Interesting. Not sure we had the vaccine when she died, but I realize he wrote his plea later.

Recently had the titer test, and I am not immune to measles. Looking for a place to get the vaccine as my dr. does not have it.

Poor child.

Her poor parents.

So sad.

socks, try the below link for MMR vaccine. Hopefully, it can help!

Here is a link that might be useful: CVS-if all else fails

I normally stay out of the tragedy/empathy/ I'm so sorry for you- threads. They're not my thing. But this one caught my attention on two scores.

Most importantly, I'm so sorry for any parent who has suffered the loss of a child. I can't imagine that the magnitude of such a horrible experience could be overstated.

This whole measles thing is what happens when our laws allow stupid people to do stupid things without limitations in the interest of the common good. I regret that any child could have parents so ignorant to endanger their health and that of others by falsely thinking (or believing when told) that vaccinations should be avoided. No one's freedoms (whether of religion or other beliefs) allow them the right to endanger the health of others. Period.

Yes, I posted this, not to get sympathy for Roald Dahl (who died 15 years ago), but because it relates to the current measles outbreak and the need for children to be immunized. If anyone would like to share it in the hope that some anti-vaxxers might pay attention, that would be great.

Dahl and his wife, Patricia Neal, faced a terrible ordeal just two years earlier when their 4-month-old son, Theo, in his pram, was hit by a taxi in NYC. The baby was slammed against a bus, and at the time, it didn't seem as though he would survive his massive head injury, But after several surgeries and numerous terrifying close calls, he miraculously did.

I hadn't thought about Theo in years, so I just looked him up. He's been married since 1996, and they have one child. Truly a miraculous recovery.

If you're a Dahl fan or have any interest in him, a fascinating (and historically unknown) side story about him was covered in a 2008 book called The Irregulars by Jennet Conant.

After beginning WW 2 as a fighter ace, he was assigned to the British embassy in Washington DC, where he worked as a spy AGAINST the US. He was also active planting propaganda (sometimes false) with the American media and cultivating favors from influential people. Very shocking behavior from an allied government and he was right in the middle of it.

Rob, thanks so much!!!

I found my CVS and made an appointment online. I'll be traveling this summer, and the measles vaccination is recommended for international travel. (I do not care for CVS and all their useless "extra bucks" promotions, but this seems like the path of least resistance to get the vaccine.) Again, thank you for posting this.

We're trying to start a family and I'm already committed to not leaving the house with my newborn. According to a New York Times article from a few days ago, some schools in my area (southern Orange County) are reporting that 50%-60% of kindergarteners are not fully vaccinated, and up to 40% of people are claiming personal belief exemptions to vaccine requirements. That is alarming for those who are too young, old or sick to be vaccinated. I feel like I can't take a newborn out to public areas without a risk with so many unvaccinated kids running around, especially with the measles outbreak in my county.

I'm not thrilled with the idea of giving my kid vaccinations. I am the granola sort who tries to avoid all possible chemicals and like to do my own research regarding medical guidelines, but I think it's way more dangerous not to vaccinate. Kids are getting a lot more these days than they used to. I think I read that there are 26 shots for the first 2 years of life. I will probably do a selective approach with my doctor and vaccinate against the most dangerous diseases and discuss the others, like the flu shot.

I think the generation of parents who are choosing not to vaccinate are doing so because they grew up in the 80's and 90's when people in their communities didn't get polio. They haven't seen family and friends die or suffer lifelong complications. I guess in their minds they are vaccinating against something they don't see as a threat, even though vaccinates are WHY it's no longer a threat, and these threats come back very quickly when a significant portion of the population is not vaccinated because these diseases are still a threat in much of the world.

I get that people care more about the health of their child than society as a whole but I also think that if they insist on not vaccinating, they also shouldn't have access to other societal rights such as emergency services, public schools and doctors that they have access to by living in a community. You shouldn't be able to refuse to do your part but still get all the benefits, but I suppose that's not constitutional. And really it's the kids that suffer from selfish parents, and no one wants that.

I have been seeing a lot of pediatricians who will no longer see unvaccinated kids because of the risks to infants and others in the shared areas. And schools are sending unvaccinated kids home. This pressure is causing some parents to smarten up and get their kids vaccinated. I'm hoping all the media attention and exposure will help eradicate this trend!

Here is a link that might be useful: NYT Article

"I think the generation of parents who are choosing not to vaccinate are doing so because they grew up in the 80's and 90's when people in their communities didn't get polio. They haven't seen family and friends die or suffer lifelong complications. I guess in their minds they are vaccinating against something they don't see as a threat, even though vaccinates are WHY it's no longer a threat, and these threats come back very quickly when a significant portion of the population is not vaccinated because these diseases are still a threat in much of the world."

I think you hit the nail on the head!

I started first grade in 1958, & I had to have the smallpox vaccine to be admitted to school, but no other vaccines were mandatory.

so my mother paid for the smallpox vaccine...
& I was dangerously, deathly ill for a great part of first grade.

I had both measles & chicken pox, & my fevers were so high that I hallucinated:
My father would read fairy tales to me when he got home from work, & when he read "The Goose Girl", I thought the geese were biting me.

I also had a bit of nerve damage or trauma in my hands, which has gotten better with time, & my vision is just horrible.

don't know for sure that measles is what caused it, but I did google myopia & fever one time, & there's a correlation, & it isn't something I was born with;
I can remember seeing the stars clearly before I started school, & after first grade, stars, moon, leaves on trees, & gravel were all a blur.

When the Salk Sabin polio vaccine came along, every schoolchild got the 3 doses, & I think it was free, sponsored by the schools or something.

Parents were thrilled & eager for their kids to have those sugar cubes (or whatever it was).

I'm glad I'm not a young parent at this time. I would have a difficult time trying to choose whether or not to vaccinate my child. I know that scientists claim that there is no correlation between the prevalence of Autism and childhood immunizations, especially the MMR vaccine, but it's hard to ignore the dramatic increase in Autism cases in recent yrs.

There are lots of autistic kids who have never been vaccinated, though. I do agree that there is a dramatic increase. Part of that is just more awareness of it, as I am sure there were many undiagnosed individuals in the past. But I do think we're doing something to help fuel it, whether it's excessive prenatal ultrasounds (including the very trendy mall kiosk 4D ones), drugs given during birth, environmental pollutants or something completely unknown.

It's sad that children are born with autism, the causes are really not known.

Maybe autism is caused by pregnant women eating granola. Or KFC, or salty pickles, or mint chocolate chip ice cream. The evidence for these things leading to autism is the same as the evidence for vaccinations being a cause. - NONE. One theory (and there are many but none yet accepted) is that autism rates aren't higher than in the past, but rather it is a more focused diagnosis that years ago might have been called many other things, including developmentally disabled (or dare I say the "R" word), behaviorally disabled, or some such.

It's not hard to be a young parent these days, it's no different than before. You understand that young children tend to get sick, you take whatever preventive steps and actions your pediatrician tells you to do, and you get on with your life. Caring parents try to do what's best for their kids, but how did it evolve to the point where we are today, that people think they get better information from watching TV, doing pseudo research via internet searches or reading magazine articles from uneducated sources. Honestly, doing that instead of listening to their physicians?

However well-intentioned, such folks are simply foolish and misinformed. On the benefit of childhood vaccinations, public health experts and the world of pediatricians are of one mind, there's no ambiguity or differences of opinion. Why do people act as if there were uncertainty? Kids should receive all vaccinations their physicians suggest.

Immune systems get better with exercise, whether from vaccinations or from exposure to sick people. Children whose germ-phobic parents shelter them are less healthy, not more. That's been known for a long time.

Children whose germ-phobic parents shelter them are less healthy, not more. That's been known for a long time.

Yes, one of my uncles wasn't allowed to play outside with other children because his mother was so afraid he'd get polio. That's exactly what he got.

Now if you believe, as I do, that we know quite a bit about our lives before we were born, you could theorize that his mother was terrified of polio because on some subconscious level she knew what was coming.

In any case, my uncle survived with a withered leg--which I suspect people never noticed because he was so handsome, warm, and funny.

I agree with Chi83's thoughts on the explosion of cases of autism. It seems clear some factor or factors are involved: something we're doing now that wasn't done generations ago, or something we're now failing to do. Like the late Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, I'm highly suspicious of routine prenatal ultrasounds.

There's been an increase, not an explosion, in autism. For unknown reasons.

For whoever is interested, the book "Polio, An American Story" tells the fascinating tale of the incidence and subsequent fight to conquer the disease. The establishment of the March of Dimes, the research thus funded and the personalities and politics involved, and the efforts that resulted in the ultimate successful development of vaccines are all discussed.

In the early 1950s, they were rushing to produce vaccine, having trouble doing so, and rushing to have the first trials. The relevant authorities agreed for the need to take a big risk by doing a massive nationwide clinical trial. The plan was to administer the unproven vaccine to over 500,000 children and also include enough others in the study to constitute a control group.

The number of doses that could be produced was limited. At first pass, it was decided to not "waste" any doses on black children living in rural areas. Why? Because the worse the squalor and filth people lived in, the stronger their immune systems, and the fact was that the rate of polio among rural blacks was almost zero. Many tested showed the presence of polio antibodies in their blood. Realizing this would be a public relations nightmare, it was accepted that some rural blacks would need to be included, but they knew in advance that no useful information would come of it.

This Dr. Mendelsohn sounds like more of a crackpot than a source of thoughtful healthcare ideas. None of his ideas came from research or clinical practice.

Here is a link that might be useful: Some information on Dr. Mendelsohn

Dr. Mendelsohn was a hero of mine, Snidely. I wouldn't expect you to approve of him.

Interesting about the distribution of the polio vaccine.

It's sad to see parents that absolutely refuse to get their children vaccinated. My grandson is married to a girl that refuses all vaccines and is very verbal about it and posts all sorts of supposed information about how bad vaccines are on her FB page. This really makes me mad as they have two children now, youngest 6 mo. old and neither have been vaccinated but there is no persuading her, nor her numerous relatives. It's people like this that start some of these epidemics

I worked at a public health dept. for over 20 years and immunizations was one of my main focuses. We have many Amish in this area and though they usually didn't vaccinate their children, they are doing so now.

Then, we had the parents that refused giving 'religious' reasons. And, some of them didn't want to see the baby cry getting an immunization! For those we would invite them to stay outside the room and have another nurse hold the baby and most of the time the baby never made a sound.

In all the years I worked and gave immunizations we never had a report of a severely adverse reaction, just the usual sore site, low grade fever, etc.

My DD got the measles vaccine sometime in 1967 when it first became available and ran a really high fever. Somehow, I guess it never really took as her titers always show up negative and after every child she has had, they revaccinate her against measles.

Go over to Hot Topics if you want to see some really hair-raising antivaxor posts. I just smh at some of the things posted and wonder at the lack of concern some people have for not only their children (if they have any) but our fellow mankind.

As to the statement of there being an increase in autism, Snidely accurately stated why that appears to be - more mental health issues are being lumped under the umbrella diagnosis of autism thus making it appear that autism is increasing, but it really cannot be proven to be so.

I had measles prior to when the vaccine was available. I suspect my hearing loss may be connected to the severity of the case. I recall that the doctor actually came to our house for a visit.

I spent many years as a school nurse. One of the accomplishments I was proud of, for one year, and it was an enormous amount of work, was that year my elementary school was 100% vaccinated (for the vaccines they could have; some unvaccinated/undervaccinated children were getting the series so of course while they were up to date they would need further future vaccinations).

My principal was on board and she helped convince holdouts. In addition, I worked every yearly registration and flat out did not allow parents to register their children unless their children were up to date. I would always have a list of nearby clinics that had free vaccinations.

I had many excuses proffered. None were accepted. One lady dramatically described the trials and tribulations of single motherhood, she did not have time to take her child for vaccinations. I nodded, saying I also was a single mom; then told her to check another nearby elementary school because she wasn't getting her child into mine without vaccinations. She was very unflattering, threw the registration papers across the table and stalked out. Was back a few days later, with her child vaccinated up to date.

This was years ago, and at that time I recall the it was rare to have a religious exemption, I think they are more common now. I remember wondering how it could be OK for God to allow a child to die or have permanent effects from diseases for which there were vaccinations. But I don't think that is God's will at all, I think people sometimes get confused and attribute stuff to God that I think He would never want for us or our children.

It's not that autism is increasing, it's that it's being more diagnosed. Like many diseases and conditions over the years, it was not uncommon in the past, but there was no name for it. Every class had "the weird kid".

What I don't get is parents who refuse to get their kids vaxxed, but seem to have no problem in doing it for their dogs and cats!!

Unfortunately my husband got polio about a year before the polio vaccine came out, they gave it to us in school (1950’s) I remember getting measles, mumps and chicken pox back then. Our children got vaccinated, grandchildren also.