It is easy to understand why we are seeing so much misinformation about the two measles deaths in Pennsylvania.
It is because anti-vaccine influencers are afraid that more people will want to get vaccinated if they are reminded that measles is indeed deadly!
Understanding the Misinformation About the Two Measles Deaths in Pennsylvania
It is harder to understand why some other folks are buying into their propaganda though…
In a Guest Essay for the NY Times, Rachel Bedard claims that providing the age of the baby who died would not have violated privacy laws.
But think about it…
How many babies are born in Lancaster County each month?
How many babies die in Lancaster County each month?
By identifying the age of the baby who died with measles, the Lancaster County Coroner made it easy for the family to be found.
And in this age of anti-vaccine influencers, that means it made it easy for the family to be exploited!
“I understand why Mr. Shapiro, a decisive communicator who has demonstrated strong leadership during prior crises and who seems to have presidential ambitions, wanted to say that measles-associated deaths reflect badly on Mr. Kennedy and President Trump. But the governor made a mistake by not speaking carefully enough. In a polarized environment where vaccine-hesitant Americans lean Republican, his approach was geared toward the wrong public: affirming to liberals and alienating to the very people he needs to reach.”
How Not to Announce a Measles Death
Also, continuing to pander to one side is not going to help push back against vaccine misinformation, get more people vaccinated, or help stop these outbreaks.
Neither is it going to help if the NY Times publishes this kind of misinformation!
“Mr. Parsons, Mr. Kennedy and a host of Kennedy supporters seized on these details to suggest that the state’s initial statements were misleading. And, indeed, they might have been — at a minimum, they were premature, and the apparent lack of coordination between the coroner’s office and state officials left room for doubt. The governor’s claim that the deaths were “completely preventable” was perhaps too definitive. And referring to the infant as an “unvaccinated individual,” without the context that a baby would not have been eligible for vaccination, could be seen as disingenuous and in service of an agenda to scare and shame people who are hesitant about vaccines.”
How Not to Announce a Measles Death
After all, the baby was born premature because the mother was sick with measles!
And it was all completely preventable - two doses of the MMR vaccine before she got pregnant and neither the mother nor the baby would have had measles!
What else?
Although the newborn baby was not yet eligible for an MMR vaccine, his mother certainly was.
Get vaccinated and protected.
Stop listening to anti-vaccine influencers.
Getting vaccinated is easy but overcoming religious / belief system issues is hard.
The Amish communities in Lancaster, PA and elsewhere traditionally benefitted from herd immunity afforded by the “non-believers” surrounding them.
Thanks to anti-vax charlatans, the lower uptake of measles vaccines in the general population is coming to haunt the even less vaccinated communities.
It’s a shame that kids have to once again die of preventable diseases for people to realize that vaccines serve an important purpose.