Category Archives: Vaccination

Anti-Vaccination Still Has A Right-Wing Bias

From a recent YouGov/Economist poll (pdf; p. 54), which asked if the statement “Vaccines have been shown to cause autism” is true or not, we note the following (from top to bottom, definitely, true, probably true, probably not true, definitely … Continue reading →

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Jill Stein And Anti-Vaxxers

Green Party presidential nominee Jill Stein has been quite the fly in the ointment the last couple of weeks, though that will probably recede as, unlike during the Democratic convention, there’s now no easy way for her to draw attention … Continue reading →

Posted in Bullshit As a Load Bearing Structure, Vaccination | 11 Comments

Do This

Flu season is starting, so protect other people from you–get your flu shot:

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Downplaying the Effects of Vaccine-Preventable Disease

It’s one of the more odious anti-vaccine tactics: arguing that diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, or diphtheria have minor health consequences. We learned last week that a man who was immunocompromised was killed by measles virus, which he likely … Continue reading →

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Did Vaccination Just Become a Partisan Issue?

If California is any indication, the answer, tragically, is yes (boldface mine): …many states have since taken up legislation to make it harder for parents to skip vaccines. One such bill in California, SB 277, would remove the “personal belief … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservatives, Fucking Morons, Public Health, Vaccination | 2 Comments

A Public Health Question About the Bird Influenza Epidemic

You might not be aware of a massive bird flu epidemic ripping its way across the U.S.: Iowa, where one in every five eggs consumed in the country is laid, has been the hardest hit: More than 40 percent of … Continue reading →

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Perhaps Anti-Vax Is a Step Too Far…

…even for conservatives? One can hope (boldface mine): Rep. Barry Loudermilk, a Georgia Republican who recently became the chair of a key congressional subcommittee on science and technology, didn’t vaccinate most of his children, he told a crowd at his … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservatives, Vaccination | 2 Comments

A Smart Vaccination Policy in Maryland

One of the mysterious things about vaccine exemptions is the religious exemption, since most religions don’t have any particular problem with vaccination in general (Christian Scientists and some Dutch Reformed do, along with anti-abortion advocates who oppose vaccines derived from … Continue reading →

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All of Anti-Vaccination Gall Can Be Divided Into Three Parts

Given the way both the internet and our political discourse works, by next week, we’ll probably have forgotten all about the (lack of) vaccination problem, so I’ll post this today. I’m not convinced that we can convince most anti-vaxxers to … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservatives, Vaccination | 4 Comments

The Clinical Significance of Measles: A Review

This was in the queue, and seems relevant giving at least one conservative pundit’s claim that measles isn’t “that big of a deal“. That’s the rather anodyne title of this article (open access) that describes the effects of measles infections … Continue reading →

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