Bad marketing of the month comes from South Dakota vaccine advocates:
As part of National Immunization Awareness Month, the nonprofit Immunize South Dakota and the state’s American Academy of Pediatrics chapter have launched a campaign called “Let’s Just Talk About It” [Laura Hatch, “South Dakota Health Groups Launch Vaccine Campaign as Measles Vaccination Rate Falls Below 90 Percent,” Northern Plains News, 2026.08.14].
Widespread misinformation peddled by some of the highest officials in the nation is causing a public health crisis:
Immunization rates in South Dakota have declined in recent years. The state’s health department reported the measles vaccination rate was just under 90% last year, a 5% decline since 2020.
Measles cases are increasing, with 11 cases so far this year. South Dakota had 16 cases for all of last year. South Dakota reflects what is happening nationally, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting nearly 2,500 measles cases so far this year, more than the nearly 2,300 cases reported for all of 2025 [Hatch, 2026.08.14].
…and the experts with the facts say, “Let’s Just Talk About It”?!
That slogan is a complete failure. It doesn’t grab attention. It doesn’t pitch the real action necessary to solve the real problem. It suggests “talk” is the only desired action. And the slogan doesn’t even mention what we need to talk about. Slap “Let’s Just Talk About It” on a poster, and passersby are left clueless as to the topic of the desired talk. Blast that out in an e-mail subject line, and I just hit Junk.
I can think of many more appropriate and effective slogans, like “Get Your Shots!”
Don’t just talk about it. Lead with urgency. Lead with an unabashed declaration of what we have to do to save kids’ lives from Trumpist quackery: Get Your Shots!
The good news is that an overwhelming majority of antivaxxers are Republicans so pffft.
The bad news is that people like me, immune compromised, are surrounded by those who do not protect themselves. They put everyone at a higher risk of infection, and don’t give a damn.
We should have had a grip on covid; however, an ignorant minority of imbeciles made it a political issue vs a health crisis. They did not follow the play book that was already available, just like with Iran.
Republicans are literally killing American citizens.
Get your shots!
PS … COVID-19 levels are rising in SD. Recent public health tracking reports high per-capita case growth and climbing positivity rates in your region.
Its hard to comprehend. Trying to deal with unbridled ignorance is Sisyphean.
When you are as old as grudznick you are sure to get your shots. One little covid bug could prostrate me with the agonies for months.
BTW, old grudz – Sold a nice group of babies from the goats you surrendered to my property to the local Yemeni restaurant for “MANDI”. Sorry you lost so often. It’s mouthwatering.
I was talking to the lab tech who was drawing y blood last Friday about measles.
She has hearing aids in both ears and explained her mother contracted measles while pregnant, and that’s why she was born hearing impaired.
The child who was my ring-bearer at my wedding in 1972 had contracted measles when he was very younger and it progressed to encephalitis and left him with a seizure disorder
I personally contracted measles when I was in the 6th grade and missed two weeks of school. That was in 1961.
To isolate me from my siblings, I was sent to stay at my grandparents’ home under the care of a private duty nurse who moved into their house with me.
How many families can afford to do THAT??!!
The current generation of young parents have no idea what they are risking by not getting their children vaccinated, and when those of us who know try to tell them, they blow us off with “ok, boomer.” So much for talking about it. They won’t listen.
porter, I just checked.
Covid–19 is down by 62%
Influenza is up by 93%
Infectious Disease Surveillance | South Dakota Department of Health
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