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In Canada, measles was once a disease of the past. But it's increasingly becoming a health threat of the present, after backsliding vaccination rates allowed the virus to creep back into circulation.
Canada officially eliminated measles nearly three decades ago, but for years, medical experts warned it was poised to make a comeback — and disruptions to routine childhood immunization efforts throughout the COVID-19 pandemic may have sped that up.
Now, after tens of thousands of cases in Europe, and close to 100 recent infections across Canada and the U.S., health officials are on high alert.
There are warnings about travel abroad, calls for people to ensure their families are up-to-date on the measles vaccine, and fresh reminders that the virus is highly contagious and capable of causing pneumonia, brain inflammation, and even death. [...]
If you have had the current covid vaccine, what was it like? I had/have long covid and I am absolutely enraged every time I catch it AGAIN despite my best efforts. How bad are the side effects? How long do they last? I will totally get the new vaccine anyway, I just want to know how many Days of Being Useless I need to pencil in on my calendar.
Hey Americans, it’s fall 2023 and the adult Covid vaccines are STILL FREE at certain pharmacies. Even if you have no health insurance. Even if you have health insurance but the insurance company likes to whine about CVS being “out of network” for vaccinations.
Find out more FAQ stuff from the CDC here:
And find your local locations with free vaccines below. Once you’ve put in your zip code and hit “go”, on the next page, make sure to click the checkbox that says “BRIDGE Access Participant” so you know these locations have the free shots.
Hey, it is the holiday time of year which is a time that comes with lots of large gatherings to celebrate. With this time also comes Covid and flu outbreaks. Get vaccinated
Maria Gotinha, one of Brazil's vaccination campaign mascots affiliated with SUS (Brazil's public healthcare system). She is the female counterpart of Zé Gotinha, the main mascot. They are supposed to represent a drop of the vaccine against polio that's given orally to babies and children ("gotinha" literally means "small drop" in brazilian portuguese). However, nowadays Maria Gotinha and Zé Gotinha are present in basically every vaccination campaign in Brazil.
I was unaware that Diego Rivera had done a set of massive fantastical-industrial murals for the Detroit Institute of Arts -- he was commissioned to do only a few panels but apparently wanted to do the entire courtyard, so one of the Fords (as in Henry) ponied up the cash for it. It’s absolutely fucking epic and spectacular; if you like the above you really should check them all out.
These are just two of my favorite panels; one shows the manufacture of chemical weapons (note bomb in background -- this was done in 1933 prior to the atomic bomb, so very prescient). The other is what I started thinking of as the Nativity of the Vaccine -- it’s a scene of scientists vaccinating a young child, but it’s deliberately designed to invoke images of the adoration of the Madonna and child. As the docent explained, the Madonna is also based on Jean Harlow, which caused a scandal when it was unveiled, “A Mexican Communist putting a sexpot film star into the role of the Virgin.” Absolutely compelling, richly-layered, beautifully wrought work.
[ID: Two panels from the courtyard murals; one shows a number of men in WWI-style gas masks, doing various industrial tasks including checking the pressure on a vat, while a large bomb hangs ominously in the background. The other shows a young child, draped in a towel, being held by a woman in a white dress while a man on the other side vaccinates the child in his arm. Three “wise men” scientists are at work in the background, and several farm animals used to develop vaccines are shown in the foreground.]