Tag: anti-vax

22% of Americans likely believe being anti-vax is way cool…

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The study involved surveying more than 1,000 demographically representative participants and revealed that 22 percent of Americans always (8 percent) or sometimes (14 percent) self-identify as anti-vaxxers, and that those who do tend to embrace the label as a form of social identity. Timothy Callaghan, PhD, also found that participants who scored highly on the anti-vaccine identity measure were less trusting of scientific experts and more individualistic. Additionally, study results show that there is increased opposition to childhood vaccine requirements among those who self-identify as anti-vaxxers.

“We found these results both surprising and concerning,” Callaghan said. “The fact that 22 percent of Americans at least sometimes identify as anti-vaxxers was much higher than expected and demonstrates the scope of the challenge in vaccinating the population against COVID-19 and other vaccine-preventable diseases.”…

Of course, not all individuals who are skeptical of vaccine safety embrace the anti-vaccine label as a form of social identity. Nevertheless, Callaghan’s study suggests that a significant portion of the American public associates with the anti-vaxx label at least some of the time, with many viewing that label as an important part of their social identity.

I’d start a comparable investigation by determining how many are ill-educated and ignorant…and how many are just dumb as a hoe handle.

You can be a MANLY MAN and a MANLY REPUBLICAN by keeping people from getting vaccinated

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According to the strict rules of masculinity, manly men should not recycle, lean in a certain direction, or wear a face mask. Now, evidently, the latest unnecessarily gendered action is receiving the life-saving COVID-19 vaccine and becoming immune to a contagious illness that has killed nearly 3 million people worldwide…

With each day, more Americans become eligible for vaccination, but certain demographics are more hesitant to take advantage of the shot. According to a new NPR/Marist study, 41% of self-identified Republicans, 34% of Independents, and 11% of Democrats say they do not plan on becoming vaccinated. Americans were also broken down by race, generation, education level, and voting history, and Republican men comprise the most anti-vaccine group. Compared to 34% of Republican women, 14% of Democrat women, and only 6% of Democrat men, 49% of Republican men say they will not get the vaccine…

In other words, toxic masculinity is now a public health crisis. Literally.

Dimwits!

Fox News is turning the Republican Party into a suicide cult — A reasonable goal for Trump voters

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Tucker Carlson really wants his audience to die. The notorious Fox News host and primary mainstreamer of white nationalist views was at it again on Monday night, presenting the coronavirus vaccine as some kind of evil conspiracy and discouraging his audience from getting it…

“How effective is this coronavirus vaccine?” How necessary is it to take the vaccine?” Carlson asked, with his usual feigned expression of skepticism.

He went on to defend the honor of “anti-vaxxers” and lambast social media sites for kicking off people who spread misinformation, claiming, falsely, “there are things we don’t know about the effects of this vaccine and all vaccines by the way.” This is typical Carlson rhetoric. He doesn’t exactly come right out and tell people that vaccines are a nefarious plot. He simply claims he’s “asking questions,” allowing the audience to believe they are practicing critical thinking when what they’re doing is the opposite: rejecting evidence in favor of outrageous conspiracy theories…

What’s weird about this situation, as many people have pointed out, is that Carlson, Ingraham, etc. are actively trying to get their own audiences killed. Nearly 2% of people who test positive for COVID-19 die of it. For Fox News viewers, who tend to lean older, the risk of death is much higher. Nearly half of male GOP voters say they won’t get the vaccine, and it’s a certainty that many of them will die because of it. It’s usually not considered particularly smart business practice to get your own customers killed, but that’s exactly what Carlson and his fellow travelers are doing.

You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes
Well, you might find
You get what you need…

(Apologies to The Rolling Stones)

How anti-vax nutballs measure success: 140,000 dead in 2018

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” Measles infected nearly 10 million people in 2018 and killed 140,000, mostly children, as devastating outbreaks of the viral disease hit every region of the world, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.

In figures described by its director general as “an outrage”, the WHO said most of last year’s measles deaths were in children under five years old who had not been vaccinated.

“The fact that any child dies from a vaccine-preventable disease like measles is frankly an outrage and a collective failure to protect the world’s most vulnerable children,” said the WHO’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreysus…

” Measles is one of the most contagious known diseases, more so than Ebola, tuberculosis or flu. It can linger in the air or on surfaces for several hours after an infected person has been and gone, putting anyone not vaccinated at risk…

” Among wealthier nations, vaccination rates have been hurt by some parents shunning them for what they say are religious or philosophical reasons. Mistrust of authority and debunked myths about links to autism also weaken vaccine confidence and lead some parents to delay protecting their children.

Research published in October showed that measles infection not only carries a risk of death or severe complications including pneumonia, brain damage, blindness and deafness, but can also damage the victim’s immune memory for months or years – leaving those who survive measles vulnerable to other dangerous diseases such as flu or severe diarrhea.

Passing the blame off on dieties and other myths predates health and science studies in the modern era. It was a useless copout centuries ago. Nowadays, in my mind, it is criminal.

Israeli flight attendant in coma from measles

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❝ An Israeli flight attendant has slipped into a coma after contracting measles, according to health officials.

The 43-year-old woman has encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain, a well-known and potentially deadly complication of the virus. She was otherwise healthy before getting measles.

“She’s been in a deep coma for 10 days, and we’re now just hoping for the best,” said Dr. Itamar Grotto, associate director general of Israel’s Ministry of Health…

❝ “I knew this was going to happen sooner or later,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University and an adviser to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccines. “We have the reintroduction of a serious viral infection with a population that’s withholding the vaccine from their children, and now it’s spreading beyond that population.”

RTFA, please! Learn a little bit more science.