The Columbian has reported, “U.S. measles cases are up in ’24” (Associated Press, April 11). How can this be? How can parents who don’t allow their children to wander into the street without watching for traffic not vaccinate those same children against communicable diseases that can be fatal?
I had measles in the mid-1940s. Even though I was only 5, I still remember having photophobia. My eyes were so painful that my room was kept dark. I remember the fever. Measles was not just a disease with a rash, it was a disease that could leave a child blind and even deaf. Parents feared for their children when they contracted it.
During my lifetime, the polio epidemic was raging. In Boston in 1955 it was so bad, the start of school was delayed two weeks. When the Salk vaccine became available, we all lined up. We didn’t need permission slips. Our parents made sure we were in line to receive the vaccine. As a nursing student in the late 1950s, I took care of polio patients in “iron lungs.” As a parent, I made sure my son was in line to receive the polio vaccine. Anti-vaxxers, are you listening?
