You can add Florida to that list, too.
In Florida it’s called ‘Freedom Rash’.
So very sadly true. As I said, was about making the implicit assumptions in the discussion so far explicit. Because when the availability/cost of the vaccines go from free to $$$ or flat out unavailable, the distinction between the groups is going to get blurry, especially among the economically vulnerable.
As I said, very minor quibble that was fully implied in the discussion to date.
Ha ha… ouch. The dark humor is more key, and more painful every day.
In addition to the nightmare excuse scenario I mentioned upthread, another worry has been eating at my guts. With current levels of vaccination, it’s unlikely that we’ll go full wildfire, even with the reams of un or undervaccinated individuals. But a noticeable percentage of that category are younger persons left unprotected by Conspiracy/Anti-Vaxx influenced parents.
Unless things improve, I can of course see a generation of young folks suffering from a host of long-term medical effects, right after our current government cripples care and treatment options for them, through dismantling government agencies that could provide care. And as usual, it’s the least economically secure that are going to get hit, up through the middle class.
I really wonder (as I apparently have a desire for ulcers, thanks brain!) who is going to get the blame when 4+ years down the line all these parents of medically avoidable “special needs” kids get denied a whole range of medical, educational, and social protections. Nawww, I kid, I know it’s NOT going to be any of those responsible.
Insurance only covers it if you’re over 50 or immuno-compromised.
I’m going to Texas in a couple of months and will be in large groups of people for almost a week, today I went and got the MMR and will get a booster in a month. So fucking stupid, all of this.
Presented without much comment because this isn’t the Pit, but please excuse me, this “news” means I’m going to need several drinks.
There is a highly effective vaccine that prevents measles but no specific antiviral to treat it. Kennedy has previously pushed the use of vitamin A, and in an interview with Fox News this week, he endorsed an unconventional treatment regimen for measles including a steroid, an antibiotic and cod liver oil, which is rich in vitamin A.
In the interview, which was posted in full on Fox Nation, Kennedy praised two West Texas doctors who he said were using this remedy on their patients and had seen “almost miraculous and instantaneous recovery.” He said these doctors had “treated most of the patients” in the current outbreak, which has now reached 159 reported cases.
One of the doctors Kennedy is apparently taking cues from has troubled history. He was disciplined by the Texas Medical Board in 2003 for “unusual use of risk-filled medications.”
Sigh.
I’m a little confused by this phraseology.
The New Mexico Department of Health said Thursday that the state had its first measles death.
A person in New Mexico tested positive for the measles virus after death, the state Health Department said. The official cause of death is still being investigated.
I mean, presumably he died in some not-immediately-determinable way, and he tested positive, but it’s not clear they’ve connected the…um…dots.
As I understand he had not sought care and died. He had measles. Was measles the proximate cause of death or say a heart attack while having measles? Cannot yet state with confidence.
Right, that’s how I read it, which makes “NM has its first measles death” maybe jumping the gun.
It was a similar circumstance with Covid … they died while having Covid. It may or may not have been exclusively the Covid that killed them, but the heart attack, which was triggered by fighting off Covid. Which gets credit as proximate cause?
Details are sure to come regarding any other contributing causes of death, if any.
I think this has a ways to grow.
Frustrating today. One of my hesitant delayer families was in today. They’ve been willing to get them but just one at a time. Given the current measles outbreak I tried hard to get them to do the MMRV today. They went with the booster Pentacel and it alone instead, afraid because he is slow on expressive language (early intervention referral placed today) and no talking them out of that worry.
True no known cases near us … yet. Fortunately few of these families in my neck of the woods. But damn they aggravate us.
Actually, back in the day, vitamin A in its pure form (not the beta-carotene that is in our multi-vitamins) was given to measles patients for a few days, and still is in endemic areas, when people are diagnosed. It apparently reduces the length and severity of the illness in many cases.
It’s still no substitute for the vaccine.
Vitamin A is not protective against measles. It may, when administered under physician guidance, be useful in preventing or mitigating complications in severe disease/hospitalized patients. But the major role for vitamin A is in Third World countries where vitamin A deficiency is common.
In breaking batshit crazy news, Marjorie Taylor Greene is recommending parents take their kids to “measles parties” so they get infected and (yowza!) become immune, assuming parents have no problem with their kids getting miserablly ill and risking serious complications and death. Anything but vaccinating them. I hear ivermectin is terrific against measles. 
I had to swing by the Costco this morning, and the Pharmacy was devoid of people. I talked to the pharmacist and got a Shingrex shot.
Isn’t that a little dehumanizing?
I haven’t seen an credible evidence on vitamin A as a mitigant for measles, though I have seen lots of research on supplemental A for vitamin deprived individuals for a host of deficiencies, but I see zero evidence that a research based approach is being used, or they’d be crowing about it at the CDC (what’s left of it that hasn’t been muted), or in scientific circles. No, it’s, and I’ll quote the article again:
In the interview, which was posted in full on Fox Nation, Kennedy praised two West Texas doctors who he said were using this remedy on their patients and had seen “almost miraculous and instantaneous recovery.” He said these doctors had “treated most of the patients” in the current outbreak, which has now reached 159 reported cases.
This isn’t the language a rational actor would be using if it were just shortening the duration or dealing with underlying issues. The language Kennedy is using (note, the doctors MAY be saying something else, and it’s barely possible that the Mennonite community is having vitamin deficiencies) is straight out of Infowars style supplement sales. You know, take my overpriced woo and you can be healthy / virile / potent / with NO side effects and pwn the libs!
It might have some benefits for kids under two years old.
No overall significant reduction in mortality with vitamin A therapy for children with measles was found. However two doses reduced overall and pneumonia‐specific mortality in children aged less than two years. No trials directly compared a single dose with two doses.
Junior’s comments represent more antivax dog-whistling.
Why get vaccinated, when if you get measles, a hit of vitamin A provides “miraculous and instantaneous recovery”?
Utter bullshit.
*one wonders - if vitamin A therapy is so fantastic, why not have it on hand in all doctor’s offices for when vaccines immediately turn children autistic? A shot of vitamin A, and the kiddies will instantaneously become neurotypical again.
Vitimrn A is dangerous if used in excess.
I see that coming.
I have long collected vintage medical books, and that was indeed used as a “treatment” for measles at one time. Maybe it was “discovered” in an area where deficiencies were rampant, IDK.
Like I’ve said, pure vitamin A requires a prescription because of its narrow therapeutic index. OTC vitamin A is sold as beta carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A as needed.