Alex Berenson Is Having Fun With Measles
The Real Truth about Vaccines
Remember when we thought that it was a low moment when Lara Logan said kids in South Sudan would be better off without vaccines? Alex Berenson just had a ‘hold my beer’ moment, when he posted a ‘fun fact’ about kids dying with measles…
Is anyone surprised?
Alex Berenson Is Having Fun With Measles
Why the new rant from Alex Berenson?
He seems to be upset that The New York Times has been writing, on average, two or three stories a month about measles…
Now, does that seem excessive considering that we are on track for another record-breaking year of measles cases?
Or that we are breaking records that were set over thirty years ago?
What about Alex Berenson’s idea that we shouldn’t be concerned because no one has died this year?
Well, that is fortunate, but it doesn’t tell the whole story, does it?
After all, he is leaving out that:
a 7-year-old in South Carolina developed measles encephalitis this year and became partially paralyzed
two unvaccinated children died because they had measles last year
a newborn baby developed meningoencephalitis last year after her mother developed measles while pregnant
an unvaccinated 8-year-ol child died with SSPE in California after getting sick with measles as an infant, when they were too young to be vaccinated
hundreds of kids have ended up in quarantine because they were exposed to measles at school
Mostly though, he is leaving out that as the case counts rise, the chances that more people will die greatly increases.
Anti-Vaccine Influencers Are Creating Measles Drama
Remember the measles outbreaks of the late 1980s? If you did, you would understand why there is ‘drama’ over our current outbreaks…
Altogether, there were 55,622 cases of measles and 123 deaths in the United States between 1989 and 1991.
Why is that important?
The concern is that is where we are headed if we don’t quickly get these outbreaks under control.
And that’s what it is - concern.
Not drama.
Not panic.
Drama and panic are what anti-vaccine influencers feel when the measles case count grows too big.
Why?
Because they know that fewer people will listen to them as more people get sick with measles and other vaccine preventable diseases, especially as children die.
Bottom line - posts from folks like Alex Berenson who try to downplay the seriousness of measles are helping to fuel these big outbreaks.
Perhaps Berenson would like to give Grand Rounds on Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis?
We've known for some time, of course, that Berenson is a moron, creep, and avid purveyor of disinformation. In this instance, even if his statistics are correct, they're misleading. Measles infection is notorious for causing "immune amnesia" -- the loss of immunity, for months or years, to infections to which the patient has previously been immune, because of of infection or immunization. Because of that damage to the immune system, patients are susceptible to skin, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, heart, and other infections that can result in sepsis and death. Therefore, there IS an ongoing death toll from measles, albeit not from the acute infection itself.