2019 Health Threat

2019 Health Threat

Some of us may remember earlier in the year, when the World Health Organisation named Vaccine Hesitancy amongst the Top 10 Health Threats of 2019. Antivaxers took this as a joke. As a challenge. The #2019HealthThreat hashtag took off amongst the sociopaths of social  media. Some even made t-shirts with the label on it (Heather "Pointless Poll Every Week" Simpson). They took it and ran with it for a while.

Measles has killed over 5000 people this year

I don't know if they're still laughing after the year that Measles has had. I'm at a loss to try and figure out that their aim is.  5000 deaths world wide from measles is not a joke to me. The World Health Organisation knew what they were talking about.

A post made by Edwin Tamasese in 2018 in an antivax group.

Taylor and RFK together in Samoa

At time of writing, there have been 55 deaths in Samoa from Measles and over 3000 cases. Antivaxers are not free of blame here. Tay's Way has made trips there recently. Robert F. Kennedy has as well. Edwin Tamasese has been stirring up antivaccine sentiments for a while now, and seems to have been involved with a screening of an antivaccine "documentary" the year before this outbreak.

These people have something in common. None of them are vaccine scientists or even scientists. Edwin is a farmer for fucks' sake, yet he feels the need to deal out medical advice and appears to have been interfering with patients in hospitals. The Police have visited him already and it looks as though he is owed another visit. Bearing in mind, Edwin is not a doctor, just a farmer. Stick to your knitting, mate.

The Prime Minister has warned against people interfering with people getting vaccinated, including spreading anti-vaccine propaganda or outright stopping people. Edwin, Tay and their friends have certainly been doing that. Taylor Winterstein also has no medical training or scientific background, and yet she runs workshops telling people how dangerous vaccines are and charges $200 a person for the privilege. She was in Samoa earlier in the year, with anti-vaccine activist (pro-disease-rights activist) Robert F. Kennedy. Tay has also compared Samoa to Nazi Germany, earlier in the outbreak, after 32 people were dead from the virus.

Antivaxers are proving who they are

I've often given antivaxers the benefit of the doubt. I've tried to be understanding, and show them the truth. But, that was before these outbreaks. Before the year 2019 gave us over 5000 deaths. Before that, I put it down to people forgetting, or just not knowing how bad a measles outbreak could be. I thought it was callous that they could refer to a deadly virus as "a harmless childhood rash". That was before the outbreaks.

Well, now we have 55 people dead in Samoa. Most of those children under 5. (Read this for a great breakdown of how and why the outbreak has happened) We have 5000 dead in Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Are they relenting? 

Are they apologising for the error of their ways? 

No. 

No they're not. They're defending their bullshit. They're still spreading dangerous lies. A poll started by a naive news page, Breakfast, was overtaken by antivaxers. The facebook page asked people whether they agreed with mandatory vaccination or not. The poll was shared in many overseas antivax echo chambers and was quickly overrun by ignorant morons peddling their fan fiction. After messaging and emailing the page, even after Larry "Begs grieving mothers for money" Cook was present on the page (seldom seen in the wild, usually hides in his private antivaccine groups) and Modern Alternative Mama herself, the facebook page removed the poll. The comment section was full of dangerous misinformation. I commend the page for removing the poll and hope they don't do anything like it again. 

Even after seeing children die of a preventable illness, they still push their barrow. They still cling to their nonsense. Is this really a group of people who think they're doing what's  best for their kids? Before this outbreak, I thought they really were just misinformed, silly people. People with some complicated psychology, but silly nonetheless. Now, I know who they are. They're just a bunch of people trying to make money out of a horrible situation. Dangerous, unfeeling cretins who will spread their message no matter what. 

There still are people who aren't sure, who need advice on how to get to the right place, but the hardline antivaxers, the Edwins, Tays and RFKs of the world need to be stopped. 

Do they still think it's funny that WHO named them a Top Ten Health Threat? Antivaccine fears have a lot to answer for. 

I'm not stopping any time soon. 

See you out there.

Skeptical Kiwi.