Monday, March 17, 2014

Has Superstition Played A Role In The Fraser Valley Measles Outbreak?

LoveThyNeighbourButOnly
TwoThirdsOfTheTimeVille


First, the warning from public health authorities:

Fraser Health is advising that measles cases now appear to be occurring in the general communities of Chilliwack and Agassiz; outside of the the previous school and religious group areas...


Gosh.

It started in a school and religious group area?

What's up with that?

Well, turns out that the Cluffmaster Flash (or, more likely, his producers) gave us some insight on that late last week:

...The health authority is facing some opposition to vaccinations in the Fraser Valley's so-called "Bible Belt."

This (eg. Thursday) morning on CBC's Early Edition, Rev. Adriaan Geuze, a pastor at the Reformed Congregation of North America, questioned the effectiveness of vaccinations...



Now, here's the thing...

When folks don't get vaccinated, it's not just them and theirs that are affected:

...A vaccination rate of 95 per cent is necessary in order for community immunity to work, said Fraser Health spokeswoman Tasleem Juma... in the East Fraser region, vaccination rates are about 60 to 70 per cent...


So.

What are the rates in the particular 'religious group area' under discussion?

...(I)n the East Fraser region, vaccination rates are about 60 to 70 per cent...


Which brings us back to the good reverand, this time quoted by the VSun's Tara Carman on the weekend:

The pastor for the community at the centre of the Fraser Valley measles outbreak says he sees vaccines as an interference with God’s providential care.

Rev. Adriaan Geuze says his 1,200-strong Reformed Congregation of North America in Chilliwack mostly shares that view, which is why vaccination rates in the community are “very low.”

“We leave it in (God’s) hands. If it is in his will that somehow we get a contagious disease, like in this case the measles, there are other ways, of course, to avoid this. If (we get sick), he can also heal us from it,” he said in an interview Friday...



In the meantime, Fraser Health is doing it's best to step up vaccinations in the area.

The question is, when superstition rules over demonstrable medical efficacy, do such efforts even have a chance of succeeding?



_____
Bizarrely one of the side issues amongst the superstitious is, apparently (see comments), the fact that vaccines are sometimes generated in a human cell line known as WI-38....Why is this an issue given that the cell line has been propagated in laboratory incubators for fifty years?...Well, you see, it's that 'F' word again.


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12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wonder if dark age community interferes with "gods will" by bathing and brushing their teeth...

Dana said...

Put 'em in a goddamned compound in quarantine from the rest of us and let em die how they want.

Anonymous said...

The risks of harmful effects from not having your child vaccinated are far greater than the risks of having them vaccinated.

Anonymous said...

God via SH

God ‏@TheTweetOfGod · Feb 28
I apologize to a tiny minority of you for the vast majority of you.


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Mr. Beer N. Hockey said...

The Fraser Valley - Canada's own Afghanistan.

scotty on Denman said...

Viruses evolve, that's the trouble: they do it pretty darn quick---too quick, even.

So what happens if you don't believe in evolution? Viruses don't mutate?

I mean, can anyone find an intermediate between duck flu and pig flu? Devil's in the details.

Anonymous said...

Rev. Geuze says, We leave it in God's hands..." God gave us the brains to discover vaccinations. We should use what God has given us!

Dana said...

God.

Right.

Good luck with that.

Dana said...

My remark about a quarantine compound was quite serious by the way.

If these people want to live in the 16th century they should be perfectly free to do so.

But they should have to do it where their choices cannot be inflicted on people who choose to live in the 21st century.

Seriously. Round them up and put them somewhere where they don't pose a risk to the rest of us.

Harper can be their Prime Minister.

Anonymous said...

SH:

..."quarantine"...

Hmmm, I sense fruity undertones, with distinct notes of fear and confused loathing tinged with vengeance...reminiscent of early "Dallas": the "KISS" w Linda Evans and Doris Day's BFF...

e.a.f. said...

They leave it in God's hands do they? What do they do when they are in a car accident? Leave it in God's hands. No they go the hospital and get medical care. When they break a leg or arm, do they leave it in God's hands? Probably not.

when they need to communicate with each other do they leave it in God's hands? No they pick up a phone.

Some don't vaccinate for "religious" reasons. Some are too lazy to go for the vaccinations.

Sounds like the B.C. equivalent of the Taliban. But of course they use what they want from modern life.

They have an private school which the provincial government, we the tax payers pay for. Last time I checked we the taxpayers spent about $250MILLION a year on private schools. Perhaps its time to reconsider.

Anonymous said...

Having had the measles TWICE and the Chicken pox TWICE, once as a child and again as an adult was its God's will? No it was exposure to children who gave them to me at school. God has no hand in it at all. If the minister in the Valley would take his head out of Dogma and check his history he would find God pointed the way to vaccinations by letting milkmaids be pox and scar free by having the milder cow pox. This kind of dogma lets children die for no legitimate reason and that is a true sin.