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The article is from last year, 2024. It does describe the immune system reset in a way that helps to understand why measles should be avoided but I wonder whet

The article is from last year, 2024. It does describe the immune system reset in a way that helps to understand why measles should be avoided but I wonder whether there are more recent study results that can add to the information in this article. We currently are watching the spread across Texas and New Mexico from here in N Texas and hope that other people are also paying attention. Really makes me think twice before attending any large public gatherings or even going to the grocery store during the busy times of the week. We have a large enough population of people who refuse vaccines and other treatments for religious reasons that the threat of spread up here is real.

tialaramex 2y ago
> Really makes me think twice before attending any large public gatherings or even going to the grocery store during the busy times of the week. Huh? Are you unvaccinated? Yes, obviously spread is likely, as that article explains the R number for measles is very high and the US has very poor compliance rates.
- KerrAvon 2y ago
  It’s a little bit more complicated than “are you vaxxed,” though only a little. https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/02/21/nx-s1-5304458/measles-vaccine-booster-health https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/02/21/nx... Tl;dr: If you were born before 1968 and did not have measles as a child, you should consider getting vaccinated again.
  - doodlebugging 2y ago
    Good advice.
- lazide 2y ago
  Even the best vaccines aren’t 100% effective, and many lose potency after a number of years. Tetanus being one that should be re-upped about every decade, for instance. They often work in stamping out things (and ensuring that particularly vulnerable groups like those too young to vaccinate, or with weakened immune systems like the old) by reducing the spread enough that outbreaks die out one their own. Think of it like setting population ‘backfires’ so there isn’t enough fuel for it to turn into a spreading fire. If large portions of the population don’t immunize, it will get enough momentum that it can cause real damage - even for many people with prior immunizations.
  - tialaramex 2y ago
    This isn't a tetanus outbreak (tetanus is not infectious) so the fact that Tetanus shots need a periodic booster isn't relevant. The measles vaccine is very reliable, if you had two MMR shots you're done, you'll see 97% reported sometimes, that's what happens when you use sampling and can't prove it's 100% effective. What I'm asking the parent was - why are they acting as if they'll get infected? If it's because they've chosen not to vaccinate well, yeah, that's how consequences work.
    - ForTheKidz 2y ago
      Presumably proving 100% efficacy is impossible. Among other things, there are immune disorders that ensure you're still at risk even if fully vaccinated. And anyone is at risk with a depressed immune system, which can be caused by sleep, diet, stress, unrelated illness, pregnancy, etc etc. and finally remember that vaccinated people still get infected, they just are able to fight the infection with high success rate (you claim 100% but 3% is a big gap to explain away). Even people who successfully fight the infection completely unsymptomatically likely incur a cost to their organs and immune system as a result. Even with vaccinations, you should attempt to avoid risk of infection if you can.
      - doodlebugging 2y ago
        >Even with vaccinations, you should attempt to avoid risk of infection if you can. This is especially true when the circulating affliction can be spread silently by vaccinated persons who have no symptoms but can be actively shedding virus.
    - orwin 2y ago
      I know someone who had to have her antibodies tested (before working in a lab), and realized vaccines were less effective for her (she had half to a quarter of necessary antibodies) and had to retake a lot of boosters, including 'mmr' (it has another name here) and hepatitis.
- doodlebugging 2y ago
  I'm probably much older than a lot of y'all. As a kid, I had measles, mumps and chickenpox, all acquired at school when I was young as did most of my siblings. My younger siblings grew up after MMR was available and never had the direct experience with it since they were vaccinated before they started school.
  - qingcharles 2y ago
    I just had to check when these vaccines became available. I remember my Mum being strict about getting all my shots, but I still managed to get measles, and chickenpox twice. I just had to ask GPT why the nurse gave me a sugar lump to eat, and apparently that was polio vaccine. I predate the chickenpox vaccine and I predate the advice to get two measles shots.
    - doodlebugging 2y ago
      I too had the sugarcube polio vaccine. I had no idea what polio was but Mom told me that it was a bad disease that had left one of my uncles partially paralyzed. He caught polio as a young teen and had a limp until he passed away at nearly 80. Another uncle ended up deaf in one ear from a childhood infection that I think was meningitis. It left him ineligible to serve during the Vietnam War with a couple of his brothers and cousins though he tried to join every branch.
      - tialaramex 2y ago
        Oral Polio Vaccine. It's actually both more effective and cheaper than the injected vaccine used today, as well as being attractive to children (well at least me) because it's in the form of a weird fluid dripped onto a sugar code - looks like it might turn you into a superhero. The reason we don't use OPV in the rich industrial countries any more is that we don't have Polio here, so the improved efficacy and lower price aren't a worthwhile trade for the small but real risk of it reverting in some patients and producing an outbreak of Polio in the residual unvaccinated population.
  - tialaramex 2y ago

tialaramex 2y ago

> Really makes me think twice before attending any large public gatherings or even going to the grocery store during the busy times of the week. Huh? Are you unvaccinated? Yes, obviously spread is likely, as that article explains the R number for measles is very high and the US has very poor compliance rates.

KerrAvon 2y ago
It’s a little bit more complicated than “are you vaxxed,” though only a little. https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/02/21/nx-s1-5304458/measles-vaccine-booster-health https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/02/21/nx... Tl;dr: If you were born before 1968 and did not have measles as a child, you should consider getting vaccinated again.
- doodlebugging 2y ago
  Good advice.
lazide 2y ago
Even the best vaccines aren’t 100% effective, and many lose potency after a number of years. Tetanus being one that should be re-upped about every decade, for instance. They often work in stamping out things (and ensuring that particularly vulnerable groups like those too young to vaccinate, or with weakened immune systems like the old) by reducing the spread enough that outbreaks die out one their own. Think of it like setting population ‘backfires’ so there isn’t enough fuel for it to turn into a spreading fire. If large portions of the population don’t immunize, it will get enough momentum that it can cause real damage - even for many people with prior immunizations.
- tialaramex 2y ago
  This isn't a tetanus outbreak (tetanus is not infectious) so the fact that Tetanus shots need a periodic booster isn't relevant. The measles vaccine is very reliable, if you had two MMR shots you're done, you'll see 97% reported sometimes, that's what happens when you use sampling and can't prove it's 100% effective. What I'm asking the parent was - why are they acting as if they'll get infected? If it's because they've chosen not to vaccinate well, yeah, that's how consequences work.
  - ForTheKidz 2y ago
    Presumably proving 100% efficacy is impossible. Among other things, there are immune disorders that ensure you're still at risk even if fully vaccinated. And anyone is at risk with a depressed immune system, which can be caused by sleep, diet, stress, unrelated illness, pregnancy, etc etc. and finally remember that vaccinated people still get infected, they just are able to fight the infection with high success rate (you claim 100% but 3% is a big gap to explain away). Even people who successfully fight the infection completely unsymptomatically likely incur a cost to their organs and immune system as a result. Even with vaccinations, you should attempt to avoid risk of infection if you can.
    - doodlebugging 2y ago
      >Even with vaccinations, you should attempt to avoid risk of infection if you can. This is especially true when the circulating affliction can be spread silently by vaccinated persons who have no symptoms but can be actively shedding virus.
  - orwin 2y ago
    I know someone who had to have her antibodies tested (before working in a lab), and realized vaccines were less effective for her (she had half to a quarter of necessary antibodies) and had to retake a lot of boosters, including 'mmr' (it has another name here) and hepatitis.
doodlebugging 2y ago
I'm probably much older than a lot of y'all. As a kid, I had measles, mumps and chickenpox, all acquired at school when I was young as did most of my siblings. My younger siblings grew up after MMR was available and never had the direct experience with it since they were vaccinated before they started school.
- qingcharles 2y ago
  I just had to check when these vaccines became available. I remember my Mum being strict about getting all my shots, but I still managed to get measles, and chickenpox twice. I just had to ask GPT why the nurse gave me a sugar lump to eat, and apparently that was polio vaccine. I predate the chickenpox vaccine and I predate the advice to get two measles shots.
  - doodlebugging 2y ago
    I too had the sugarcube polio vaccine. I had no idea what polio was but Mom told me that it was a bad disease that had left one of my uncles partially paralyzed. He caught polio as a young teen and had a limp until he passed away at nearly 80. Another uncle ended up deaf in one ear from a childhood infection that I think was meningitis. It left him ineligible to serve during the Vietnam War with a couple of his brothers and cousins though he tried to join every branch.
    - tialaramex 2y ago
      Oral Polio Vaccine. It's actually both more effective and cheaper than the injected vaccine used today, as well as being attractive to children (well at least me) because it's in the form of a weird fluid dripped onto a sugar code - looks like it might turn you into a superhero. The reason we don't use OPV in the rich industrial countries any more is that we don't have Polio here, so the improved efficacy and lower price aren't a worthwhile trade for the small but real risk of it reverting in some patients and producing an outbreak of Polio in the residual unvaccinated population.
- tialaramex 2y ago