State of Emergency in Samoa due to measles outbreak

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dyqik
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Re: State of Emergency in Samoa due to measles outbreak

Post by dyqik » Sun Dec 15, 2019 12:41 am

Herainestold wrote:
Sat Dec 14, 2019 11:07 pm
Stephanie wrote:
Sat Dec 14, 2019 10:19 pm
Herainestold wrote:
Sat Dec 14, 2019 9:57 pm
Not everything. Most things.
So your worldview is a conspiracy? Good to know.
90% of the worlds problems are due to white Americans.

How many of the anti-vaxers are non American persons of colour?
Perhaps you should take your uninformed racist conspiracy theories to a different forum.

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Stephanie
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Re: State of Emergency in Samoa due to measles outbreak

Post by Stephanie » Sun Dec 15, 2019 8:35 am

Since it's a science board, should I bother asking herainestold for evidence of the 90%, or will they skip off to troll another thread?
"I got a flu virus named after me 'cause I kissed a bat on a dare."

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dyqik
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Re: State of Emergency in Samoa due to measles outbreak

Post by dyqik » Sun Dec 15, 2019 10:24 am

Stephanie wrote:
Sun Dec 15, 2019 8:35 am
Since it's a science board, should I bother asking herainestold for evidence of the 90%, or will they skip off to troll another thread?
They've been asked for evidence before on another conspiracy theory. They're response was that that was what they believe.

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Fishnut
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Re: State of Emergency in Samoa due to measles outbreak

Post by Fishnut » Mon Dec 16, 2019 12:27 pm

A round up of links I've been collecting but haven't got round to posting. They're in chronological order.

8 December
As measles death toll grows, some travelers urged to stay away from Samoa
People entering American Samoa who have recently visited Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa, or Tonga must show they have had the measles vaccination at least 14 days prior to entry as 9 cases had been reported in the country.

9 December
Anti-vaxxer appears in Samoa court, the first person charged under emergency laws amid measles epidemic
Edwin Tamasese was charged with incitement against the Government's vaccination order after he posted “I’ll be here to mop up your mess enjoy your killing spree” online during the two day mass vaccination drive in the previous week. The piece also notes that American Samoa had closed its borders to people entering from Samoa and Tonga and "only entry permits and waivers for medical emergency situations will be approved".

10 December
A Samoan father loses 3 of his 5 children to the measles outbreak
A heartbreaking reminder of the long-lasting emotional toll this outbreak has. It notes that 91% of eligible people had been vaccinated, still below the 93-95% required to halt the spread of measles, and that American Samoa had declared an emergency due to their own outbreak.

12 December

Measles outbreak spurred by anti-vaxxers shuts down Samoan government
This piece provides some background on the vaccine-related deaths that lead to the low uptake of the MMR vaccine.
While some quickly blamed the vaccine itself, officials later determined that two nurses had improperly prepared the immunizations. Investigators found that they had mixed in a lethal dose of muscle relaxant, and one of the nurses tried to cover up the error by taking the empty bottle of the muscle relaxant home after retrieving it from the garbage. The two faced charges of manslaughter and were both sentenced to five years in prison in August of this year.

Still, news of the heartbreaking deaths shook the island nation’s confidence in the healthcare system. And anti-vaccination groups pounced on the circumstances. Most notably, the deaths were picked up by the Children’s Health Defense, run by the prominent anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. As The Washington Post noted, Kennedy’s organization spent months highlighting the deaths on Facebook while questioning the safety of the MMR vaccines. But the organization did not correct the posts or update its audience with information regarding the nurses’ error and convictions.
Measles in Samoa: how a small island nation found itself in the grips of an outbreak disaster
A detailed piece from The Conversation by a public health specialist who is helping to stop the outbreak. It provides some really good background and context to the outbreak. At the time of publication "4,995 measles cases had been recorded, and 72 people, mostly young children, had died".
More than one in five Samoan babies aged six to 11 months have contracted measles during this outbreak, and more than one in 150 babies in this age group have died.
It says that measles was introduced by a traveller some time in August and
The first laboratory-confirmed measles cases were reported in September, and an outbreak was declared in October. In the face of rising measles cases and deaths, the Samoan government declared a state of emergency on November 15, setting the scene for a campaign of mandatory vaccination.

The government shut down on December 5 and 6 during a door-to-door vaccination campaign. People who had not been vaccinated were asked to leave a red flag or cloth outside their home.
13 December
Samoa PM downplays SNDP party call for official's sacking
The recriminations and blaming begin.

14 December
Samoa measles state of emergency extended
The state of emergency was initially supposed to last a month from 16 November but has been extended to 29 December to ensure that everyone gets vaccinated.
The number of cases was at 5,154 but no further deaths had been recorded leaving the total at 72.
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Re: State of Emergency in Samoa due to measles outbreak

Post by bmforre » Mon Dec 16, 2019 12:51 pm

Thank you for this update.

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Re: State of Emergency in Samoa due to measles outbreak

Post by mikeh » Mon Dec 16, 2019 3:43 pm

bmforre wrote:
Mon Dec 16, 2019 12:51 pm
Thank you for this update.
Seconded.

I mean, just imagine how ace it would be if technology could allow a 'thank you' button for such occasions.

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Re: State of Emergency in Samoa due to measles outbreak

Post by Herainestold » Mon Dec 16, 2019 10:43 pm

Yes, thank you. Important topic.
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Re: State of Emergency in Samoa due to measles outbreak

Post by mikeh » Wed Dec 18, 2019 10:21 am

Whilst antivaxxers are telling us their hearts are full because of their donations of vitamin supplements to Samoa, elsewhere New Zealand coffin-makers are donating some baby- and children-sized coffins to Samoan undertakers.

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Re: State of Emergency in Samoa due to measles outbreak

Post by Chris Preston » Sun Dec 22, 2019 9:53 pm

The outbreak is not starting to slow. Official figures to date:

5,520 cases
1,791 hospitalised
79 deaths.

The emergency vaccination effort has reached 94% of those eligible.

https://reliefweb.int/report/samoa/nati ... 6-december
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Re: State of Emergency in Samoa due to measles outbreak

Post by Fishnut » Sun Dec 22, 2019 10:52 pm

Chris Preston wrote:
Sun Dec 22, 2019 9:53 pm
The outbreak is not starting to slow. Official figures to date:

5,520 cases
1,791 hospitalised
79 deaths.

The emergency vaccination effort has reached 94% of those eligible.

https://reliefweb.int/report/samoa/nati ... 6-december
Is that supposed to be "now" rather than "not"? I've tried to find as much data as I can on the outbreak - the reliefweb.int website has good daily updates from the 25th November onwards but the reporting before that is patchy. I've plotted what I've got and it looks like the number of cases are starting to plateau at long last, as are the number of deaths (number of deaths in the previous 24 hrs show more stochasticity due to their small numbers).
Cases.png
Cases.png (124.36 KiB) Viewed 3653 times
Deaths.png
Deaths.png (148.22 KiB) Viewed 3653 times
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Re: State of Emergency in Samoa due to measles outbreak

Post by Chris Preston » Sun Dec 22, 2019 10:59 pm

Yes should be a now.

Autocorrect on devices sometimes does strange things.
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Re: State of Emergency in Samoa due to measles outbreak

Post by Fishnut » Thu Jan 02, 2020 11:26 am

An update: the state of emergency was lifted just after Christmas. According to the Samoa Observer the death toll stands at 81 but infection rates have been showing a slight increase, possibly from unvaccinated pockets in remote parts of the country. There are calls for a national inquiry but the prime minister isn't keen, 'saying that those who have suggested an inquiry into the outbreak show a lack of “common sense” and that such calls were a “political gimmick”'. The Guardian has a really good piece that looks at how the country responded to the epidemic. Not well is the tl:dr (but I do recommend reading it).

The country now needs to pick up the pieces. Being so small almost everyone knows someone who was affected, and the emotional toll is going to be enormous. There are people urging affected families to seek counselling. I don't know how many will heed that call but the country is highly religious so hopefully church leaders take it upon themselves to help people grieve and come together. The thing I fear is that people just start looking for others to blame and turn their loss into anger and hatred. While there are definitely systemic problems that led to the outbreak being so large and so deadly, and fixing those problems is vital to prevent this situation reoccurring, I've seen what the need to blame a specific person for the death of a child can do to people and it's not good.
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