this post was submitted on 21 May 2025
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Interesting podcast about the measles outbreaks in Alberta and Ontario. I got:

  1. The outbreaks are primarily among unvaccinated Mennonite communities.
  2. Heard immunity (thanks to vaccination) among the general population has prevented exposures from turning into infections.
  3. Provincial health ministries are avoiding talking about Mennonites because they want to avoid stigmatization.
  4. Provincial health ministries aren't holding regular briefings for political reasons.

But it's a podcast (and I'm too lazy to read the transcript) so maybe I got some of that stuff wrong.

Edit: Fixed the link to the transcript. Thanks @DerisionConsulting@lemmy.ca!

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[–] aramis87@fedia.io 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'm saying this without any actual proof, but I strongly suspect the Mennonite outbreak is among a group of Old Colony Mennonites. Due to pressure from various governments, Old Colony Mennonites migrated from Ukraine to the Russian Empire, then to Canada (where some stayed), and then to Mexico; this left them with a cultural distrust of governments and government agencies (such as public health agencies). They settled in rural Mexico and avoided the government and public contact as much as possible, meaning that (among other things), they managed to avoid the great vaccine push of the 1950s and 1960s, whereas more mainstream communities were educated on the benefits of vaccines and got to see those benefits in their everyday lives. When Mexico's economy deteriorated in the 1980s and 1990s, some of those Old Colony Mennonites moved to Texas and others back to Canada, where they remain in under-vaccinated pockets.

I haven't heard anything about which specific branch of Mennonites are involved in the outbreak but, as I said, I suspect they're mostly Old Colony Mennonites.

[–] Arkouda@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 week ago

I’m saying this without any actual proof

You probably could have saved yourself and everyone else some time by simply not commenting.