Jenn

Quote.

Five months later, around 150 to 200 of our, Mennonite, clients have had measles, and most of our low German-speaking clients have at least had symptoms.

End quote.

As of October 28, there has been 771 cases of measles in the southwestern PHU.

If 150 to 200 of them were low German-speaking Mennonites as of July, and most of their clients had symptoms at that time, this indicates that the Mennonites would have made up for a substantial amount of all cases in that PHU.

I rest my case.

Which is not to say that it is a perfect one but here is where I put it down because I am not going to put more effort into it.

I encourage others to pick it up and put more work into it if they are so inclined.

Heading.

Mennonites are susceptible to facts and logic when presented in low German.

The general sentiment both in the Reddit comments and in most of the news coverage seems to be something like woe, they're weird religious people, and therefore immune to logic about vaccines, and also something something religious tolerance meaning that we can't criticize their choices at all.

But in reality, Mennonite parents love their children and do not want them to die of measles, and they do not want to contract measles themselves.

Having looked into it, it seems to me like the largest barrier for them getting medical care and vaccination is that they are not fluent in English, they speak Low German.

In Ontario, three-quarters of the 700 Mennonite community clients helped by a Low German-speaking personal support worker have agreed to be vaccinated.

In Alberta, the other large Mennonite population centre, and not coincidentally the other large site of the outbreak, there has been a 25% increase in demand for medical care in Low German, and service has expanded from 5 to 7 days a week.

And, like, yes, to be clear, there are loads of Mennonites who are actually anti-vaccine.

I am not disputing the obvious fact that, in religious communities, many people are against vaccinations.

Further, 75% still falls very short of the 92-94% vaccination rate needed for herd immunity.

But a 75% vaccination rate is much, much higher than I'd have hoped for.

Here is an example of the miscommunication that can happen when one is not fluent in English.