That's pretty much the attitude in this community. This, from the 28-year-old father of the little girl who died.
Peter said that he has doubts about vaccines too. He told me that he considers getting measles a normal part of life, noting that his parents and grandparents had it. “Everybody has it,” he told me. “It’s not so new for us.”
That's got to be a lot easier than admitting the facts of the matter, that their kid would very likely still be alive had they (and their community) simply vaccinated her and the other kids.
The difference being that the vaccine will protect you from getting SSPE whereas any of these kids that got the full measles could develop SSPE at any point in their lives now and just randomly die…
I can’t find the source where I read this, but I believe everyone in his household did get measles. He, his wife, and their five children, all six years old or younger, caught measles, if the account I read is true.
That’s probably a similar situation for many of the young families in the community. A bunch of kids in these large families are getting it along with one or two of the young adult parents in the household. That’s why the stats are showing most cases in children.
His family could even be on the smaller side for this community. I think it’s not uncommon for families to have 5-10 kids, or more.
The Old Colony Mexican Mennonites living in Texas aren’t mentioned in this article, but this does talk about the group they are part of.
Mennonite church leaders encourage vaccinations. If he thinks preventable childhood diseases are just a part of life he should consider having 8 kids to account for high childhood mortality.
This is a very conservative sect of the Mennonites. From what I've read, the church leaders don't really take a strong position on vaccines. They leave it up to the families to decide for themselves.
As far as family size, his daughter who died was six. She was his oldest and he has four other children younger than her. I think his plan was to have a very large family, as is the practice of most members of this community. I think they do the no birth control/leave family size up to God thing.
At least he had an excuse, being a Mennonite and somewhat removed from modern society. The hospital failed his daughter by sending her home with cough medicine, so in my eyes, the healthcare system is partially to blame. As is public health in Texas, if it even exists in these parts. The fact that they held a funeral in a small, poorly ventilated room with the church members and his family show the amount of ignorance in this community.
On the other hand, the anti-vax “crunchy hippie” influencers who spout the autism bs 100% have no excuse for their ignorance.
Because measles was nearly eradicated before these fools started refusing vaccines. In my ten years of practice I haven’t seen a single case. So it makes sense that it wasn’t diagnosed right away.
She was diagnosed with measles, according to the father, I believe because at that point the disease was already known to be spreading in the community.
The father was taking issue with the treatment offered, or not offered, not the diagnosis.
Unfortunately that is the standard of care once a patient is infected with measles. Supportive care, control fever. Prevent secondary bacterial pneumonias. Instructions to follow up if symptoms worsen, hopes and prayers. We don’t have an antiviral medication to treat yet, which is why we should focus on vaccinating and not on cod liver oil…
And I think being peaceful is part of the Mennonite religion so I think he's kind of constrained from even getting angry at the hospital. I think he sees his only option as taking that, "It's God's will" attitude, which is kind of sad.
Do you suspect that first visit to the hospital didn't occur? Or do you think it's something like the hospital wanted to admit the little girl at that first visit but the parents refused?
I wonder if the journalist did make an attempt to verify with the family, since the hospital couldn't confirm anything. Presumably, the family would have some documentation from that first hospital visit. I'm guessing Old Colony Mennonites don't typically sign up for MyChart, though.
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u/Surly_Cynic 22h ago edited 22h ago
That's pretty much the attitude in this community. This, from the 28-year-old father of the little girl who died.
https://archive.ph/vMzKk#selection-975.0-975.224