statist justification for all interventions in the health market. Since it's socialized by force, there's no getting around it. That's the exact logic that suggests you have a right to tell fatties they can no longer consume what you deem to be unhealthy food because they'll be using medicare.

[Sparky]

Is obesity a disease that you can get a vaccination for?

[Gojira]

Why hang up on the form of prevention? We're talking about preventable conditions. Obesity is certainly preventable (most of the time) through a good diet and exercise. What's the difference between that and a vaccination? They're both preventative steps taken to ward off future disease.

[Gojira]

Further, it doesn't address the underlying logic of, "Since I have to pay for it due to being socialized, I should get a say in how you conduct your medical affairs". That's the train of thought you're using, so I fail to see how it logically stops just with vaccinations.

[Sparky]

"Since I have to pay for it due to being socialized, I should get a say in how you conduct your medical affairs"

Actually, my next logical step is let's stop socializing medical care not let me manage your life. I honestly couldn't give a rats ass if people want to vaccinate their kids or not. Unfortunately, right now it does affect me to some small degree if they don't and the kid gets sick with something that could have been easily preventable almost from birth.

[Gojira]

Unless you're talking about the small failure rate for vaccines, it really doesn't affect you if 1) you get your kids vaccinated, and 2) you don't believe the "socialized medicine means I have a say in your affairs" approach.

You say that you want to stop socializing medicine, which is fine, but then go on to say that as long as it is socialized it affects you. Well, since we're not privatizing it anytime soon, you have to draw a line somewhere about how much control you think this should give the collective over individuals. Remember, we're not dealing with Libertopia, we're dealing with the real, right-now world, where medicine will be socialized for the foreseeable future.

[Sparky]

it really doesn't affect you
It affects my insurance rates.

you have to draw a line somewhere
And that line is drawn right at vaccinations.

[Gojira]

And that line is drawn right at vaccinations.

OK, but how do you come to that conclusion in a logically consistent fashion, that precludes taking it any further?

[Sparky]

OK, but how do you come to that conclusion in a logically consistent fashion, that precludes taking it any further?

I'm just capable of stopping there I guess. Just because there are further logical steps that I could take doesn't mean I have to keep taking them.

Yes, I could wish that people wouldn't get fat because they make insurance rates go up but I'd rather wish that I didn't have to cover their insurance. I could wish that people wouldn't smoke for the same reason. However, I know the real problem is not with individuals making their own life decisions, it's with the people that force the rest of us to deal with them.

[Gojira]

I'm just capable of stopping there I guess.

And that's great...for you. Now ask yourself, does the gov't ever feel the same way?

[Sparky]

Now ask yourself, does the gov't ever feel the same way?

No, they obviously don't and that sucks. But why should that change how I feel about it? This discussion isn't about what the government is going to do, it's about my thoughts on the matter. As is just about every other topic posted on reason.

[Zeb]

I think that the "we are paying for it" justification to force vaccination is a completely separate issue. For me anyway. I'm less concerned about the costs than about people getting diseases which could easily be eliminated, because some idiot thinks their retarded spawn are special. Though as I said above, perhaps strict liability for infecting other people would be a more acceptable approach. It is true that not being vaccinated does not, by itself, put anyone in danger.

[Cyto]

There's a lot more to it than just the chance that one of your kids would get infected because their vaccine was less effective. Smallpox would never have been eliminated without mandatory vaccinations.

These diseases are caused by living organisms. They will respond to pressures in their environment by evolving. This includes vaccines and medications. If there are enough of the bugs in circulation, the'll eventually evolve a way around the vaccine. That's why eliminating any susceptible hosts within the "herd" is vital. Allowing lethal bugs to continue circulating only guarantees that eventually they'll adapt in a way that is nasty and bad for us humans.

[fish]

Even though I'm in the minority opinion I sure like these threads better than a lot of the more "recent" ones.

[Fist of Etiquette]

This wasn't as bad as the distemper epidemic at the Puppy Bowl. So many puppies had to be put down.

[Tulpa]

Luckily they were playing it in China this year, so no big loss.

Puppies = canine veal.

[PETA]

How dare you speak of such horror.

[No Name Guy]

"For God's sake people. Stab your kids with needles. Lots of them. Do it now."

KMW - why do you hate children? WHY!!!!!!!

/snark/

[T]

I was taking it as a recommendationto get your kids tattooed. Is that wrong?

[wylie]

no more wrong than popping your baby in a tanning bed (just to get a base).

[Episiarch]

IT'S JUST TO GET A BASE.

[Sparky]

What about popping it in the microwave?

[Almanian]

Hey, it just occured to me - having White Zombie around would be WAY cooler than Whyte Injun.

Any way we can make that happen? Rob Z?

[Almanian]

Plus bring that smokin' hot Sheri Moon, too.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Sean Yseult is hotter than Sheri Moon. And she plays a mean bass. Plus, she is a nice person, and cool as hell. She gave me beers one time.

[Episiarch]

Yeah...no. She might be nicer, but...no.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Sheri has the jawline of a man. We'll agree to disagree. Plus, I'll take a musician over an actress any day.

[T]

We could probably round up a Madge Bellamy look-alike. Would that work for you?

[White Zombie]

CONCEPTION IS MURDER

[Warty]

I'll do my best.

Devil man! Devil man! Running in my head!

[Zeb]

I thought that they got awfully repetitive and a bit dull after La Sexoricisto.

[Sparky]

I stopped at The Sinister Urge. Things went really wacky after that point and I stopped buying.

[Tulpa]

According to the official quoted by PBS, 13 of those who have been diagnosed with measles in Indiana have said they had previously declined the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.

So at most one of the fourteen cases was infected through no fault of their own.

I don't have kids, but if I did they would be getting every vaccination under the sun. Still, coercive vaccination has always been an uncomfortable policy for me. Yes, I know about herd immunity, but doesn't that kind of thinking justify all manner of collectivist pograms?

[albo]

Yes, I know about herd immunity, but doesn't that kind of thinking justify all manner of collectivist pograms?

For things that can't be spread in public, like HPV, I guess, sure.

But for diseases transmitted by air or touch or water or food that you can get just going about your business and which have vaccines, getting a shot is a basic civic duty we can impose.

It's bad enough I can get your cold from using the grocery cart after your snot-filled hands touched it. I don't want your German measles, too.

[Gojira]

Again, please give me your honest opinion: is it a criminal or civil offense if I don't get a flu vaccine, and sit near your kid at a restaurant? Have I committed assault by potentially launching airborne germs into his vicinity? Remember, the flu is much more serious from a public health perspective than 14 cases of measles.

[Cyto]

Only because of the pervasiveness of the measles vaccine. It hasn't been that long since measles culled a significant portion of the population every year.

Because there are large populations of animal hosts capable of transmitting influenza (birds and pigs, among others), eradication for flu is nigh impossible. Also, it's unique arrangement of 8 genes allows "virus sex", making vaccines a very temporary solution.

To directly answer your question... what have we done with folks with STD's like HIV who knowingly transmit the infection? Flu is only different because of the ease of transmission, which is hardly an excuse for being cavalier about transmission.

[izzi]

you don't say anything about how sick the infected people were or if any of them died or experienced severe reactions from getting the measles. Just "getting measles" is not the end of the world. Getting injected w/ a triple dose of manmade toxins including things most children's systems cannot handle can be.
my son has not had the MMR and we are very slowly vaccinating on everything else and he will receive the MMR likely before he enters kindergarten (almost age 6). i'm guessing the 13 people who didn't vaccinate their kids still don't have any regrets. i wouldn't. if my child died from measles, yes i would regret it, but my guess is these kids will be fine and then move on w/ lifelong immunity.

[Kibby]

Glad I'm not your kid.

[shamalamadingdong]

^^^ this!

[Tulpa]

Getting injected w/ a triple dose of manmade toxins including things most children's systems cannot handle can be.

If most children's systems can't handle the components of MMR, why are adverse reactions to the vaccine so incredibly rare when nearly every child is getting it?

[Cyto]

This comment is so full of fail it makes me want to weep. There are no "toxins" in vaccines. In most vaccines the vaccinating agent is not "man made" it is natural. Most vaccines involve a weakened (attenuated) or killed form of the disease causing agent.

The fact that you think getting infected with live measles virus is less risky than getting injected with a few micrograms of an attenuated measles virus that won't cause disease is evidence enough that you are not qualified to be judging anything about anyone's health care.

The risk of measles isn't just death. It also causes mental retardation, hearing loss and blindness. It is only because you are fortunate to live in a time where most lethal infectious diseases have been chased into the shadows that the stupidity of your views on healthcare are not more readily apparent and the consequences not more immediate.

[Tonio]

I agree, Cyto, but it's standard boilerplate anti-vaxxer hysteria. You just learn to tune it out. There is no reasoning with those people.

[Cyto]

There may be no reasoning with them, but that doesn't mean there's no danger from their luddite attitudes. The current pandemic strain of measles evolved sometime in the last 100 years. We have the means to completely eliminate this virus. Yet we haven't done so for reasons that are almost entirely political. It still kills about 10% of those it infects in Africa. Even with our modern healthcare and despite being eradicated in much of the first world, it kills a couple hundred thousand people every year. Since this disease is only a hundred years old, how much longer before another mutation occurs that is advantageous to the virus (and disadvantageous to us)?

[Gojira]

Just don't confuse people with crazy anti-vax ideas with people (like myself) who oppose mandatory vaccinations out of beliefs about the use of force in society.

I absolutely agree that vaccines are a wonderful thing that people should get for their children...if they so choose.

[Cyto]

Yeah, those are totally different issues. Unfortunately, this is one of those very complicated "commons" issues. When smallpox was being eradicated through mandatory vaccinations around the world, it wasn't just an issue of personal risk. Failing to get vaccinated in an area that was exposed placed hundreds of millions of people under more than just a theoretical threat.

This one is very complicated to resolve with bumper-sticker level philosophy. There are similar arguments in the use of antibiotics. Indiscriminate and incomplete use of antibiotics has led to the rapid development of resistance. Allowing people to do as they please with antibiotics will inevitably lead to the return of bacterial disease and the elimination of effective "miracle drugs" for everybody. I'm more straight-line libertarian than most anyone, but this one is complicated.

[Cyto]

Oh, and I'll agree with Izzi on one point. I'm also quite certain that the parents who didn't vaccinate their kids have no regrets. The capacity of people to rationalize their decisions is essentially limitless.

Anti-vaxxers are usually not stupid people. Mis-informed, yes. Not nearly as smart as they think they are, sure. But not usually stupid. Unfortunately they tend to use their intelligence to backfill their opinions on vaccination rather than understanding the science involved. Confirmation bias is a powerful drug.

[shamalamadingdong]

I have to disagree with you on this. I don't see how it is possible, given the clinical evidence, to be a smart anti-vaxxer.

[Paul]

I believe that most of the anti-vaxxers that I know personally are college educated. Just my experience.

[Cyto]

This matches my experience. Smart, educated and knowledgeable about biology are not the same things. Just being smart doesn't mean you can't fall for pseudo-science hokum...

[shamalamadingdong]

Being college educated does not necessarilly equate to smart.

[albo]

Getting injected w/ a triple dose of manmade toxins including things most children's systems cannot handle can be.

[citation needed}

Pertussis and polio are natural, too. So are dead babies. Mother Nature loves those.

[bitchpleez]

We all know that man is evil incarnate. Ergo anything man-made is bad. QED.

[Julie Ershadi]

best alt text ever

[Nicholas Sarwark]

So moral panics are bad if they're about bath salts or Four Loko, but good if they're about vaccinations?

[Cyto]

They are only moral panics if there is no real underlying threat. Witches, the yellow menace, thieving jews... all false panics that perpetuated evil in the world. Smallpox is real, and it will really kill millions of people if released. Vaccines really eliminated it in the wild.

Measles is a real disease that really kills hundreds of thousands of people every year. Prior to vaccination it was millions. With vaccinations it has been eliminated in north America. If every country could follow through with vaccination programs it could be eliminated worldwide. Every year that this doesn't happen is another chance for the virus to undergo a change similar to the one that it made to transform from rinderpest to measles a few hundred years back, or the transformation into a pandemic killer a hundred years ago.

[Libertymike]

So, measles killed millions of people every year before the big vaxx.

And you expect to be taken seriouslY?

H

[Cyto]

from the wikipedia article on measles (because it was easy to find in a few seconds)

measles has been estimated to have killed about 200 million people worldwide

yes, measles killed over a million people a year worldwide before vaccines were available. It still kills a couple of hundred thousand every year. That's why they developed a vaccine for it.

[shamalamadingdong]

Just to get off the "you have no right to make me get vaccinated" argument, here is some potentially good news about viral infections: they might be curable!

http://www.ll.mit.edu/news/DRACO.html

[shamalamadingdong]

Ron Bailey, this is your beat. Why haven't you blogged about this?