this post was submitted on 17 May 2024
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A child under five years old has died of measles in Ontario, according to the province's public health agency, the first such death in more than a decade.

In a report published Thursday, Public Health Ontario said the child was not vaccinated against the highly infectious respiratory virus. It did not indicate when or where the child died, or their age.

The report shows there were no other measles-related deaths recorded in the province between Jan. 1, 2013 and this week.

Measles has been on the rise in both Ontario and elsewhere in Canada as cases increase globally, particularly in Europe, which has seen tens of thousands of infections over the last year.

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[–] [email protected] 50 points 6 months ago (2 children)

The parents should be charged with manslaughter if the child was old enough to receive the vaccine.

11 years without a death in Ontario. Now these fuckwits who think they know as much as a doctor who studied this shit are going to get more people killed.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 months ago (4 children)

The kid was five

First measles shot (as part of MMRV) is 12 months, the second is ~18 months, but varies by province. You can get a dose as early as six months, but the child will still need to follow the standard timeline after this additional dose.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 months ago

... It did not indicate when the child died or their specific age.

So we just know they were somewhere between 0 and 5.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (1 children)

A child under five years old has died of measles

This is the first sentence of the article.

So, my comment is accurate.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago

Ah, I misread that as a child between 4-5 years.

Second language failures strike again!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

Even assuming the child was old enough for the first dose ("under five" could mean a newborn), they may have had a valid medical exemption. There isn't enough detail (in the article, or in the report it references) to say for certain. I admit that the probability is low.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

In Ontario, MMR is at 12 months and varicella (chickenpox) is separate at 15 months.

Other provinces, territories and states in Canada/US have variations and some include MMRV instead of MMR followed by Varicella.

MMRV is scheduled routinely at age 4-6.

An overview of the routine childhood schedule can be seen here.

The full ontario schedule can be found here, with the routine childhood schedule being on page 3.

By the way for anyone wondering why bother vaccinate against chickenpox, it's because chickenpox and shingles are the same thing. If you never get chickenpox you never get shingles. Shingles fucking sucks and causes blindness, untreatable pain and other miseries.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

Also chicken pox sucks. If they made a vaccine for hand, foot, and mouth, I'd get my kids vaccinated and that's mild compared to chicken pox.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 6 months ago

Vaccinate your kids!!!

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

There is a lot of focus on whether this child should or even could have been vaccinated against measles. It is impossible to know based on the information. They were due for 0, 1 or 2 doses or MMR vaccine.

At any rate, I would suggest reading it in the other direction: no vaccinated child has died of the measles. Vaccination prevents this disaster. It is likely (but not certain) that many other children were in contact with the same situation which ultimately led to the death of this one. Many of them didn't die because their parents took responsible steps.

In another comment I posted the vaccine schedule for Ontatio. MMR is scheduled at 12 months of age, same as many other places. Your first dose (of the two children need) is only considered "valid" if given on or after the 1st birthday.

However the vaccine is approved as safe and has short-term efficacy when given as young as 6 months. The immunity just doesn't "last" as long when given earlier, which is why its scheduled for 12 months where risk is low. In those communities where anti-vax people congregate, diligent parents can consider giving their children an extra dose at 6 months to cut that risky time in half.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago

Thanks anti-vaxxers. This is cool and good. Please go play in traffic.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

The tldr says 2013, but the full article calls it "the first such death in the province since 1989, when tracking began."

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


A child under five years old has died of measles in Ontario, according to the province's public health agency, the first such death in more than a decade.

In a report published Thursday, Public Health Ontario said the child was not vaccinated against the highly infectious respiratory virus.

Measles has been on the rise in both Ontario and elsewhere in Canada as cases increase globally, particularly in Europe, which has seen tens of thousands of infections over the last year.

Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious diseases consultant at Toronto General Hospital, says Canadians planning to travel should ensure they are protected against the virus given the rise in infections abroad.

Bogoch said interruptions to routine childhood vaccination schedules during the COVID-19 pandemic means that some young children may have missed a dose.

For infants set to travel internationally with their caregivers, especially to destinations with high rates of measles infection, the first shot can be moved up to six months in some cases, Bogoch said.


The original article contains 500 words, the summary contains 161 words. Saved 68%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!