In “Hakuna Matata: Being anti-vaccine in an outbreak“, I pointed out the illogic of those downplaying the seriousness of measles in pointing to a lack of recent fatal cases:
Sears, and Heimer state:
[Death from measles] hasn’t happened here in at least ten years…–RS
Everything can be potentially deadly but is measles inherently deadly? Absolutely not. Did you notice that the case mentioned above was from 1990? That was 25 years ago people. It makes perfect sense though. One couldn’t use a case from 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, etc. because not a single child died from measles. –M
Therefore, hakuna matata, measles isn’t a real danger here.
I explained
[This] is exactly what we expect when there is extensive uptake of an effective vaccine for a disease. Thank God, death from measles is rare (1-5 deaths per 5000 cases) and the 2-dose MMR vaccine schedule has kept measles epidemics at bay, with only a handful of imported cases and outbreaks in unvaccinated clusters….
As we’ve had larger and less isolated pockets of unvaccinated, the cases rise. The roulette wheel is spun more and more times, increasing the likelihood of landing on death.
And, now, I am making far more somber movie allusions:
It is with sadness that I report that our luck has run out in this delusional game of roulette we’ve been playing. Washington State Department of Health has reported that this spring, a woman died due to a measles infection acquired on American soil.
The Clallam County woman, spokesman Donn Moyer reports, was most likely exposed at a local medical facility during the recent outbreak, being there at the same time as a contagious person.
Let’s be clear: this outbreak is directly attributable to the unvaccinated.
The first case was an unvaccinated man who infected an unvaccinated child. The first man infected another unvaccinated man, the third case. The child infected her unvaccinated sibling, the fourth case. The only case in a vaccinated person was a relative, vaccinated decades ago, who was infected by one of the unvaccinated children.
And it was one of these people who infected the Clallam County woman who died, unable to fight off the pneumonia, caused by the measles, which ultimately killed her.
This is a pro-life issue.
I can’t help but feel swells of anger when I think of how anti-abortion-not-necessarily-pro-life people will likely ignore this woman’s preventable death as one might ignore carrion on the side of the road. It doesn’t fit the hakuna matata narrative that they need to tell themselves to keep the cognitive dissonance of being “pro-life” and anti-vaccine from splitting their heads in two.
This woman is going to be forgotten like the thousands of nameless victims of the Culture of Death. But there won’t be marches in protest of her preventable death. There won’t be masses said for her memory from the people who say it is not the victims of preventable disease, but the vaccine refusers who “deserve our support.” No, this thus-far nameless victim will be forgotten in their ranks.
Because all lives are created equal… but apparently some lives are more equal than others.
Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei. Requiescat in pace. Amen.
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