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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   27092 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 2, 2026

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In 2006, 92% of Somali 2-year-olds were up-to-date on the measles vaccine, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. Today's rate is closer to 24%, according to state data.

Such a huge drop in 20 years is baffling.

It seems to be a combination of (1) higher autism rates (there's a bit in the article I didn't quote about a gathering for Somali mothers who asked the nurse leading it "Why does autism seem more prevalent here than back home?") being diagnosed in the USA amongst the kids and (2) from that, picking up the anti-vax attitudes around "vaccines cause autism" and (3) cultural habits of vaccinating the kids when they're older plus (4) the article can't resist blaming (a) the pandemic when everything was locked down, people couldn't go out, and thus visits to get the kids vaccinated also fell off and of course (b) it's all the fault of ICE scaring everyone so they stay home and don't go out in case they get picked up by them.

Plus the funding for vaccination initiatives such as outreach to the community got cut and such efforts were start-and-stop anyway, and on top of that back in Somalia measles is endemic, so if people travel home and back to the USA then there's a greater risk that they'll bring infection with them.

Thanks for the summary. I'm somewhat skeptical regarding 2) though, as I imagine these Somalis have long been acculturated in a Blue Tribe milieu which is rather antagonistic towards anti-waxxer activism. And 3) and 4) do sound a bit like Blue Tribe copium. Either way, a drop from 92% to 24% these factors do not really explain.

Somalis may not be running with rednecks very often, but they aren't running with the normal blue tribe locals either- they're probably exposed to antivaxxers because that's in the water, and it's kind of unpredictable what they choose to go with, because this is a fairly inward-looking community.

They aren't the same Somalis.

My apologies but I don't get it.

The Somali parents in Minnesota in 2006 were a different group than the Somali parents in 2025. Once a foothold had been obtained and a Somalia-to-Minnesota pipeline had been set up, it was much easier for the less functional to migrate.

Implying that the Somalis who arrived before 2006, presumably all of them as refugees, were relatively that much more functional.

Relatively.

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