Bucharest, Romania – Well, well, well, look what we have here. Measles! Remember that thing we eradicated like, decades ago? Turns out, it's back, and it's staging a comeback tour in lovely Romania. Why? Because apparently, telling people they can’t question anything and shaming them for not blindly trusting 'the science' totally works. Spoiler alert: it doesn't.

Romania is basically the EU's leper colony right now when it comes to measles. A whopping 87% of all cases are chilling in the land of Dracula, while Italy's over there sipping espresso with their measly 1,000-ish cases. What gives? Simple: vax rates have cratered. Used to be above the EU average? Now it’s lower than Biden’s approval rating.

Turns out, after the Great Covid Freakout of '20-'23, people are a little skeptical of Big Pharma and government “experts.” Who could have possibly seen that coming? Maybe if they hadn't spent the last few years calling everyone who dared ask a question a grandma killer, they wouldn't be in this mess. But hey, gotta virtue signal, right?

Some doc in Transylvania – probably wearing a mask in her Zoom meetings even now – is whining about how it’s a “powder keg.” No, honey, a powder keg is when you tell people they have to inject themselves with experimental juice or lose their jobs. A few parents being hesitant is just… parents being hesitant. Maybe try listening to them instead of calling them conspiracy theorists? Just a thought.

And let’s talk about this Roma angle. Apparently, they live in squalor without running water or electricity. Shocking! Almost like open borders and unchecked immigration have consequences for both the immigrants AND the country they're leeching off of. But hey, diversity is our strength, right? Unless it’s measles. Then it’s a public health crisis.

Between 2023 and 2025, over 35,000 cases and 30 dead. Mostly babies. Sad! But also preventable. Maybe instead of pushing gender ideology on toddlers, Romania should focus on, I don't know, basic sanitation and getting people vaccinated? Just spitballing here. Oh, and the vaccine rate is as low as 20% in some communities! Awesome.

Some epidemiologist is screaming that it's a “national security issue.” Relax, lady. It's measles, not World War III. Although, with the way things are going, maybe World War III will be fought with diseases. In that case, Romania's already lost. Get those numbers up, and stop telling everyone what to do! If they had a brain, they'd be vaxed.

So, here's the deal: Romania screwed the pooch. They overreacted to COVID, destroyed trust in institutions, and now they're paying the price. Maybe this will be a lesson to other countries: stop being totalitarian nanny states and start trusting people to make their own decisions. Oh, and maybe clean up your act and enforce some borders. It will help keep disease out.

Sources:

* National Institute of Public Health (Romania) * World Health Organization (WHO)