Mennonite Measles in Texas

[Judas Maccabeus]

Got my son his MMR today! There was a measles case found in Montgomery County, PA. Best Wishes, RFK.

Had you had it in my parts, I might have tried to convince my wife to come out of retirement to preform the honors. She is part of the public health emergency service corps, but she just had a knee replacement. She is waiting for the call she expects to come. Maybe in six weeks….

[barnhart]

Easily remedied, however. I just learned about the Byler disease...children born with defective livers and the children have to get a liver transplant at very young ages.

Some are, some not. For example, we have acquaintances whose children have a rare genetic disease that shows up around a certain age, and the child slowly loses the ability to walk. However, some sort of stem cell treatment has been discovered that reverses the problem, so their younger children are able to function normally, while the older ones are disabled.

I've never heard of these disorders, are they researched or named at this point?

[mike]

Easily remedied, however. I just learned about the Byler disease...children born with defective livers and the children have to get a liver transplant at very young ages.

Some are, some not. For example, we have acquaintances whose children have a rare genetic disease that shows up around a certain age, and the child slowly loses the ability to walk. However, some sort of stem cell treatment has been discovered that reverses the problem, so their younger children are able to function normally, while the older ones are disabled.

I've never heard of these disorders, are they researched or named at this point?

Yes, many of them are. I don't know the name of the one I mentioned. But another example is MSUD which Cleveland Clinic says is more common among Mennonites and Ashkenazi Jews.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/d ... ne-disease

[Ken]

Here is a much more detailed article published yesterday in the Atlantic about the Mennonite family whose 6 year old girl who died of measles a few weeks ago in Texas.

This is a gift link so should not be paywalled: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/arch ... aign=share

[Soloist]

Honestly, as respectful as he might’ve been, I dislike what he did. Found them, shoved his way, basically into their funeral to write a news article.

[JohnH]

Biased, sloppy reporting.

In Gaines County, where Seminole is located, the measles-vaccination rate among kindergartners is just 82 percent, well short of the estimated 95 percent threshold for maintaining herd immunity.

Ohio's rate was 81% in 2019, and despite that, we did not have some kind of mass wave of measles-caused deaths. The number of deaths so far has indeed been zero.

[Ken]

Biased, sloppy reporting.

In Gaines County, where Seminole is located, the measles-vaccination rate among kindergartners is just 82 percent, well short of the estimated 95 percent threshold for maintaining herd immunity.

Ohio's rate was 81% in 2019, and despite that, we did not have some kind of mass wave of measles-caused deaths. The number of deaths so far has indeed been zero.

Actually the article addressed that exact point.

The Gaines County vaccination numbers are largely the public school vaccination numbers and the Mennonite community doesn't attend the public schools and so aren't really part of that 82%. Their vaccination rate is probably way way lower than 82%. And the outbreak was within that community, not the county at large.

The whole paragraph including the part you left out reads as follows:

An outbreak—even one this big—should not have come as a surprise. Vaccination rates have dipped in many states, including Texas, since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. In Gaines County, where Seminole is located, the measles-vaccination rate among kindergartners is just 82 percent, well short of the estimated 95 percent threshold for maintaining herd immunity. Even that alarming figure would appear to undersell the local problem. Many children from the county’s Mennonite community, which numbers in the thousands, are unvaccinated, but they won’t get picked up in state tallies, because they are either homeschooled or enrolled in nonaccredited private schools, which are not required to collect such data.

[JohnH]

Biased, sloppy reporting.

In Gaines County, where Seminole is located, the measles-vaccination rate among kindergartners is just 82 percent, well short of the estimated 95 percent threshold for maintaining herd immunity.

Ohio's rate was 81% in 2019, and despite that, we did not have some kind of mass wave of measles-caused deaths. The number of deaths so far has indeed been zero.

Actually the article addressed that exact point.

The article did not address the point at all that Ohio's rates have been below the amount needed for "herd immunity", yet we haven't had some problem deaths from measles.

Many children from the county’s Mennonite community, which numbers in the thousands, are unvaccinated, but they won’t get picked up in state tallies, because they are either homeschooled or enrolled in nonaccredited private schools, which are not required to collect such data.

I'm not seeing the problem. If the government or county really care, they can check birth records and poll health providers about how many vaccinations have been administered. It sounds like the Mennonites are quite intelligent to stick to their own schools and stay off government bureaucrats' radar (not to mention nosy reporters who chase down a family dealing with a tragedy).

[Ken]

Biased, sloppy reporting.



Ohio's rate was 81% in 2019, and despite that, we did not have some kind of mass wave of measles-caused deaths. The number of deaths so far has indeed been zero.

Actually the article addressed that exact point.

The article did not address the point at all that Ohio's rates have been below the amount needed for "herd immunity", yet we haven't had some problem deaths from measles.

Many children from the county’s Mennonite community, which numbers in the thousands, are unvaccinated, but they won’t get picked up in state tallies, because they are either homeschooled or enrolled in nonaccredited private schools, which are not required to collect such data.

I'm not seeing the problem. If the government or county really care, they can check birth records and poll health providers about how many vaccinations have been administered. It sounds like the Mennonites are quite intelligent to stick to their own schools and stay off government bureaucrats' radar (not to mention nosy reporters who chase down a family dealing with a tragedy).

What does Ohio have to do with anything? The article is about a community in Texas not Ohio. And it took me all of 10 seconds to discover that the current MMR vaccination rate in Ohio is 91.5% which slightly exceeds the US average: https://odh.ohio.gov/know-our-programs/ ... tion-Rates

In any event, a fundamental responsibility of all parents is to protect their children. This Mennonite community and this Mennonite family apparently chose not to do that and now they have a dead six year old girl. The first child to die of measles in the US in 10 years. That seems like a failure to me when the disease is so easily and cheaply preventable.

[Soloist]

In any event, a fundamental responsibility of all parents is to protect their children. This Mennonite community and this Mennonite family apparently chose not to do that and now they have a dead six year old girl. The first child to die of measles in the US in 10 years. That seems like a failure to me when the disease is so easily and cheaply preventable.

The father was wise not to state his last name although anyone who really knows Mennonites could figure it out. He should have never spoke to the media at all.


What is a failure is that Christians are apathetic to using fetal cells and accepting a drug company and government's refusal to make the single Measles vaccine available.
That being said, I'd be willing to bet this father wasn't even aware of fetal cells used in vaccines or at the very least, it wasn't his reason.