[foxdemon]

After certain posters brought the anti fax conronavirus political position to my attention, I came across this interesting article. It is eye opening to think of the pandemic in this way. No one has immunity to this novel virus. Vaccinations allow us to gain immunity output significant numbers of deaths. Without vaccinations, this pandemic is what the world would be like if the anti vaxxers had their way. And measles is worse than corona virus.


Has the time come to crush the anti vax movement once and for all?

Coronavirus crisis warns us what an anti-vaccine reality would look like

By Tiana Lowe
March 18, 2020 - 4:41 PM

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/coronavirus-crisis-warns-us-what-an-anti-vaccine-reality-would-look-like

The coronavirus pandemic has brought the planet to a standstill. With workers forced to quarantine in their homes, the global economy is crashing, and even as world powers redirect every effort into medical development, the death toll is mounting. But while the coronavirus may feel like a black swan pandemic in our contemporary era, it provides just a glimpse of insight into the world the anti-vaccine crowd craves.

The data for the coronavirus is still in its infancy, but we know around one-fifth of the cases are severe enough to require hospitalization, and the death rate is around 2%, depending on the given population's quarantining efforts and age. Each infected coronavirus patient, on average, will infect another two people. Compared to the seasonal flu, which has a fatality rate of just 0.1% and a basic reproduction number of just 1.3 people infected per initial patient, the coronavirus is undoubtedly dangerous.

Hence, we're risking double-digit unemployment and economic compression to hide indoors until we get a vaccine. Despite our best efforts, this pandemic is proving disastrous enough that it ought to kill the disturbingly growing anti-vaccine movement.


Vaccine opposition comes in a variety of strains, all fatal and all fallacious. Detractors claim that everything from the seasonal flu shot to the HPV vaccine, which has nearly eradicated cervical cancer in Australia, can cause anything from infertility to cancer. But most egregious of the anti-vaccine misinformation campaign is the myth that the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine causes autism.

Resounding scientific consensus has thoroughly debunked any semblance of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism, one fabricated by the disgraced Andrew Wakefield and promulgated by Hollywood ever since. The underlying premise of the conspiracy theory is horrifically ableist enough, namely that you'd rather risk your child dying of measles than living with autism. But it's worth comparing the statistics of measles with those of the coronavirus to understand the true implications of the anti-vaccine ideology.

Recommended For You

Coronavirus has us weighing one set of lives against another
It seemed abysmal that one coronavirus patient can infect another two, right? Well, one person with measles, on average, will infect another 12 to 18 people. One out of every 50 people infected with the coronavirus will die. By contrast, more than 1 in 7 measles patients will perish, and 1 in 4 patients will suffer residual brain damage.

So if we're willing to isolate ourselves from our friends, shut down our schools, and savage the global economy in the hopes of controlling the coronavirus, imagine what we would do if an entire generation of children grew up without receiving the MMR vaccine? It's egregious enough that just 1 in 2 adolescents gets the HPV vaccine, one that can eliminate fatal and expensive cancers if given to an entire generation. But to think that hot spots across the planet are dipping toward the vaccination threshold that allows herd immunity to protect the vulnerable population for a disease that murders 15% of its patients is unconscionable.

As we pray for a coronavirus vaccine, let us not forget that we've been on the brink of a measles epidemic for years now. The anti-vaccine crowd has gone on long enough. If this pandemic can provide any silver lining, it should be a cold, hard lesson on salvation by vaccination.

[blackjack21]

Has the time come to crush the anti vax movement once and for all?

What for? Are you for physician-assisted suicide, eugenic abortion, decriminalization of recreational drug use, etc? What would be the purpose of compelling vaccination? To reduce expenses on the health system? Are you asserting that the state has an equitable interest in its citizenry that overrides personal choice?

Why not allow a market solution? Your health insurance premiums could be tied to basic vaccinations.

[SolarCross]

In fairness mild autism is not that bad. I am a bit autistic myself and all those that enjoy my wit here should reflect on whether I would be quite so entertaining if I were not. I would probably be into boring normie shit like sports and fast cars or something instead. I expect I caught autism from mercury based teeth fillings which I swallowed after they broke.