Measles Continues Raging in South Carolina

OpEd: RFK Jr. Joins the Anti-Vaccine Fringe (2014)
time.com

... There are lots of places to go if you want dangerous crazytalk. There are websites, blog threads, cable channels trafficking in all kinds of addled nonsense about birther conspiracies and one-world governments.

And then there was Robert Kennedy, Jr., the tireless, honest climate hero long famous for fighting the very good fight.

But that was then. RFK, Jr. may still know a thing or two about global warming, but he has taken a disreputable plunge into the world of anti-science with his new and inexplicable crusade: warning people about the dangers of vaccines. ...

@#3

I have a different opinion.

I do not like to see Americans suffer.

And I want to help Americans understand how to prevent their suffering, regardless of their political opinion.

America's diversity (politically and otherwise) is what makes us strong.

MAGA likes measles, and every other communicable disease as far as I can tell.

It's rooted in their culture, like female circumcision.

Maybe this Republican Senator from South Carolina could do the world a favor and catch it. Her, too for that matter: i.ytimg.com

@#5 ... MAGA likes measles, and every other communicable disease as far as I can tell. ...

I wish I could disagree.

But I cannot.

So then, the question becomes, why does MAGA seem to want Americans to be sick and possibly die?

Measles kills about a few hundred people a year. You know what's funny? Obesity kills nearly 300,000 of you purple-haired pronoun- nose ring wearing ----- every year... Keep fighting, we're making headway.

Obesity isn't contagious.
Your level of stupidity is, though.

"Measles kills about a few hundred people a year. "

Is there a number where you start caring how many people it kills?
COVID killed about 1.2M Americans and you say that's not a big enough number to require masks to prevent the spread.

#10 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-01-12 08:58 PM | Reply

You're owning the MAGA tonight.

@#8 ... Measles kills about a few hundred people a year. ...

Currently.

... You know what's funny? Obesity kills nearly 300,000 of you purple-haired pronoun- nose ring wearing ----- every year.. ...

I do not consider the deaths of Americans to be funny in any shape manner or form.

Mapped: U.S. Obesity Rates, by State (August 2024)
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/mapped-u-s-obesity-rates-by-state/

Excerpt ...

Measles kills about a few hundred people a year.

Give it 5-10 years to see how profoundly stupid you are ... preventable diseases are the last thing we need to worry about, but thanks to you MAGA morons, we are all in danger of dying from preventable diseases.

Stupid people are dangerous. MAGA and everyone who thinks FDT is good for America are as stupid as they come.

I went and got another measles shot a few months back. Sad what Republicans have done to our homeland. They're encouraging disease to spread and blaming it on immigrants, if you hadn't noticed.

#8 Left Hind Turds says that measles kills about a few hundred people a year.

Because the boy on the left is exactly the same as the boy on the right, so what difference does it make?

Plus, it seems no big deal to Left Hind Turds that some children will die, or suffer life-long, adverse consequences.

'Tis in the exact same category as Charlie Kirk saying the death of many, many Americans due to gun violence is AOK because freedum, or something like that.

#13 Thank you, Chuffy.

#14 Another spot-on observation, Snoofy.

Thank you.

@#13 ... everyone who thinks FDT is good for America are as stupid as they come ...

Had to look FDT up.

Based upon what the search engines returned, methinks you may want to use a different slang acronym.

@#13 ... Stupid people are dangerous. MAGA and everyone who thinks FDT is good for America are as stupid as they come. ...

FDT was new to me, so I went to the search engines.

The search engines returned a result without "ing" after the word ascribed to the first letter.

So that then made that first letter to be a verb.

Which is not how I thought your comment read.

To be more explicit, and trying to stay within the constraints of this site...

What I found...

FDT = F--- Donald Trump

What your comment seems to use ...

FDT = ---- Donald Trump.

What I think your comment means to say.

See, two very different meanings.

-Give it 5-10 years to see how profoundly stupid you are ... preventable diseases are the last thing we need to worry about, but thanks to you MAGA morons, we are all in danger of dying from preventable diseases.

It's completely foolish and irresponsible to make the choice to not be vaccinated for diseases like measles.

but what's the worst case scenario?

@#19 ... but what's the worst case scenario? ...

Within what constraints?

90% vaccinated?

- or - maybe

80% vaccinated?

- or - maybe

70% vaccinated?

- or -

even fewer vaccinated ...

What are the constraints of the worst case scenario asked?

History of Measles
www.cdc.gov

... In 1912, measles became a nationally notifiable disease in the United States, requiring U.S. healthcare providers and laboratories to report all diagnosed cases. In the first decade of reporting, an average of 6,000 measles-related deaths were reported each year.

A vaccine became available in 1963. In the decade before, nearly all children got measles by the time they were 15 years old. It is estimated 3 to 4 million people in the United States were infected each year. Among reported measles cases each year, an estimated:

- - - 400 to 500 people died

- - - 48,000 were hospitalized

- - - 1,000 suffered encephalitis (swelling of the brain)

...

Measles elimination in the United States

In 1978, CDC set a goal to eliminate measles from the United States by 1982. Although this goal was not met, widespread use of measles vaccine drastically reduced the disease rates. By 1981, the number of reported measles cases was 80% less compared with the previous year. ...

Historic achievement

Measles was declared eliminated from the United States in 2000. This meant the absence of the continuous spread of disease was greater than 12 months. This was thanks to a highly effective vaccination program in the United States, as well as better measles control in the Americas region. ...

-90% vaccinated?

isn't that were are now?

so give the worst case scenario from there?

It's not uniformly 90%, obviously.

People that are anti-vaxx sometimes form communities that are anti-vaxx.

Measles is incredibly contagious I think you need a minimum 90% for herd immunity. Maybe more.

I guess Lamp figured out he can't just talk to hear himself talk without me interrupting him.......so he moved on.

@#22 ... -90% vaccinated?

isn't that were are now? ...

It looks that way. 90%

That seems to be the low end, the very low end, for herd immunity.

But there is a need to get back to at least 95% vaccinated to attain real herd immunity.

Measles Resurgence and the Fragility of Herd Immunity: Implications for Pediatric Infectious Disease Practice
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

... Because measles requires vaccination coverage above 90%-95% to prevent transmission, even a 5% exemption rate can undermine herd immunity and enable outbreaks of this highly contagious virus. ...

We currently seem to be, as your comment notes, around 90% vaccination rate.

And now we are seeing outbreaks of measles in a country that had once been declared free of measles.

What might occur if we continue the trend and go below that 90% vaccination rate?

@#24 ... I guess Lamp figured out he can't just talk to hear himself talk without me interrupting him.......so he moved on. ..

Huh?

Do try to be coherent in your alias' comments.

@#23 ... It's not uniformly 90%, obviously.

People that are anti-vaxx sometimes form communities that are anti-vaxx....

And those areas seem to be where measles has been spreading.

MAGA has been trying to blame the measles outbreaks on immigrants, but the reality seems to be more of MAGA's odd reluctance to be vaccinated.

How Herd Immunity Works (February 2025)
historyofvaccines.org

... Herd immunity works like a chain reaction. Imagine a virus as a fire: if too many people are "flammable" (susceptible), the fire spreads quickly. But if enough people are "fireproof" (immune), the flames die out. This protects vulnerable groups like newborns, elderly individuals, or people with weakened immune systems who can't get vaccinated. ...

So how do we know the approximate level of vaccination needed for herd immunity? Math.

The math behind herd immunity starts with a number called R0 (pronounced "R-naught" and sometimes referred to as the "basic reproductive number"). R0 tells us how contagious a disease is. For example:

- - - Measles has an R0 of about 15 (one person infects 15 others).

- - - COVID-19's original strain had an R0 of 2"3.

To calculate the herd immunity threshold, scientists use the formula: 1 " (1/R0).

For measles (R0=15), this means 1 " (1/15) = 1 - 0.067 = 0.933, or about 93% immunity needed.

If fewer people are immune, the disease keeps spreading.

For original COVID, herd immunity was achievable at around 66% immunity, but variants and people's hesitance in getting vaccinated made it a difficult goal to achieve. ...