ScienceSkepticism

New Video! Let’s Rename Measles “Jenny McCarthy”

As always, a close-enough transcript follows!

The CDC has released a report blaming anti-science anti-vaccination proponents for the number of measles cases reaching a 20-year high, like for instance an outbreak currently happening in Ohio due to unvaccinated Amish missionaries going to the Philippines, catching the measles, and then bringing it back to their community. On a sidenote, it’s somehow refreshing to finally see Christian missionaries going someplace and catching a disease as opposed to spreading it.

As I’ve talked about in previous videos, the popular misconception that the measles vaccination leads to autism and other diseases can be traced back to disgraced doctor Andrew Wakefield. IN recent years, this nonsense has been propagated in the mainstream media by fear-mongers like Jenny McCarthy, who has written several books and who has spread her lies on popular shows like Oprah and The View.

This is why I suggest we rename measles to be called, simply, “Jenny McCarthy.” It’s true that she’s hardly the only one to blame, but few people have made a name for themselves in recent years like she has, constantly bleating about how vaccines are unsafe and ineffective, and how mothers should possess supernatural abilities to know what’s best for their kids despite what all the scientific evidence suggests.

That way, whenever we talk about the disease, we’ll immediately know why the disease continues to exist. Here’s a sample from the CDC report, using the new designation for the disease:

Jenny McCarthy is a highly contagious, acute viral illness that can lead to serious complications and death.

Health-care providers should maintain a high suspicion for Jenny McCarthy among febrile patients with rash.

The source of imported cases could be any country where Jenny McCarthy continues to circulate.

To help expedite public health containment strategies, health-care providers should maintain a high awareness of Jenny McCarthy, implement appropriate infection control measures when Jenny McCarthy is suspected, and promptly report suspected cases to their local health departments.

The benefit of this change is that we can still refer to the vaccine as the MMR, though now it would stand for McCarthy, Mumps, and Rubella.

So please, make sure that you’re vaccinating your children against Jenny McCarthy. That includes getting the McCarthy, Mumps, and Rubella vaccine as well as teaching them to be skeptical of celebrities getting mainstream press for preaching against valid scientific evidence. Remember that the latter vaccination wears off after a short while, so you should continue to teach children how to think critically so that they never fall prey to the infectious disease of anti-science idiocy.

Rebecca Watson

Rebecca is a writer, speaker, YouTube personality, and unrepentant science nerd. In addition to founding and continuing to run Skepchick, she hosts Quiz-o-Tron, a monthly science-themed quiz show and podcast that pits comedians against nerds. There is an asteroid named in her honor. Twitter @rebeccawatson Mastodon mstdn.social/@rebeccawatson Instagram @actuallyrebeccawatson TikTok @actuallyrebeccawatson YouTube @rebeccawatson BlueSky @rebeccawatson.bsky.social

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4 Comments

  1. Three videos in just as many days!!! this is madness I tell you, MADNESS!

  2. Wait, the Amish have missionaries?

    But I like the idea of renaming measles Jenny McCarthy. And hey, it could also be Joe McCarthy, since the John Birch Society was a previous generation of antivaxers.

  3. Notice the shirt on Ms Measles? She first claimed her kid was an ‘Indigo Child’ some kind of ET-invasion of the body snatchers-children of the corn sort of ‘special’ child. Who was going to lead humanity to the ‘next level,’ or some such.

    THEN she claimed the kid was autistic, THEN she claimed a magical ‘cure’ through intuitive maternal credulity.

    I may not be remembering all this accurately. But can anyone be sure that Measles Minor was EVER actually diagnosed as autistic?

    1. I’m pretty sure I remember reading somewhere that it’s a case of Munchausen’s by proxy. Or malingering by proxy. Or something by proxy. But I can’t find the cite right now.

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