The Governor didn't have to say whether the two who died were vaccinated.
Perhaps they were only concerned that if they didn't specify that, some folks might think measles had resulted in the death of a vaccinated person, which they may have been concerned would then undermine the confidence in the effectiveness of the vaccine - right at a time when they are trying to build it.
Saying that a baby who died in childbirth is unvaccinated is ridiculous, because 100% of babies are unvaccinated when they're born. The standard age to get an MMR vaccine is 12-15 months of age, although it can be administered as early as 6 months of age.
Right. But if they don't specify that the person was unvaccinated, they may have been concerned that some might conclude that a vaccinated person had died with a measles associated death.
For the record, I think the language did cause further misgivings and confusions.
joshuabgood wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2026 1:03 pm
Right. But if they don't specify that the person was unvaccinated, they may have been concerned that some might conclude that a vaccinated person had died with a measles associated death.
For the record, I think the language did cause further misgivings and confusions.
No, there is no need for such concern, since any reasonable person knows that newborn babies don't get MMR vaccines.
It's painfully obvious that the desired messaging was "unvaccinated baby dies". That was what they said. Of course, the same could be said for any other baby who does before achieving 6 months of age, right? So why the need to do it this time?
JohnH wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2026 1:12 pm
No, there is no need for such concern, since any reasonable person knows that newborn babies don't get MMR vaccines.
It's painfully obvious that the desired messaging was "unvaccinated baby dies". That was what they said. Of course, the same could be said for any other baby who does before achieving 6 months of age, right? So why the need to do it this time?
They didn’t want to say the age. If they had said the age, then maybe you would have some grounds to argue this.
JohnH wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2026 1:12 pm
No, there is no need for such concern, since any reasonable person knows that newborn babies don't get MMR vaccines.
It's painfully obvious that the desired messaging was "unvaccinated baby dies". That was what they said. Of course, the same could be said for any other baby who does before achieving 6 months of age, right? So why the need to do it this time?
They didn’t want to say the age. If they had said the age, then maybe you would have some grounds to argue this.
Okay, so in other words - they made an ambiguous statement with no purpose other than to stir up fear?
JohnH wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2026 1:12 pm
No, there is no need for such concern, since any reasonable person knows that newborn babies don't get MMR vaccines.
It's painfully obvious that the desired messaging was "unvaccinated baby dies". That was what they said. Of course, the same could be said for any other baby who does before achieving 6 months of age, right? So why the need to do it this time?
They didn’t want to say the age. If they had said the age, then maybe you would have some grounds to argue this.
Okay, so in other words - they made an ambiguous statement with no purpose other than to stir up fear?
"An unvaccinated person died."
Wife: they could have mentioned that the child of an unvaccinated person died, but that would probably have been a major HIPAA violation. As it is, the parents did an interview with Lancaster online, and I think we should try to respect the fact that for all we know, they have relatives that might be reading this and try to stay respectful of the family. Not saying that you aren’t. I’m just saying a general warning. Thankfully, there are no names involved.
I don’t think measles is always serious, but I was recently told by an older lady about when her children all got it back in the 70s or so, and one of them ended up getting encephalitis. They improved quite a bit more than the doctors expected, but still have epilepsy. Actually, heard the same thing happened with another lady with a child with chicken pox (now an adult, they might have some residual issues), so you never know.
Maybe it's a positive that at least whoever is writing those headlines thinks of a new born as "a person". Now if we can encourage that consideration a few months earlier...
Soloist wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2026 2:10 pm
Wife: they could have mentioned that the child of an unvaccinated person died, but that would probably have been a major HIPAA violation.
Would that have been more of a HIPAA violation that saying that the person who died was unvaccinated? I'm not intimately familiar with HIPPA requirements.
Soloist wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2026 2:10 pm
Wife: they could have mentioned that the child of an unvaccinated person died, but that would probably have been a major HIPAA violation.
Would that have been more of a HIPAA violation that saying that the person who died was unvaccinated? I'm not intimately familiar with HIPPA requirements.
Wife: She didn’t die. Her infant died shortly after childbirth because they weren’t breathing. She had had a severe case of measles and had to be hospitalized as far as I recall from the article, and they think that that the child’s death was connected to that (not sure if it was transmitted to them or if it was just from mom being so sick).
I don’t know for sure, but it would probably be more acceptable to mention something like that in LA or some large city, but Lancaster County, I would guess more people know each other and could put two and two together, and I know that mentioning rare conditions can sometimes violate HIPAA, which I would think this would be.
Saying that someone was unvaccinated makes sense because otherwise they’ll have people questioning if maybe people are getting measles that are vaccinated and all sorts of conspiracy theories going on with that. There’s probably also enough unvaccinated people that it doesn’t narrow it down as much.
JohnH wrote: ↑Sat Sep 05, 2026 3:48 pm
Of course vaccinated people can get measles and spread it, but we wouldn't want to confuse people too much with the facts, now, would we.