America's Health 2025 onwards

[Trollheart]

Now that there's an entirely unprofessional, unqualified conspiracy nut in charge of America's health, and the CDC is being told what it can and cannot say, let's keep an eye on how healthcare in America - and, possibly, by extension the wider world, with the gutting of USAID - goes over the Trump administration years. With a man in power at the White House who thinks that drinking bleach is a cure for Covid, intends to make getting adequate healthcare almost impossible for those on a lower income or who are deemed not eligible due to gender/race/add as appropriate, to paraphrase the words of that prophet of pop, D-REAM, things can only get worse.

Texas is feeling it already.


News Alert: Measles cases approach 150 in ongoing West Texas outbreak


One hundred forty-six measles cases have been reported in the outbreak in West Texas, the Texas Department of Health Services said in an update today. This is 22 more confirmed cases since an update on Tuesday, when 124 cases were reported.

Twenty patients have been hospitalized, and most cases are in children aged 5 to 17 years old.

Measles? Weren't we all vaccinated for that when we were child - oh. OH. Well, as ye sow shall ye reap I guess, though it's hardly fair that the kids should suffer for the ignorance and arrogance and - let's face it, total fucking stupidity - of their parents, who presumably thought "they had an immune system" or some shit like that. How will RFKJ and Trump deal with this? Call in Elon and his chainsaw, perhaps? 

Some Wiki-gained facts about measles:

Measles is an airborne disease which spreads easily from one person to the next through the coughs and sneezes of infected people.[7] It may also be spread through direct contact with mouth or nasal secretions.[16] It is extremely contagious: nine out of ten people who are not immune and share living space with an infected person will be infected.[5] Furthermore, measles's reproductive number estimates vary beyond the frequently cited range of 12 to 18,[17] with a 2017 review giving a range of 3.7 to 203.3.[18] People are infectious to others from four days before to four days after the start of the rash.[5] While often regarded as a childhood illness, it can affect people of any age.[19]

It's too late to whine about it once you've caught it, because

Once a person has become infected, no specific treatment is available,[16] although supportive care may improve outcomes.[7] Such care may include oral rehydration solution (slightly sweet and salty fluids), healthy food, and medications to control the fever.[7][8] Antibiotics should be prescribed if secondary bacterial infections such as ear infections or pneumonia occur.

Hmm. Isn't RFKJ against antibiotics? Perhaps gargling with chlorohexaquine or whatever the fuck it's called will help?

This bit is scary.

Among cases reported in the U.S. between 1985 and 1992, death occurred in 0.2% of cases,[5] but may be up to 10% in people with malnutrition.[7] Most of those who die from the infection are less than five years old.[16]

I should make it very clear that I am not trivialising the plight of kids with measles. I feel for them, as I know what it's like. I had the stronger German measles when I was a baby, and am still living with the effects of that, my poor eyesight and my need to wear glasses for the rest of my life a direct result of having caught it.

Here, though, is where we run into problems, America:

The measles vaccine is effective at preventing the disease, is exceptionally safe, and is often delivered in combination with other vaccines.[7][20] Due to the ease with which measles is transmitted from person to person in a community, more than 95% of the community must be vaccinated in order to achieve herd immunity.

So whether you go for "herd immunity" (makes us all sound like cattle, doesn't it?) or not, you STILL have to get the vaccine. Remember the bit above, at the start? There is no treatment for it once you've got it. You have to prevent yourself and your family getting it, and the only way to do that is to get a vaccine. So are Texans allowing their kids to suffer because they don't believe in vaccines? Anti-vaxxers, you have a lot to answer for!

Look at the science, and the figures!

In 1980, 2.6 million people died from measles,[7] and in 1990, 545,000 died due to the disease; by 2014, global vaccination programs had reduced the number of deaths from measles to 73,000.

and yet

Despite these trends, rates of disease and deaths increased from 2017 to 2019 due to a decrease in immunization.

So getting a simple vaccine is absolutely vital, and anyone who does not do this for their children surely must be accused of not loving them? Everyone wants to protect their kids, right? Whether it conflicts with our own beliefs or not. Right? Right?

Mothers who are immune to measles pass antibodies to their children while they are still in the womb, especially if the mother acquired immunity through infection rather than vaccination

Uh-oh! It's those damned wimmen again, risking our kids by "deliberately" giving them measles in the womb! Well, not in Texas they don't! Where's ma gun? Ah'll teach that womb who's boss!

Well, the needle is mightier than the bullet, in this case.

In developed countries, it is recommended that children be immunized against measles at 12 months, generally as part of a three-part MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, and rubella).

Here we go. 

There have been false claims of an association between the measles vaccine and autism; this incorrect concern has reduced the rate of vaccination and increased the number of cases of measles where immunization rates became too low to maintain herd immunity.[19] Additionally, there have been false claims that measles infection protects against cancer.

And despite what Trusk would have you think

The MMR vaccine is 95% effective for preventing measles after one dose if the vaccine is given to a child who is 12 months or older; if a second dose of the MMR vaccine is given, it will provide immunity in 99% of children.

Anti-vaxxer influence isn't confined to the USA though...

Most cases occurred in unvaccinated individuals and over 90% of cases occurred in Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Romania, and United Kingdom.[21] Between October 2014 and March 2015, a measles outbreak in the German capital of Berlin resulted in at least 782 cases.[115] In 2017, numbers continued to increase in Europe to 21,315 cases, with 35 deaths

Sure, all of this is Wiki, but the footnotes are there leading to clinical studies and scientific proof, so you can check them if you want. The sad thing now is that any child who has not been vaccinated and has caught the virus, there's nothing their parents can do now but wait, and hope.

And wish they hadn't been so stubborn and thick.
Hopefully all the kids will recover.
I wonder what the man at the top will have to say about it?
Thoughts and prayers, folks. Thoughts and prayers.
Now, a five wood I think for this shot...

[Trollheart]

Update on that story:

While most cases are in patients that were unvaccinated or with unknown vaccination status, five cases were found in people who said they have been vaccinated.

It might be worth checking their stories out, as it does say those who have been vaccinated should be safe, so perhaps they're just saying they were? Or perhaps they're just a very unlucky statistic.

The update comes days after Texas announced the outbreak's first death – a school-aged child who was not vaccinated and had been hospitalized in Lubbock. It is the first measles death in the United States in a decade.

RIP, little angel. Your parents let you down in the worst way possible.