What’s behind the growing measles outbreak and how the Trump administration is responding

The growing measles outbreak in the U.S. Southwest claimed a second life this week. So far this year, more than 220 cases have been reported across 12 states, with the majority in Texas. John Yang speaks with infectious disease epidemiologist Jessica Malaty Rivera to learn more about the outbreak and how it differs from previous ones in recent years.

PBS News

"That skepticism proved fatal for more rural Americans than would have died had heartland vaccination rates mirrored those nationwide percentages.

Not every rural White American espouses xenophobic, conspiratorial, undemocratic, or violent attitudes. But rural Whites are overrepresented across all four of these threats.”

~ Ibid., pp. 173-4, 194

#Trump #rural #white #WhiteRuralRage #ConspiracyTheories #VaccineRefusal #COVID #ScienceSkepticism #xenophobia #violence
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“QAnon believers are one and a half times more likely to live in rural than in urban areas. ...

Scientific skepticism proved especially lethal when rural Whites – the citizens most dubious of pandemic experts – refused safe COVID-19 vaccines at rates higher than urban and suburban citizens."

~ Ibid., pp. 173, 194

#Trump #rural #white #WhiteRuralRage #QAnon #ConspiracyTheories #VaccineRefusal #COVID #ScienceSkepticism
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New #OpenAccess paper in the special issue on Collective Irrationalities by Anne Meylan & Sebastian Schmidt: "many vaccine-refusers are #responsible for the belief that they should not be vaccinated and epistemically #rational in holding it." #VaccineRefusal #COVID19 https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2023.2181151 @philosophy @ethics
Refusing the COVID-19 vaccine: What’s wrong with that?

COVID-19 vaccine refusal seems like a paradigm case of irrationality. Vaccines are supposed to be the best way to get us out of the COVID-19 pandemic. And yet many people believe that they should n...

Taylor & Francis