The exposure was at the Fort Wayne Zoo!

Let’s Talk About the Measles Alert at the Fort Wayne Zoo

If you were at the Fort Wayne Zoo between 11:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday, September 27, then you might have been exposed to measles.

“Health officials urge people present at that location during that time to check their measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination status and monitor themselves for symptoms of measles for 21 days. People exposed and who have not received the MMR vaccine should quarantine for 21 days after exposure and discuss receiving the vaccine with their doctor.”

Health officials report possible measles exposures

Hopefully, if you were there, you are vaccinated and protected, with two doses of the MMR vaccine.

But what about “others” who might have been exposed?

Others?

Now, while humans are the only natural reservoir for measles, some other animals can and do get measles!

Which animals?

“Humans are the natural host for this virus, but most non-human primate species, particularly macaques, are susceptible to infection. Infection with measles can have serious consequences including fatality. Measles-virus infections in marmosets can rapidly spread through a colony resulting in high morbidity and mortality.”

Revised recommendations for health monitoring of non-human primate colonies (2018): FELASA Working Group Report

Nonhuman primates, of course.

But if nonhuman primates can get measles, then why don’t they get it more often?

“Measles is endemic only in high-density human populations. There is a density threshold below which MV cannot be maintained in a population due to very efficient transmission and rapid exhaustion of susceptible hosts. However, apes and both Old World and New World monkeys are susceptible to MV infection. Because wild NHP do not live in populations large enough to exceed the endemic maintenance threshold, measles is not a naturally occurring infection.”

Multicenter Safety and Immunogenicity Trial of an Attenuated Measles Vaccine for NHP

Interestingly, they actually used to get measles fairly often, typically when captured or kept in high-density facilities.

“In 1986 to 1987 a large measles outbreak occurred at the California National Primate Research Center, with 147 recognized NHP cases (Macaca mulatta and M. fascicularis) and 28% mortality (not including stillbirths). The cost to treat infected animals was approximately US$187,000, not including animal loss due to secondary infection or abortion. During this same time period, 5 human cases among human contacts were documented. Epidemiologic evidence suggests instances of NHP-to-human MV transmission in this outbreak, raising occupational health concerns.”

Multicenter Safety and Immunogenicity Trial of an Attenuated Measles Vaccine for NHP

It is likely only that measles has been under better control that we don’t see them getting sick more regularly these days.

And yes, there are measles vaccines for nonhuman primates.

That’s good news, as we may need them.

After all, the Fort Wayne Zoo has a number of ape and primate exhibits, including:

• Orangutan Valley - an immersive Indonesian Rainforest exhibit for the zoo's orangutans

• African Journey and Indonesian Rainforest areas with Colobus Monkeys, De Brazza's Monkeys, Swamp Monkeys, and capuchins.

Apes and primates that could have been exposed to measles too.

“An outbreak of natural measles virus infection occurred in a group of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata). Over a period of 4 months, 12 of 53 Japanese macaques died following a 2-23-day history of anorexia, diarrhea, and dermatitis… The primary infective source or the mode of infection could not be determined in this outbreak, but measles virus may have been transmitted to the monkeys from human visitors while the monkeys were on exhibit.”

Fatal measles virus infection in Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata)

An exposure that could lead to a large outbreak and many deaths.

The usual suspects…

Should We Stop Vaccinating Cows?

Of course, these folks who think that we should stop vaccinating cows likely don’t know that:

• the first vaccine for cows was developed in 1881 - it was Louis Pasteur’s anthrax vaccine, which made an immense impact on farming and led to plummeting anthrax mortality rates in France.

• by the early 1900s, cows were routinely vaccinated for anthrax, blackleg, rinderpest, and foot-and-mouth-disease

  

• next, we got a vaccine for brucellosis in the 1940s, a disease that often caused late-term abortions, birth of unhealthy calves, infertility, and decreased milk production

• vaccines for leptospirosis, infectious bovine respiratory diseases, including infectious bovine rhinotracheitis, also became available in the 1940s through the 1960s

• combination vaccines against infectious bovine rhinotracheitis, bovine viral diarrhea, parainfluenza-3 respiratory disease, bovine RSV, and leptospirosis and clostridial diseases routinely used since the 1970s.

And today, cows still receive those same vaccines, although many more are available depending on herd risks.

Should we stop giving them?

Do farmers and ranchers want to go back to the day when their cows were getting and dying from anthrax, blackleg, brucellosis, and all of these other now vaccine-preventable diseases?

Of course they don’t!

“Vaccine scepticism and misinformation is affecting uptake of bluetongue jabs needed to protect farm animals, senior vets have warned.”

Vaccine scepticism affecting bluetongue jab uptake

Or at least the great majority of them don’t…

More on Vaccines for Cows

• On the Origins of Herd Immunity

• Are Pet Vaccines Safe?

• Is Rabies Also on the Rise?

• A Report by the Secretary of Agriculture of the Operations of the Bureau of Animal Industry of That Department for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1900.

• A History of the Development of Brucella Vaccines

• No evidence for mass death of Australian cows after mRNA vaccine

• Vaccine scepticism affecting bluetongue jab uptake

• Backlash in Kenya over livestock vaccines and belching cows

She’s just asking questions…

What Happened to the Children of Pregnant Women Who Got a COVID Vaccine?

It’s a technique anti-vaccine influencers use in which they ask a loaded question and framing misinformation and propaganda about vaccines as questions.

After all, if she really wanted to know if anyone was monitoring these children, instead of posting, she could have taken a few minutes and found out about the:

• Assessing the Safety of Pregnancy During the Coronavirus Pandemic (ASPIRE) study - an ongoing study which found that COVID-19 vaccination was safe during pregnancy from the perspective of infant neurodevelopment to 18 months of age

• Scottish national cohort study - found that prenatal exposure to SARS-CoV-2 was not associated with developmental concerns.

• COVI-PREG prospective cohort - found no increased risk of an abnormal developmental score at 12 months comparing those exposed to maternal vaccinated vs unvaccinated children.

• Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network — autism/development assessment - reported no difference in autism or other neurodevelopmental outcomes in children born to mothers who had received a COVID vaccine vs those who hadn’t.

• Vaccine Safety Datalink study - found no increased risk for non-targeted medically attended infant respiratory infections and no association with bloodstream or meningeal infections from birth to 6 months of life following COVID-19 vaccination during second or third trimester of pregnancy.

• MOMBABY database study - found that mRNA covid-19 vaccination during the first trimester of pregnancy was not associated with an increase in major congenital anomalies in offspring, overall or grouped by organ system.

• Generation Victoria (GenV) - will be monitoring vaccinated children through age 16 years

And she would have found that ‘we’ are indeed monitoring these children!

What else?

She would have found that so far, ‘we’ have found no evidence of adverse developmental effects from getting a COVID vaccine during pregnancy.

Plus, there is also plenty of evidence that these COVID vaccines were necessary, reducing severe COVID in pregnant women and protecting newborns and younger infants until they could get their own COVID vaccine.

So all in all, it was a good question!

More on COVID Vaccines in Pregnancy

• COVID Vaccines Did Much More Good Than Harm for Children

• Children Are Protected by the COVID Vaccine

• COVID-19 Vaccines and Questions Over Miscarriage Risk

• In Utero Exposure to Maternal COVID-19 Vaccination and Offspring Neurodevelopment at 12 and 18 Months

• Early childhood developmental concerns following SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy: a Scottish population-level retrospective cohort study

• Neurodevelopmental outcomes of infants after in utero exposure to SARS-CoV-2 or mRNA-COVID-19 vaccine compared with unexposed infants: a COVI-PREG prospective cohort study

• Association between SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in pregnancy and child neurodevelopment at 18-30 months

• Association Between COVID-19 Vaccination During Pregnancy and Safety Among Infants

• Association between maternal mRNA covid-19 vaccination in early pregnancy and major congenital anomalies in offspring: population based cohort study with sibling matched analysis

• The Maternal Vaccine Study Protocol: A Victorian Cohort Study Evaluating Infant and Childhood Safety and Health and Developmental Outcomes After Vaccination Against Respiratory Viruses in Pregnancy

• Cohort Profile: Generation Victoria (GenV)

• Maternal Vaccination and Risk of Hospitalization for Covid-19 among Infants

It was back in March and we had reported on the 17th measles death in their outbreak.

Fortunately, it was the last measles death.

Let’s Talk About Measles Deaths in Israel

The last measles death in a large outbreak with a lot of deaths!

Overall, there were 3,774 measles cases and 17 measles deaths, all children.

And yes, they were nearly all unvaccinated.

What else do we know?

From a new study, Pediatric Deaths during Measles Outbreak, Jerusalem, Israel, 2025–2026, we learned that:

• of 1,289 case-patients with measles in Jerusalem, 11 died, all children, yielding a case fatality rate of 0.85%!

• the median age of children who died was 1.4 years

• ten of the children were otherwise healthy

• nine of the children were completely unvaccinated

• one partially vaccinated child had complex cardiac disease

• six children were dead on arrival at the ED

We also learned that these children lived in neighborhoods with MMR vaccination rates of just 55%.

That’s low!

But while the low vaccination rates help explain why so many got sick, it doesn’t explain why so many died.

Were there many more cases that weren’t counted?

That’s one explanation.

Or was it that they took their kids to the hospital too late because of “possible mistrust of government institutions?”

“Some parents reported they first consulted community mediators when the child’s condition deteriorated. Those mediators were known in the community for their medical backgrounds, having served as medical orderlies or midwives. The mediators used pulse oximeters to monitor the ill children, and some suggested vitamin A supplements or provided intravenous fluids before seeking conventional medical support, which might explain delayed referral to healthcare facilities.”

Pediatric Deaths during Measles Outbreak, Jerusalem, Israel, 2025–2026

Or did they just rely on the wrong people for advice?

Whatever happened, the measles outbreak in Israel should be a reminder that measles kills otherwise healthy kids!

Or at least it does if they aren’t vaccinated and protected.

But wait, why do anti-vaccine influencers think that has something to do with vaccines?

What Does a New Study Really Say About an Association Between Vaccines and Autism?

Mostly because they blame everything on vaccines…

In this case, they should have read the study before posting, though.

If they had read the study, they would have noted that autism rates were not correlated with immunization rates in these California counties.

Instead, the study talks about differences in diagnosis and access to services.

And although the study was not about vaccines, it does help to disprove the idea that vaccines are associated with autism.

“The headstone had not yet been placed Thursday on the freshly dug grave where a 20-year-old Amish woman was buried this week amid the rolling clover fields and dairy farms at the edge of suburban Philadelphia.

Newly wed, and receiving treatment for blood cancer, she was the last of nine siblings sickened when measles swept through her unvaccinated family’s home on a one-lane road in Lancaster County.”

A 20-year-old Amish woman with leukemia got measles and died in Pa.’s largest outbreak in three decades

An unvaccinated 20-year-old with leukemia who had just gotten married last year.

The 5th Measles Death Was a 20-Year-Old Newly Wed With Leukemia

She got sick a few weeks ago, and as she was getting worse, she went to the hospital.

“Her family does not operate cars, in keeping with Amish beliefs, so they hired a driver to take her to the emergency department at Hershey Medical Center about an hour away. She died about two weeks later in the intensive care unit there, her grandmother said.”

A 20-year-old Amish woman with leukemia got measles and died in Pa.’s largest outbreak in three decades

And she died.

“She said her granddaughter ultimately developed double pneumonia and died after the family decided to discontinue use of a ventilator.”

A 20-year-old Amish woman with leukemia got measles and died in Pa.’s largest outbreak in three decades

She died as she was being treated for leukemia and had wanted to get vaccinated.

“The young woman, the second oldest in a line of nine siblings, ages 6 to 22, feared getting measles in the outbreak in Lancaster County, her grandmother said.

About two years ago, she was diagnosed with leukemia, a blood cancer, and began medical treatment with the help of an “English” neighbor — as Amish call outsiders — to drive her to her medical appointments.

The treatment regimen of chemo and steroids further weakened her immune system. She knew she was at risk of more severe sickness from a viral infection like measles, which started spreading throughout her family in the late summer.”

A 20-year-old Amish woman with leukemia got measles and died in Pa.’s largest outbreak in three decades

But she couldn’t because of the chemo.

That doesn’t mean the rest of her family and friends could not have been vaccinated though.

Although no one in the household was vaccinated, they are not opposed to the vaccine based on Amish beliefs. They believe it’s an individual choice, she said, and many Amish people opt not to get vaccinated because they “don’t know what’s in it.”

A 20-year-old Amish woman with leukemia got measles and died in Pa.’s largest outbreak in three decades

That might have protected her and kept her from getting measles.

More on Measles Deaths

• Measles Deaths

• Who Needs to Hide in the Herd for Protection Against Measles?

• A 20-year-old Amish woman with leukemia got measles and died in Pa.’s largest outbreak in three decades

No, it’s not measles this time…

An unvaccinated child in Montana recently died because they were sick from a Hib infection.

There Has Been Another Vaccine-Preventable Disease Death

You remember Hib, don’t you?

Hib is the acronym for Haemophilus influenzae type b, a bacterium that can cause meningitis, pneumonia, and epiglottitis.

In fact, before we got our Hib vaccines, it very commonly led to deaths in children from meningitis, pneumonia, and epiglottitis.

“Before effective H. influenzae type b (Hib) vaccines were introduced, one in 200 children developed invasive Hib disease by the age of 5 years. Sixty percent of these children had meningitis; 3%-6% died. Virtually all invasive H. influenzae disease in the pre-vaccine era (<1988) was due to Hib and Hib was the most common cause of bacterial meningitis.”

Invasive Haemophilus influenzae Quicksheet

Deaths from Hib that had started to come back, as we have been trying to warn everyone the last few years.

Warnings that have sadly, mostly been ignored.

And that’s why we are once again reporting about another vaccine-preventable disease death.

An unvaccinated child who died because they were sick with Hib, which can be prevented with a vaccine that has been around since 1987.

What else?

We don’t know how many Hib deaths there have been the last few years, but we do now that:

• there were 21 Hib cases in 2025 (kids under age 5 years), including cases in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado (3 cases), Idaho, Illinois, Indiana (2 cases), Kentucky (2 cases), Mississippi (2 cases), New York (5 cases), and Ohio (3 cases).

• there have already been 28 Hib cases this year (kids under age 5 years), including cases in Florida, Illinois, Indiana (2 cases), Kansas (2 cases), Kentucky, Mississippi, New York (5 cases), North Carolina, Ohio (7 cases), Pennsylvania (5 cases), Tennessee, and West Virginia.

And we know that this, despite being stats from the CDC, is an undercount, as it is obviously missing the two cases in Florida that Paul Offit reported on…

“I want everyone to know how serious matters are,” said Dr. Eehab Kenawy, a Panama City pediatrician. “Just in the past six months, we had two patients in the ICU with Hib. One child unfortunately succumbed at 4 months of age. No vaccines. One month ago, I was on call, and another patient came into the ICU, a 2½-year-old, never vaccinated. Hib again. Abscesses in the brain, seizures, coma, intubated.”

The Return of Hib?

So yes, Hib is returning.

It shouldn’t be, but it is.

Get vaccinated.

Stop listening to anti-vaccine influencers.

Stop the outbreaks.

More on Hib Deaths

• The Incredible Hulk’s Son Died of a Vaccine Preventable Disease

• Want Proof That Hib Vaccines Work?

• Hib Vaccines

• The Return of Hib?

• Invasive Haemophilus influenzae Quicksheet

• NNDSS Weekly Data - Haemophilus influenzae, invasive disease, Age <5 years, Serotype b - Accessed Oct 2, 2026.

Brian Hooker published a study non-peer reviewed preprint comparing health outcomes between vaccinated and unvaccinated pediatric populations.

And no, you won’t be surprised by his results.

Let’s Talk About Vaccinated vs Unvaccinated Children Again

Wait, why won’t you be surprised?

Mostly you won’t be surprised because of all of the errors in his preprint!

What else?

Hooker doesn’t consistently define what it means to be unvaccinated.

In this study, for some children, unvaccinated may mean:

• zero vaccines, or

• first vaccinated after 13 months

I mean, are they really unvaccinated if they got caught up after 13 months?

And that’s not all!

“Strep infection demonstrated the strongest association in the primary analysis.”

Comparative Health Outcomes of Vaccinated versus Unvaccinated Children: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis

For the clinical condition that was supposedly most associated with having been vaccinated, strep infection, they didn’t just use the classic strep infection diagnostic codes!

Instead, we have codes for everything from infectious mono and gonococcal infections to sexually transmitted chlamydia diseases.

And we have codes in categories that are totally out of place!

R19 codes are for conditions that involve GI symptoms, not respiratory disease.

Were these codes deliberately selected to influence the results of the study preprint?

Lastly, the study doesn’t account for things like daycare attendance, prematurity, breastfeeding, socioeconomic circumstances, or household smoking, etc.

They didn’t even control for healthcare utilization.

Also, why did he choose those common pediatric conditions, but leave out cough and diarrhea?

Maybe he will release the data so that we can analyze it ourselves!

Until then, know that this bombshell study that is being laundered by anti-vaccine influencers across their social media accounts and websites is worse than just another dud. It is more obvious propaganda than they usually put out!

More on Vaccinated vs Unvaccinated Children

• Vaccinated vs Unvaccinated - Surviving a Smallpox Epidemic

• Vaccinated vs Unvaccinated – Measles Outbreak Edition

• Vaccinated vs Unvaccinated with Measles

• If It’s Vaccines, Then Why Are There Autistic Kids Who Are Unvaccinated?

• More Vaccinated vs Unvaccinated Studies

• Do More Vaccinated or Unvaccinated Kids Get Sick in Outbreaks?

• Another Vaccinated vs. Unvaccinated Study Has a Bigger Problem Than Peer Review

We are talking about v-safe data again because it is basically all anti-vaccine influencers are talking about these days.

Let’s Talk About the V-Safe Data Again

Remember, they got the free-text records of 7.55 million v-safe reports through a Freedom of Information Act request and selectively published 14,430 entries from 3,329 people that they believe are vaccine injury reports, including deaths.

How many deaths?

There were reports of deaths for at least 1,069 participant IDs, although of course, that does not mean that there were 1,069 deaths.

And remember, that’s among the 7.55 million v-safe reports that anti-vaccine influencers are talking about. Reports that were among 151 million reports from 10 million people in v-safe.

“had terminal cancer when she was first vaccinated. She passed away Friday June, 2022. She had no symptoms of COVID. Her death was entirely cancer related.”

12th Final Release 24-01322-FOIA

V-safe reports that were simply check-ins after you got your COVID vaccine.

If you recall, after you got your COVID vaccine, if you enrolled in v-safe, you got regular text messages with survey questions daily for a week, then weekly for six weeks, so that you could report any symptoms you were having.

Of note, though, just because you were having symptoms, it didn’t mean that they were caused by the COVID vaccine you had recently received.

And that’s obvious, as many of the v-safe reports clearly are not about vaccine deaths!

Although it is still tragic that they died, many had terminal conditions and some were in hospice when they were vaccinated.

That’s not surprising though, as they would have been considered at high risk for severe complications from a natural COVID infection, and so it is likely that most of them would have been vaccinated.

What else?

Remember that just over:

• 676 million COVID vaccines were given in the United States

• 270 million people were given a COVID vaccine in the United States

• over 3 million COVID vaccines were being given each day at the peak of the pandemic

And with so many COVID vaccine doses being given to so many people in such a short time, it became easy for them to associate anything and everything that happened to them in the following days, weeks, and months with those vaccines.

Why is all of that important?

It’s because all of the regular symptoms and problems that people would be expected to have continued to happen too. And because they overlapped with all of these COVID vaccines, many people, not surprisingly, came to blame their COVID vaccine.

But how do we know their COVID vaccines weren’t to blame?

We know because of all of the vaccine safety studies that were done.

Specifically, we know that COVID vaccines were not associated with any extra risk of sudden death.

• Association between COVID-19 vaccination and sudden death in apparently healthy younger individuals: A population-based case-control study

• Sudden Cardiac Arrest Among Young Competitive Athletes Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

• Assessment of Risk for Sudden Cardiac Death Among Adolescents and Young Adults After Receipt of COVID-19 Vaccine - Oregon, June 2021-December 2022

• Risk of Death in Nursing Home Residents After COVID-19 Vaccination

• COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination and 4-Year All-Cause Mortality Among Adults Aged 18 to 59 Years in France

• Mortality risk after COVID-19 vaccination: A self-controlled case series study

• Risk of death following COVID-19 vaccination or positive SARS-CoV-2 test in young people in England

• COVID-19 vaccination and short-term mortality risk: a nationwide self-controlled case series study in The Netherlands

So instead of the narrative the anti-vaccine influencers continue to push, know that COVID vaccines are safe, with few risks and rare serious side effects, and they helped get us through the pandemic.

More on COVID Vaccine Safety

• COVID and COVID Vaccines

• 82% of Women Who Got the COVID Vaccine in Their First or Second Trimester Did Not Have a Miscarriage

• Are COVID Jabs to Blame for an Increase in Excess Deaths?

• COVID Vaccines Did Much More Good Than Harm for Children

• Did COVID Vaccines Cause More Deaths Than They Saved?

• Deaths Following COVID-19 Vaccination – Understanding Background Rates

• v-safe publications

• Update: v-safe after vaccination health checker

• No Evidence Excess Deaths Linked to Vaccines, Contrary to Claims Online

• COVID-19 Vaccines Have Prevented Deaths, Contrary to Misleading Graphic on Social Media

• ICAN tries to mislead public about COVID-19 vaccines safety

• Antivax weaponization of v-safe: Like VAERS on steroids

That’s easy to understand with how vocal anti-vaccine influencers can be…

Vaccines Are the Wrong Thing to Be Worried About

The thing is, though, vaccines are safe, with few risks, and very necessary.

And if you are looking at this from any kind of risk/benefit perspective, then instead of vaccines, it is the risk from vaccine-preventable diseases that you want to avoid.

Now sure, it has been fairly easy to avoid that risk when everyone else is vaccinated and protected and you can free-ride on their protection.

Hiding in the herd can work when vaccination rates are high and we have vaccine-preventable diseases under good control.

Of course, that strategy begins to fail as vaccination rates drop.

Then we see more cases, more outbreaks, and even some deaths.

Then we see the true risks of the vaccine-preventable diseases that most of us work to avoid.

Vaccine-preventable diseases that you can avoid if you get vaccinated and protected and stop listening to anti-vaccine influencers.

More on Measles Risks vs MMR Risks

• What Is Your Risk of Getting Measles in the United States?

• Is the Measles Death Rate in Children Only 1 in 106 Million?

• When Measles Doesn’t Kill You, It Can Still Leave You Weaker

• Risks and Benefits of Vaccines – Anti-Vax Edition

• Are the Risks Greater Than the Benefits for Any Vaccines?

• How Many People Die in the USA Every Year from Being Vaccinated?

• Let’s Talk About Measles Vaccine Deaths

• Why Are You Still Worried About the MMR Vaccine?

• Fear the Disease, Not the Vaccine

• A risk-benefit analysis of vaccination

• A risk science perspective on vaccines

Veterinarians who apparently don’t understand how vaccines work…

Let’s Talk About Vaccine Misinformation Coming From Veterinarians

After all, if they did have any understanding of how vaccines work, they would know why dogs of different sizes might get the same dose of a vaccine.

“Why is this 1 cc dose of rabies vaccine given to a 150lb Great Dane... AND THE EXACT SAME VOLUME injected into a tiny 3Ib toy poodle?!”

Andrew Jones, DVM

And of course, it is because pet vaccines typically aren’t calibrated by weight or age.

Wait, that argument sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

It should!

Anti-vaccine influencers used to make the same claim about vaccines for children and adults.

Vaccines, which also aren’t based on your weight or age.

Why not?

Because the antigens in a vaccine typically work locally, where they were given. They don’t have to travel all around your body or your pet’s body to work.

Instead, those antigens in a vaccine get the vaccine response started near where the vaccine was given, whether that is in their arm or leg (shot), nose (nasal), or small intestine (oral).

The antigens are then taken up by antigen-presenting cells, which migrate towards a nearby lymph node and activate other cells, including:

• antigen-specific helper T cells

• killer T cells

• B cells - can become plasma cells that produce antibodies or memory cells

And then, within a few weeks, you get your antibodies!

You get your protection!

At least you do if you get yourself, your family, and your pets vaccinated and you aren’t listening to anti-vaccine influencers.

That’s the 5th measles death of the year.

A 5th Measles Death of the Year Has Been Reported

This death of an unvaccinated person in Lancaster County (all the information we know) follows the deaths of:

• an unprotected newborn with measles

• an unprotected six-week-old infant with measles

• an unvaccinated 40-year-old woman with measles

• an unvaccinated 18-year-old with measles

And it means that there have now been nine measles deaths since 2025.

Nine measles deaths as measles cases and outbreaks continue to grow out of control.

Nine measles deaths as we continue to hear anti-vaccine rhetoric from Secretary RFK, Jr.

Which leaves us with just one question…

How many measles cases and deaths will we need to see before everyone gets vaccinated and protected and works to stop these outbreaks?

I guess they just never learn…

Normalization of Holocaust Analogies by Anti-Vaccine Influencers Continues

Still, you would think that they would have after being called out for this kind of behavior so many times in the past.

Like when the Auschwitz museum called out those using hateful antisemtic ideology to argue against vaccination.

Or when RFK, Jr said that vaccines were causing a holocaust.

“Careless Holocaust analogies may demonize, demean, and intimidate their targets. But there is a cost for all of us because they distract from the real issues challenging our society, because they shut down productive, thoughtful discourse. At a time when our country needs dialogue more than ever, it is especially dangerous to exploit the memory of the Holocaust as a rhetorical cudgel. We owe the survivors more than that. And we owe ourselves more than that.”

Why Holocaust Analogies Are Dangerous

Or the other time, when RFK, Jr compared Dr. Paul Offit to a Nazi war criminal and said ‘this is like Nazi death camps’ when talking about kids getting autism because the CDC didn’t take thimerosal out of vaccines.

“While individuals should certainly learn lessons from the Holocaust and seek to ensure that the actions of Nazi Germany are never repeated, we must also take care to avoid directly comparing them modern-day events, except perhaps in the most extraordinary of circumstances. Failure to do so not only cheapens the memory of millions killed by the Nazis, it also diminishes society's ability to effectively address the actual substance of the problem.”

Let’s Avoid Holocaust Analogies in the Public Square

Or when others have done the same thing.

Obviously though, they haven’t.

More on the Normalization of Holocaust Analogies

• Normalization of Holocaust Parallels In COVID Era

• Those Comparing Public Health Policies to Holocaust “Completely Out of Touch With Reality”

• Holocaust Analogies Frequently Used as Fodder for Social and Political Commentary

• Why Holocaust Analogies Are Dangerous

• Let’s Avoid Holocaust Analogies in the Public Square

• Some politicians are using Holocaust analogies as anti-vaccine rhetoric

• Comparing vaccine mandates to the Holocaust is abhorrent

• Covid-19 Protests Fuel Spread of Holocaust Trivialization in Western Europe, North America

• Bioethics, Nazi Analogies, and the Coronavirus Pandemic

• Shocking rise of Holocaust Trivializing Yellow Stars Across Europe

• COVID-19, vaccines, and the ethics of the appropriation of Jewish persecution

• No, vaccine and masking mandates are nothing like Nazi Germany

• OC Jewish Community Calls For An End On Comparing Coronavirus Vaccine to Holocaust

• The annals of “I’m not antivaccine,” part 18: Dr. Bob goes full Godwin over SB 277

• Holocaust misappropriation by antivaxxers: A form of Holocaust denial

• Anti-vaxxers are comparing themselves to Holocaust victims — who relied on vaccines to survive

• The annals of “I’m not antivaccine,” part 22: The Godwin of “We didn’t know”

A story that ends with her dying because of the side effects of a smallpox vaccine.

Have You Ever Heard of Mamie Powell?

But, not surprisingly, that’s not the real story.

If you look at the death certificate from her doctor, there is no mention of a smallpox vaccine reaction.

Instead, it simply says that she died from diphtheria.

And so, another vaccine injury story that ‘has survived decades’ is easily debunked in a few minutes with just a little research.

A vaccine injury story that was originally copied from Lora Little’s book, Crimes of the Cowpox Ring!

A book full of “sensational muckraking” in which she blames anything and everything on smallpox vaccines, from blindness and diabetes to cancer and meningitis.

Not surprisingly, she even blames her own child’s death at age 7 years on a smallpox vaccine, even though he actually died from diphtheria seven months after he was vaccinated.

A death that is now easily prevented with a DTaP vaccine!

More on Historical Vaccine Injury Stories

• Roman Bystrianyk’s History of Vaccination

• Have You Ever Heard of Miss Fannie Lent?

• That Time a Man With Rabies Used a Madstone and Died

• Anti-Vaccine Pamphlets Are Coming Back!

• Lora Little: The Vaccine Liberator

Only 31% of Americans, even though he is the Secretary of HHS and we are seeing the most measles cases we have seen in 35 years.

Why Do Only 31% of Americans Think That Secretary RFK, Jr Recommends the Measles Vaccine?

Maybe it is because Secretary RFK, Jr recently gave the keynote address at the anti-vaccine Children’s Health Defense conference and told anti-vaccine folks that they have a friend in the White House…

Or possibly it’s because Secretary RFK, Jr voiced support for Donald Trump’s plan to split up the MMR vaccine.

It could even be because RFK, Jr has been pushing misinformation and propaganda about MMR vaccines for years now.

Mostly though, it is because while he has said a few times that a measles vaccine is effective, he hasn’t said the one thing that might get more people vaccinated and protected.

He hasn’t said the one thing that we expect from our Secretary of HHS.

He hasn’t said that the MMR is safe, effective, and necessary.

If he says that, maybe more people will believe that he is recommending that they get vaccinated.

If he says that, then maybe he will be able to get these measles outbreaks under control.

More on Vaccine Surveys

• About That Politico Vaccine Skepticism Poll

• Who to Trust About Public Health Information and Advice?

• Do 80% of Americans Believe in the Right to Refuse Vaccines?

• Do Many Parents Blame Vaccines for Their Child’s Autism?

• About 1 in 3 Americans Say RFK Jr. Recommends Measles Vaccine

• Why won’t RFK Jr. say the MMR vaccine is safe?

“George Washington died in 1799 after undergoing treatment protocols his doctors fully trusted. Dr. Joseph Varon asks which of today’s confident treatments will look just as wrong.”

The Treatment Was Worse Than the Disease

Not surprisingly, though, they totally miss the point about just which of today’s treatments can be compared to bloodletting…

The Modern Bloodletting Problem

But first, let’s talk about bloodletting.

Typically associated with leeches, bloodletting was a commonly prescribed medical treatment for at least 2,000 years!

Why bloodletting?

“To appreciate the rationale for bloodletting one must first understand the paradigm of disease 2300 years ago in the time of Hippocrates (~460–370 BC). He believed that existence was represented by the four basic elements—earth, air, fire, and water—which in humans were related to the four basic humors: blood, phlegm, black bile, yellow bile.”

The history of bloodletting

Well, way back then, they thought that if you were sick, it meant that you had an imbalance in one of your four basic humors. And bloodletting, along with purging, was a way to remove excess humors and get you back in balance.

Of course, it didn’t really work.

But then why did they continue to think it did work and continue to prescribe it?

Mostly because they didn’t have any better options, but also for of all of the same reasons that folks now believe in alternative treatments, including that:

• people often have short-lived, transient conditions that can often get better on their own

• confirmation bias

• the treatment was reinforced by medical authority

Again, these are the same reasons you might think your treatment worked after visiting a chiropractor, homeopath, or acupuncturist, etc.

The Modern Day Bloodletters

So which of today’s confident treatments will look just as wrong and can be compared to bloodletting?

That’s right!

Many of the non-standard treatments pushed for COVID patients, including:

• ivermectin

• hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine

• azithromycin

• fluvoxamine

Ineffective treatments that often kept COVID patients from pursuing treatments that actually did work and from getting vaccinated and protected.

Ineffective treatments pushed by organizations like the Independent Medical Alliance - formerly known as the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC).

Ineffective treatments that are now also being pushed as more natural treatments for cancer!

But did you know that having congenital measles likely puts your baby at greater risk for SSPE?

Who Is at the Highest Risk for SSPE?

While the overall risk is for younger children with measles, the highest risk might be for those who are born with measles.

What else?

These children who were born with measles can:

• develop SSPE after a shorter latency period - typically months to a few years instead of the more typical 7-10 years we see in older children

• have an aggressive SSPE course that is rapidly progressive, going from having their first symptoms to dying in a matter of months, instead of the more typical years we see in older children

And yes, there have been many such cases.

It’s a good reminder of why everyone should be sure that they are vaccinated and protected, with two doses of the MMR vaccine, before they ever think about getting pregnant.

More on SSPE

• Should You Worry About SSPE After Measles?

• Why Do We Include SSPE When Counting Measles Deaths?

• SSPE and Natural Immunity from Measles

• Can the MMR Vaccine Cause SSPE?

• Another Child Has Died From a Complication of Measles This Past Year

• SSPE following neonatal measles infection

• Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) associated with congenital measles infection

• Early onset and rapidly progressive subacute sclerosing panencephalitis after congenital measles infection

• Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis after intrauterine infection

• AAP - Congenital Measles: Frequently Asked Questions

Well, they did…

Remembering Classic Epidemic Disease Cycles

Of course, there were also typically cases each and every year, but then there were also bigger epidemic years.

Why?

In the pre-vaccine era, most people would get sick with these diseases - those were the cases ‘we’ saw each year.

Eventually though, with new people being born, there would be a large enough group of susceptible people around to fuel an outbreak year!

Interestingly though, these cycles were different for each disease, with:

• measles epidemics occurring in 2 to 3-year cycles

• mumps epidemics occurring in 3-year cycles

• rubella epidemics occurring in 6 to 9-year cycles

• chicken pox epidemics occurring in 2 to 4-year cycles

• diphtheria epidemics occurring in 5 to 7-year cycles

• pertussis epidemics occurring in 3 to 5-year cycles

• polio epidemics occurring in 3 to 5-year cycles

• scarlet fever epidemics occurring in 3 to 6-year cycles

• smallpox epidemics occurring in 5-year cycles

And of course, measles has a short cycle simply because it is so contagious.

What else?

These epidemic cycles were interrupted by vaccines.

They can return though, as except for smallpox, none of these diseases have been eradicated.

And then maybe more folks will remember why the rest of us are vaccinated and protected.

More on Epidemics

• The statistics of epidemic transitions

• Disease Elimination and Eradication

• The calendar of epidemics: Seasonal cycles of infectious diseases

And we urged parents to vaccinate and protect their children.

At It’s Mildest, Measles Is a Misery

We even printed posters, like the one above.

It was printed in 1985 in the UK to encourage parents to get their kids vaccinated.

Tragically, many parents ignore that misery, even though many kids had died from measles before the measles vaccine had been developed and many are still dying after a safe and effective vaccine became available.

A safe and effective vaccine that can help you avoid the misery of measles.

Surprisingly, they are up in arms about what they see as off-label recommendations by the CDC for COVID vaccines.

Let’s Talk About Off-Label Prescriptions

Do you see the problem with their thinking?

I’ll step you through it…

1. the only reason that the recommendations from the RFK, Jr’s CDC are now off-label is because RFK, Jr’s FDA changed the indications for who can get a COVID vaccine

2. off-label recommendations and off-label prescriptions are very much allowed, even for vaccines

3. off-label ivermectin was a big issue because folks continued to recommend and prescribe it even after it was well-known to be ineffective

4. off-label recommendations and use of COVID vaccines are still covered by the PREP Act

What else?

Recommendations from leading medical organizations are still that many high-risk children and adults get an updated COVID vaccine.