We Can’t Let Measles Make a Comeback

This is an open letter on a topic I never imagined would be in the news: the re-emergence of measles, a vaccine-preventable disease, spreading quickly with several outbreaks across the country and around the world. In the U.S. and in other wealthy countries, it has re-emerged because of complacency and misinformation. In other regions, low routine immunization rates are due to overburdened health systems still recovering from the pandemic.   

We are living in a world where misinformation is literally causing illness and taking lives. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic millions of families worldwide were completely overwhelmed and living in a constant state of fear. I’ve witnessed this fear firsthand, as I spent the last three years helping families professionally to push through this difficult moment. Most unfortunately, this overall sense of fear and paralysis left many parents open questioning one of the safest and most effective disease prevention tools we have: vaccines. Many parents have dismissed the importance of protecting their own infants with the measles vaccine, and we are already seeing the effects – outbreaks across the U.S.  

I want to be candid here, as I’m not one to mince my words and I believe honesty has always been at the root of parents’ and families’ trust in me. So, please hear me when I say that there have been false claims made about vaccines by politicians and celebrity figures that have created a serious health risk in our communities. Parents have been misled about the safety of vaccines and the risks of infectious diseases, and we are now seeing the fallout from this: outbreaks of measles here in the U.S. and around the world. 

Vaccines are truly a miraculous achievement, one that we are lucky to have access to. In many parts of the world where access is more limited, parents traverse great distances and line up for hours to vaccinate their children. I’ve watched parents in other countries go to remarkable lengths keep their little ones safe from fatal disease. They walk miles upon miles because, a parent’s love is infinite and giving a child a shot at a healthy life is priceless. The sacrifices they make to get their children access to a simple vaccine, which we can get in a quick visit to a local pharmacy, remind us not to take our good fortune for granted. 

Most of us in the U.S. have never known the deadly consequences of measles because our own families vaccinated us. They kept us protected, and in so doing protected others in the community. We must do the same for our own children, and work to ensure parents everywhere have the ability to protect theirs.