Christians bring disease and death to a nation. Antivaxxer craziness and measles outbreaks.
We currently have two, yes, two, measles outbreaks going on in the United States at the same time, earlier we had a measles outbreak in Texas. Three
This morning ArsTechnica had an article on a third major measles outbreak in South Carolina state, in the United States. A lot of the cases are children with religious exemptions and attend a Chrisian school.
ArsTechnica, Dec. 9, 2025, "Over 250 people quarantined in South Carolina as measles outbreak rages."
From the article:
A measles outbreak that began in South Carolina at the start of October is showing no signs of slowing as officials on Tuesday reported 27 new cases since Friday. Those cases bring the outbreak total to 111.
And:
In an update on Tuesday, South Carolina’s health department suggested the spread is far from over. Of the state’s 27 new cases, 16 were linked to exposure at a church, the Way of Truth Church in Inman. And amid the new cases, new exposures were identified at Inman Intermediate School. That’s on top of exposures announced Friday at four other schools in the region, which led to well over 100 students being quarantined.
And:
The outbreak is occurring in the northern region of South Carolina, with many cases identified in Spartanburg County, which contains Inman, as well as Greenville County. Both counties have low vaccination rates.
And it is Christians driving the low vaccination rate:
The two counties’ low vaccination rates are coupled with high rates of religious exemptions. Spartanburg has the state’s highest rate, with 8.2 percent of students exempt from the school vaccination requirement based on religious beliefs. Neighboring Greenville has a religious vaccination exemption rate of 5.3 percent.
Some other articles about the South Carolina measles outbreak.
In Utah-Arizona there is a measles outbreak.
ArsTechnica, Oct. 31, 2025, "Measles outbreak investigation in Utah blocked by patient who refuses to talk."
There have been over 150 cases collectively across the two states, mostly in northwestern Mohave County, Arizona, and the southwest health district of Utah, in the past two months. Both areas have abysmally low vaccination rates: In Mohave County, only 78.4 percent of kindergartners in the 2024–2025 school year were vaccinated against measles, according to state records. In the southwest district of Utah, only 80.7 percent of kindergartners in the 2024–2025 school year had records of measles vaccination. Public health experts say vaccination coverage of 95 percent is necessary to keep the disease from spreading in a community.
And:
To date, the US has recorded at least 1,648 measles cases since the start of the year, the highest case count in over three decades, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been 43 outbreaks in the country, which account for 87 percent of the cases. The outbreaks and cases have spanned at least 41 states.
ABC4, Dec. 11, 2025, "Health officials provide situational update on measles outbreak in Utah."
https://www.abc4.com/news/health/officials-update-measles-outbreak-utah/
The Salt Lake Tribune, Dec. 8, 2025, "New Utah measles case discovered at Salt Lake County child care facility."
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2025/12/08/new-utah-measles-case-reported/
Then there was the Texas outbreak. Mennonites, a weird Christian sect refused vaccination. The following is from when I was tracking the measles outbreak in Texas.
The first death from measles in Texas.
https://dshs.state.tx.us/news-alerts/texas-announces-first-death-measles-outbreak
Dallas Morning News, Feb. 25, 2025, “Texas measles outbreak grows to 124 cases, possible exposure in San Marcos and San Antonio.”
This is for Feb. 25, 2025, I couldn’t find the number of cases for Feb. 27, 2025, but I am thinking it is much more. They mention 18 hospitalized.
This article has a curve for the number of case and you can see the line is going upward at a step angle.
Assoc. Press, Feb. 26, 2025, “Who are the Mennonites in a Texas community where measles is spreading?”
We learn that they are Old Colony Mennonites, a conservative branch.
Gaines county has a high rate of parents choosing to file for exemptions from the vaccination requirement. This is something they choose. It isn’t like they couldn’t afford it or it wasn’t available. Quoting from the article.
Gaines County is also home to one of the highest rates of school-aged children in Texas who have opted out of at least one required vaccine, with nearly 14% skipping a required dose last school year. [Boldface added.]
ArsTechnica, Feb 26, 2025, “Unvaccinated school-aged child dies of measles in Texas amid growing outbreak.”
They give the history of measles in the United States and explain what it was like before vaccines were available and how at one time measles had been eliminaed.
The current outbreak in Texas also involves a close-knit religious community—Mennonites—that has largely eschewed vaccination. The outbreak began in late January in Gaines County, which sits at the border with New Mexico. The county is one of the least vaccinated in the state, with coverage among kindergartners in the previous school year at just about 82 percent. That's significantly below the 95 percent threshold considered needed to prevent vaccine-preventable diseases from spreading in a community.
Since the outbreak began in Gaines, cases have risen to 124, now scattered across a total of nine Texas counties. There are also nine cases across the border from Gaines in New Mexico's Lea County. It remains unclear how cases spread to the state. [Boldface added.]
Assoc. Press, Feb. 10, 2025, “Fifteen cases of measles reported in small West Texas county with high rate of vaccine exemptions.”
Gaines County has one of the highest rates in Texas of school-aged children who opt out of at least one required vaccine: Nearly 14% of children from kindergarten through grade 12 had an exemption in the 2023-24 school year, which is more than five times the state average of 2.32% and beyond the national rate of 3.3%.
Anabaptist World, Feb. 20, 2025, “Texas community hit with measles outbreak.”
Anabaptists aren’t Baptist. Totally different. They include Mennonites and Amish.
They try to make excuses for this. But it is fairly obvious that they are religious people derailed from medical reality.
Gaines County is home to a significant number of Low German Mennonites in the Seminole area and has one of the highest rates of children who opt out of at least one required vaccine. Texas law allows children to get an exemption from school vaccines for reasons of conscience, including religious beliefs.
“The church isn’t the reason that they’re not vaccinated,” said Texas Department of State Health Services spokesperson Lara Anton, who noted many families send their children to small private schools or are homeschooled. “It’s all personal choice and you can do whatever you want. It’s just that the community doesn’t go and get regular health care.”
https://anabaptistworld.org/texas-community-hit-with-measles-outbreak/
Lancet, April 2023, “Exacerbation of measles mortality by vaccine hesitancy worldwide.”
Says herd immunity requires 95% vaccination.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(23)00063-3/fulltext
Dallas Morning News, Feb. 26, 2025, “First measles case confirmed in Rockwall County, officials say.”
The Rockwall case was a returning international travler coming back from South Korea.
Again, herd immunity for highly contagious measles requires 95% vaccination.
This article has a map of the vaccination rates per Texas county at the end of the article.
Gaines County has 81.97%. Dallas has a vaccination of 94.26%. There are several counties where the vaccination rates are in the 60 to 70% range. Tarrent County is 91.52%. The counties around Dallas are in the low 90% range. So we are fairly isolated. Of course there are likely pockets of low vaccination in those counties, so we will see what happens.
Nigeria
Then there was a Nigerian pastor spreading conspiracy theoris about malaria vaccines.
BBC, April 8, 2024, "Chris Oyakhilome: Nigerian pastor pushing malaria vaccine conspiracy theories."
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67577223
Zimbabwe
In Zimbabwe hundreds of children died of measles because of Christian objections to vaccination. Suddenly the data wasn't being released when more than 700 children died of it.
Assoc. Press, Sept. 5, 2022, "Zimbabwe says measles outbreak has killed 700 children."
Some are calling for the enactment of legislation to make vaccination mandatory in a country where anti-modern medicine religious sects hold sway on large swathes of the population of 15 million people.
Measles is not likely to kill you, the author of this blog had measles when a child. However, Ebola, Marburg, and Nipah and others can kill you.
During the covid outbreak, one Christian minister in Myanmar declared he was vaccinated in Christ.
Reuters, April 15, 2020, "Myanmar charges preacher for defying virus ban on services."
In a sermon posted online in late March, David Lah had told followers: "If you hear the sermon of God, the virus will never come to you, I declare it with the soul of Jesus Christ."
Another article from the Canadian press.
Christian craziness is a risk to public health.
The Christians are susceptible to all sorts of disordered thinking since their belief system is incoheren and full of hysteria.
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