{"id":4240,"date":"2025-05-08T04:55:27","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T04:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/?p=4240"},"modified":"2025-05-08T04:55:27","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T04:55:27","slug":"refusal-archive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/4240\/refusal-archive\/","title":{"rendered":"Refusal Archive"},"content":{"rendered":"

What slips
\nis not the needle
\nbut the gap left
\nwhen it does not arrive \u2013
\na hollowing
\nmeasured in
\nmissing.
\nYears spool
\nthrough skin-maps
\nnever marked,
\nand still
\nthe body waits
\nto meet
\nwhat it was never taught
\nto remember.
\nOld names
\nbegin again
\nin the fever-rooms \u2013
\nmeasles,
\nrubella,
\nmumps \u2013
\nthey do not knock,
\nonly follow
\nthe curve of forgetting.
\nAnd in the doorways,
\na tally grows
\nof who could
\nhave been.<\/p>\n

\"Close-up<\/a>
A vial of M-M-RvaxPro, a vaccine used to protect against measles, mumps, and rubella \u2013 diseases that are preventable but at risk of resurgence as vaccination rates decline (Image Credit: Whispyhistory, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This poem is inspired by recent research<\/a>, which has found that a 50% drop in US childhood vaccination could cause 51 million measles cases in 5 years.<\/p>\n

For decades, routine childhood vaccinations have helped protect populations in the United States from infectious diseases such as measles, rubella, and polio \u2013 diseases that once caused widespread illness, disability, and death. However, vaccination rates are starting to fall, fuelled by misinformation, vaccine hesitancy, and proposed policy changes. This decline puts hard-won public health gains at risk. If fewer children are vaccinated, outbreaks of previously eliminated diseases could return, with serious consequences for individual health and health systems.<\/p>\n

This research used computer simulations to explore what could happen in the US if childhood vaccination rates continue to fall. The results were stark. Even at current levels, measles may become common again. If vaccination rates drop by half, the model predicts over 50 million measles cases in 25 years, alongside millions of rubella and polio cases, over 10 million hospitalisations, and more than 150,000 deaths. These findings underline the urgent need to maintain \u2013 and where possible, improve \u2013 vaccine coverage. Without it, preventable diseases could return and cause suffering on a scale not seen for generations.<\/p>\n