Russia has been suffering one of the world’s worst measles virus outbreaks due to weak vaccination policy enforcement.
“Russia’s measles cases have been growing since late 2022. The rise in cases is due to the cyclic nature of the infection, stemming from a gradual increase in the number of people without immunity,” the spokesperson said.
Russians not vaccinated against measles and unvaccinated people coming to Russia from the neighboring countries make the majority of new patients.
Unvaccinated people coming…
The news hints at a return towards prevaccine days when Russia reported child fatality rates around 10%.
In the prevaccine era, 500,000–1,400,000 measles cases were reported annually in the Russian Federation, with an incidence ranging from 700.0 cases per 100,000 persons in 1950 to 1192.0 cases per 100,000 person in 1957 [1]. Peaks in measles incidence, usually occurring every 1–2 years, define a typical pattern of measles epidemics during this period. As one of the common childhood infections, measles was a major cause of child mortality, with the mortality rate substantially exceeding that for diphtheria. High case-fatality rates for measles (8.1%–11.1%) were reported in the country until the 1950s, when the rate decreased to 1.3%–1.5% after the introduction of sulfonamides and antibiotics. By 1958, the case-fatality rate had stabilized at <0.1%.
That’s right. Russia’s dictator after 2016 has been failing to maintain a vaccination policy, despite it being proven extremely effective since the 1950s.
Why?
Scientific researchers say Russian social-media trolls who spread discord before the 2016 U.S. presidential election may also have played an unintended role in a developing global health crisis.
They say the trolls may have contributed to the 2018 outbreak of measles in Europe that killed 72 people and infected more than 82,000 — mostly in Eastern and Southeastern European countries known to have been targeted by Russia-based disinformation campaigns.
When you put these stories together, it should be easy to see the next chapter.
The flow of contagious anti-vaccine Russians to Florida has created an “epicenter” for predictable American political and public health disasters.
‘Measles is the most infectious pathogen in humans that we know of,’ Kimberlin explained.
‘It’s like a heat-seeking missile. It will find the people who are not immune, and they’re going to get sick.’
[…]
Measles is a highly contagious, airborne virus that mostly affects children under five years old.
It can be prevented by two doses of the MMR vaccine and more than 57 million deaths have been averted since 2000, according to the WHO and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The recommended two doses of the MMR vaccine are 97 percent effective against measles, the CDC reports.
We know already why vaccines most likely were not happening among the 2019 immigrant wave of Russian women who played Trump for access to America.
Social media is full of Russian women boasting about coming to America to give birth, sometimes staying at Trump properties. […] Roman Bokeria, the state director of the Florida Association of Realtors told NBC News that Trump- branded buildings in the Sunny Isles Beach area north of Miami are particularly popular with the Russian birth tourists and Russian immigrants.
Fast forward to today, given Trump’s role in unvaccinated immigrants landing in Florida, measles is spreading where we should expect and for reasons easy to identify.
Florida refuses to bar unvaccinated students from school suffering a measles outbreak
To be clear, Trump has publicly stated he opposes foreigners coming to America to give birth and he supports measles vaccination. In other words, he created the perfect big lie for him to import unvaccinated Russian women to give birth and infect Florida with measles.
There is a kind of madness here. Arendt described the “active, aggressive capability” to believe in lies (as compared to passive gullibility) that distinguishes modern political lying. Lies like this are grandly shameless, blatantly, and obviously fake.
In the spirit of John Snow, maybe it’s time to measure Trump properties for measles. Remove the pump handle, stop the spread.
Related: “Samoa’s Perfect Storm”
How a collapse in measles vaccination rates [caused by RFK Jr] killed more than 70 children
