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Old Hippie Ⓥ Resistance!

In case you're not clear on the effectiveness of , here's a simple chart. Please share.

@old_hippie I'd be interested in knowing what Mitch McConnell thinks about getting rid of the polio vaccine

@alisynthesis McConnell would agree to it if it suited him politically. He's already gotten past polio so he doesn't give a shit about anyone else.

measles stats question

@old_hippie

Were there really only 13 measles cases in the whole US in 2020? I thought I remembered it was having a bit of a resurgence since Wakefield's dodgy research.

measles stats question

@unchartedworlds Amazing considering that measles is one of the most contagious diseases. This is data from JAMA, so I assume it's valid.

US measles stats info

@old_hippie

Curiosity took me digging a little further...

Apparently 13 _is_ the official figure for 2020. But it's arguably a bit cherry-picked for effect in that chart, because a more typical figure in the 2010s would be between 50 and 250 cases, and in 2019 it was up to 1,274!

My guess is the covid precautions helped to knock it down so low in 2020.

2024 so far is officially 277.

Source: cdc.gov/measles/data-research/

US measles stats info

@unchartedworlds Okay. It's still much better with vaccines.

US measles stats info

@old_hippie @unchartedworlds

Yeah, I had the same reaction, but this makes sense. And, no question, better with vaccines! Given that my MMR vaccine was about 50 years old, I re-upped it last year. Getting an updated polio vaccine is on my to do list, given this fucking administration.

US measles stats info

@Mikal @old_hippie @unchartedworlds You also have to consider that the „uptick“ numbers indeed are related to the Wakefield disinformation. It resulted in kids going without the vaccine in too large numbers, so there are breakthrough infections. They usually occur in communities with a significant number of vaccine opponents. So even those numbers show the effectiveness of vaccines.

@old_hippie if it wasn’t for the childhood victims I would be all in for rampant plagues decimating republicans everywhere

@old_hippie @alice and yet…

I moved recently from the US to Scotland and my kids just got their flu vaccines *at school*. It was very convenient.

This would be unheard of in the US. You’d have Karens doxing the principal in real-time on TikTok.

@kumarvibe @alice When I was a kid, back in the 50s, we got vaccines at school.

@old_hippie @alice ah yeah, a friend was telling me how efficient polio vaccination used to be in the US, too.

I think pediatricians all do it now? I’m not sure if every kid in the US on average healthcare regularly sees a pediatrician.

@old_hippie @kumarvibe @alice
Yes, I remember getting my polio vaccines at school. I don’t think we had measles vax yet, but smallpox & maybe diphtheria. I remember getting them at school in early 60’s

@PandaChronicle @old_hippie @kumarvibe @alice

Yes, the dreaded polio shot! I do remember it. And possibly the smallpox vaccine at school, as well.

I know of several people who contracted polio, and were affected throughout their lives. And as they got older, the effects just got worse. Quite a bit of suffering and disability.

As far as current generations, it might be that the local health departments offer vaccines for people who can't afford the luxury of a pediatrician. I don't know if that depends on the state or the county or whatever the municipality, as to what services they offer.

And this is where it's a problem. If vaccination is not mandated and supported by the government, then you may not have this resource for people that most need it.

@norine27 @old_hippie @kumarvibe @alice
And you don’t have the added protection of most children being vaccinated, to protect those with health reasons they can’t get the vaccine.
I have friends who had polio, including one who is younger than me, whose parents didn’t believe in vaccines. She spent years in the hospital from effects of polio.

@PandaChronicle @norine27 @kumarvibe @alice Luckily when I was a kid almost everyone for vaccinated. Of course we still got some illnesses anyway but the rates went way down.

My neighbor got polio in about 1955 and I saw what it did to him. What a horrible disease.

@old_hippie
I still got a mild case of flu most years even with the flu vax. have managed not to get Covid (yet) and because am still
masking in stores and most crowded indoor spaces, have not had the flu since 2019. practically no colds either.

@norine27 @PandaChronicle @kumarvibe @alice People in the US and other wealthy nations are very lucky to have the availability of vaccines. I've been to Nigeria a number of times and the people I spoke with said they were jealous of our vaccines. Yet here we are. People are rejecting these gifts.

@old_hippie @PandaChronicle @kumarvibe @alice

They don't remember this from previous experience. And they don't experience disease at first hand, either, as in other places in the world.

@old_hippie (It's probably safe to assume the only reason there are any cases at all post-vaccine are anti-vaxxers refusing to vaccinate and to a significantly lesser degree the medical industry not making sure everyone is vaccinated who can be vaccinated. That's mostly a problem in other countries, but it spills over a little because international travel makes it so that unvaccinated people sometimes carry diseases in that should've been erradicated.)

@old_hippie and now we will have an anti-vaxxer in charge of the CDC. 😬

@old_hippie I know it gets old but once again for the ppl in the back, vaccines do not cause #autism.

@old_hippie sadly this simple chart won't do much. Even with a chart of caused deaths it still wouldn't change some anti vac people as they think it is God's will or something like that.
I don't tolerate those opinions in influencing main points of laws.

@old_hippie especially since the US population has about doubled since 1960

@old_hippie Too bad it's not a three-column graph with the third column being after vaccine denialism really set in (2020+)