BABloggee Bret Hall sent me a note linking to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article following up on my earlier diatribe against antivaxers. The article talks about a new outbreaks of measles, and people could potentially die:
The disease - which is completely preventable through vaccination - can lead to pneumonia, encephalitis and death. It is most dangerous to the very young, the very old and people with compromised immune systems, such as chemotherapy patients. While no one has died in this latest outbreak, 20% were hospitalized. An outbreak in Milwaukee in 1989-'90 killed five children. Since 2000, one in every 250 Americans who got the disease died.
I'm very glad no one has died, but there is a very ominous implied use of the word "yet" in that article. Five kids died earlier? One in 250 overall die? And why would someone not immunize their child?
In this latest outbreak, two-thirds of children between 16 months and 19 years old had not been immunized because of religious or personal beliefs.
Perfect. This is what Jenny McCarthy is advocating. This is what our Presidential candidates may cause (especially if they purposely ignore the advice of experts, who are of course too "elite"). Do I sound angry? Duh. Bad science kills, and some people are all-too-willingly embracing it.
