With a “national incident” over measles in the UK, what’s the situation in Europe?

Europe is experiencing an “alarming rise” in measles cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday, with a more than 30-fold rise across the region in 2023.

More than 30,000 measles cases were reported by 40 of the WHO European region’s 53 member states between January and October last year, compared to 941 cases in 2022.

The increase in the number of cases is compounded by the hospitalisation of 21,000 people and five measles-related deaths.

    • theotherone@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      A fucking pharmacist tried to talk my daughter out of the latest COVID vaccine (which I guess is its own thing and not just a booster). Wtf? This was at Walgreens. I’m proud of my kid, though.

      • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        Holy shit, for real?

        In your shoes, I’d be filing a complaint. An antivaxer has precisely zero business being a pharmacist (or any medical professional). It’s like a mechanic who doesn’t believe in using antifreeze - yeah, most of the time it’s gonna be ok, but it’s gonna straight up not work in multiple completely feasible situations where a normally maintained car would work great.

        • Silverseren@kbin.social
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          9 months ago

          Unfortunately, a fair number of people in medicine-adjacent fields that have less requirements on having knowledge on biology and vaccines, such as nurses and pharmacists, are anti-vaxxers.

          • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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            9 months ago

            Sure, but if they’re actively spreading disinformation they should be fired - and if they aren’t fired but actively defended then those people should be fired. It’s not unreasonable to assume that pharmacies need to employ people who don’t actively oppose public healthcare.

        • thesystemisdown@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          The big pharmacy chains are all bad, each in their own special way. I’m fortunate to have a few small independent pharmacies to choose from. The one I go to is no nonsense, and I’ve never waited more than five minutes, and they know my name. Support them while you can.

        • theotherone@kbin.social
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          9 months ago

          Not thoroughly tested vaccine; she is in precisely zero high risk groups. But, not that it’s his business, she lives with me and her mother. We both wouldn’t be the best candidates for covid or any of the seasonal infections. The funny thing is my daughter saw the flu shot marketing piece at the photo department register!

          • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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            9 months ago

            Being in a statistically low risk category does not necessarily mean that you won’t get very sick. It just means you’re more likely to be okay, but there’s no guarantees. You know unless you have the vaccine.

            The categories made sense when the vaccine was in limited supply, but when it’s not in limited supply the categories are literally irrelevant. You don’t perform triage all of the time.

        • Kanzar@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          Probably not old enough to be in the at risk group is my guess… Everything we do has risk, and the vaccine itself is not risk free - are you more likely to have side effects from the vaccine, or from catching covid19?

          • Silverseren@kbin.social
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            9 months ago

            The latter. This has been actively studied extensively over the past three years. There are minor potential risks from the vaccine (and from any vaccine, since the point is to cause an immune response), but I’d rather take my chances with side effects of my immune system reacting to a pretend infection than having to deal with the real one.

            • Kanzar@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Even for 16yo? They’re told not to get a booster here in Australia as too young.

              FWIW I’ve done 7, chasing the XBB but apparently they won’t give it to me here as I’m too young… 🤷🏻‍♀️

              • anguo@lemmy.ca
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                9 months ago

                The whole “you don’t need it, you’re young” thing was just because they didn’t have enough shots for everyone.

      • anlumo@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I’ve had a doctor at a COVID vaccination station trying to talk me out of it. He said that with my age and three prior vaccinations there’s absolutely no benefit. After a few statements like that he admitted that he was required to allow anyone who really insists to get it, though. So that’s what I did.