Chalk up four more pyrrhic victories for the nutty and increasingly hysterical anti-vaccine fanatics. CNN tells us, "Four European countries have lost their measles-free status as the region suffers a significant setback in eliminating the disease, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)."
And since no mention is made of Trump or Russia, we can probably believe the story.
The formerly measles-free countries range from backward former h***holes to first world stalwarts, just proving that crazy is no respecter of persons. The United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Greece, and Albania all now have active or recently active cases of measles.
The world is fortunate these anti-evidence lunatics didn’t originate in the 1950s, otherwise we never would have beaten Polio.
The numbers provided by CNN aren’t a handful at Disneyland, either. "There have been approximately 90,000 cases of measles reported in the first half of 2019, continuing a surge in the number of cases that began in 2018, when 84,462 cases were reported over the course of the year."
The incubator for this anti-vaccination madness is — you guessed it — social media.
We used to think the Internet only served as the land of immortality for bad jokes.
Only that’s not the case.
It’s also represents immortality for propaganda, bad science, rumors, and misinformation.
"It is clear that we are still suffering from entirely debunked claims around MMR (the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine) that were perpetuated in the nineties — and are now resurgent on social media and other online platforms," according to professor Martin Marshall, vice-chair of Britain's Royal College of General Practitioners.
Some of the acolytes of anti-vaxx aren’t content to assault the immunity of nations. In California, they’ve started assaulting pro–vaccination politicians.
Calif. State Sen. Dr. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, is the author of a bill that would restrict vaccine exemptions, limiting the power to grant vaccine exemptions to state public health officials rather than local doctors.
According to the Associated Press (AP), Pan was walking near the state capitol when he was "struck" by a violent anti–vaxxer.
Kenneth Austin Bennett posted a video of the assault on Sen. Pan with the caption, "Yes, I pushed Richard Pan for lying, laughing at us and for treason."
He added in the video that if Pan "Got what he deserved he would be hanged for treason for assaulting children, for misrepresenting the truth."
The belief in vaccine conspiracies and other urban myths is a product of being lied to by the government and our betters for decades.
The federal government on immigration.
The Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts on sexual abuse.
Wall Street on globalization.
All of it adds up.
The government can try a public information campaign on vaccines, at least consultants will be making money, but the public may tune the information out. The best interim solution would be to require all visitors to the U.S. to provide vaccination records and all children entering government schools do the same.
No shots. No visa or no school.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker’s bureau. Read more reports from Michael Reagan — Go Here Now.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian’s Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)." Read more of Michael Shannon's reports — Go Here Now.