this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2025
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[–] CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 22 points 6 days ago (3 children)

I guess the idea behind a "measles party" is to introduce the virus to the child's immune system so that they can develop antibodies for it?

Damn, if only there was a safer way. Like if a doctor could introduce a very small amount of the virus to the child's immune system. Do you think a dead virus would be enough for the immune system to learn what it is and how to fight it? Why aren't scientists working on this?!

[–] kazaika@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Just a small akshually : Viruses cant be dead or alive because the have no metabolism anyway so most (modern) vaccines work by extracting their mrna or the lipids on their surface and injecting that. Injecting a small portion of whole viruses my still infect you. Fyi

Edit: ok I talked some garbage here: while viruses do not have a metabolism and thereby are, by the definition of some, not alive, there is apparently a way to make vaccines by destroying the genome of the virus via heat or chemicals and using the "shells" to make vaccines..

Source (disclosure: website owned by vaccine producer) here

[–] silasmariner@programming.dev 4 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

mRNA vaccines are, of course, just the absolute tits - but they're a tiny proportion of modern vaccines and the very first ones are one a few years old, created to treat COVID. But yeah, 100%, we don't use the virus in the vaccine! Even the first ever vaccine was (as you will know) not created from the disease it was meant to treat, but from one similar enough that it gave protection to the other. And smallpox doesn't exist any more so, well, that worked out pretty well didn't it. You don't give someone the virus to stop them getting that virus, but you might well give them a virus, in an attenuated form of the target

What's hilarious to me is that this was totally a Thing when I was younger.

Not for measels, because we weren't braindead dumbfucks, but for chickenpox.

You'd have whole groups of kids get together to have everyone get sick at once, instead of one kid at a time for months and months as it spreads through classes at school.

IDK if it made sense, but it was legit a thing that people were doing.

Of course, there's a vaccine now, so if you're still doing this you're one of the aformentioned braindead dumbfucks.

[–] MellowYellow13@lemmy.world 19 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 14 points 6 days ago

Texas is banning Gender Affirming Care FOR ADULTS, so yeah fuck Texas

[–] PantanoPete@lemmy.zip 13 points 6 days ago (1 children)

When I was growing up in India I believed that I was surrounded by the dumbest and most ignorant people on earth, then I moved to the US for a while and was surprised most people remembered to breathe.

[–] Dozzi92@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

The unvax'd population in India is greater than the population of the United States. Unfortunately, only 90% of the US is vax'd against measles, which is a staggering number in and of itself, but I'm not sure of the demographic breakdown of it.

[–] PantanoPete@lemmy.zip 14 points 6 days ago

Yeah but the unvaxxed population in India are literally living in shacks with dirt floors and can barely read but the unvaxxed population in the US choose this because of facebook posts

[–] aeternum@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 6 days ago (1 children)

If only there was some way to control measles. Oh well, wishful thinking i guess.

[–] Xatolos@reddthat.com 4 points 6 days ago

You cannot control freedom freckles.

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 12 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Ya know when Conservatives died of Covid in massive numbers because they kept refusing to intentionally antagonize the people fighting Covid and every restriction put in place against it the only thing going through my head was

"I hope enough of them kicked the bucket to make Republicans unelectable so that tragedies like this can't happen again."

Guess what's going through my head now?

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 5 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I'm sad that it's children paying the price though. They don't have any say in anything. It's child abuse to intentionally infect them with a preventable disease.

[–] Rekorse@sh.itjust.works 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

And the parents surely won't blame themselves.

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

If only we stopped Miss Teacherlady from showing little Billy that Rainbow Flag, then maybe God would have loved him enough to save him from the Communist Measles..... sigh

Seriously, there's nothing wrong with having a religion (Despite what r/Atheism thinks), the problem is when you think it's the answer to every question.

[–] Rekorse@sh.itjust.works 2 points 12 hours ago

Its a matter of priority. People read horoscopes all the time, very common thing. Most people won't put that "advice" in their top 10 reasons to do anything. Religion is bad when its priority #1, whether thats for a person or a whole country. Myths and folklore are the more appropriate versions of religion.

[–] lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org 9 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Measles? No no no, we're talking America here, you mean

Freedom Sores

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 6 points 6 days ago

as vaccination rates plummet, freedom ~~soars~~ sores

[–] Forestial@lemmy.world 4 points 6 days ago

Fuck Texas, its politicians and its stupid parents.

[–] niktemadur@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Try and control those rabidly ignorant bigots you force-fed with anti-science, anti-reason raw red meat, let's see how that goes.
This is 'Murica! Muh freehdum!

[–] 0101100101@programming.dev 2 points 6 days ago

Twenty thousand tons of ivermectin to Texas. Stat! That'll fix everything!

[–] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 139 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (7 children)

mortality rate of 3% for unvaccinated kids.

gonna be a lot of depression-era grieving going on.

[–] metaStatic@kbin.earth 115 points 1 week ago (1 children)

as always the price is paid by those without a choice

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[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 94 points 1 week ago (5 children)

People focus on mortality too while failing to account for the sorts of lifelong disabilities viruses like these cause when you do survive them. Absolutely sickening.

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[–] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 116 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Have fun fighting a culture war against pathogens, Texas

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[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 111 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (26 children)

We are careening toward the "end-game" for the rampant anti-intellectualism, anti-science, anti-critical thinking mind virus that plagued this country for at least the past 80 years.

This is what happens when you condition people for nearly a century, to get angry and defensive when someone who's more versed on a subject tries to teach them something (or god forbid, correct them). It has become a kneejerk reaction for so many Americans (mostly conservatives). They are so insecure that they view any type of education as a direct insult to them or some stupid bullshit like that. Like deep down, they know how ignorant they are, but for some reason they'd prefer to stay that way, so anyone who challenges that (regardless of how pure the motive), is a "smug piece of shit talking down to them."

And instead of even retaining what the person said, let alone learning it, they become even more radicalized against... well, reality.

I truly have no idea how something like this can ever be fixed at this level. We're talking over 50 million people give or take tens of millions (unsure how many have regrets).

And this is nation-ending shit.

Edit: Slightly related, but something I just thought about... Imagine if we ever have a prion-based pandemic (if that's possible?). That could straight up be the end of humankind. Prions are terrifying.

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[–] sundrei@lemmy.sdf.org 67 points 1 week ago (6 children)

Ya got measles? Bring the kids over! We got enough raw milk for all of y'all!

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[–] takeda@lemm.ee 66 points 1 week ago (29 children)

Measles parties is the stupidest thing I heard. It is not chickenpox (although even chickenpox instead of vaccine causes risk of having shingles once you get older), it can cause serious health issues and even death.

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[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 60 points 1 week ago (1 children)

And when the Great Corruption has settled over the land, and permeated the very foundations of reality itself, then shall the Lord of All rise from the rot and ruin, spread his arms wide to reclaim all his children.

May Grandpa nurgle bless everyone of them

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[–] aramis87@fedia.io 59 points 1 week ago (14 children)

It'll continue to spread, as well. Last Friday, someone with contagious measles spent hours touring 2 Texas campuses, hours in college bars and restaurants, and hours in crowded tourist attractions. Next Friday, one of those colleges starts spring break - and it takes 2 weeks for the rash to start showing up. Some of those college students will have caught measles and will go on spring break, where they'll spread measles to other spring breakers. Three weeks from now, there'll be outbreaks in every state in the Union.

If you weren't vaxxed, you were under-vaxxed, not sure if you got vaxxed, or think the vax might not have taken, now it's an excellent time to get vaxxed.

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