Yet, I will suggest something that is actually worth worrying about and, yes, it is in connection with measles and, no, it has nothing to do with a side-effect of the vaccination: birth defects. People infected and contagious with measles represent an immense danger to pregnant women. This is a fact and it has been demonstrated. Women who contract the measles during pregnancy face the very real risk of their baby having birth defects.
It is for this reason that the current debate about the measles vaccination is so myopic and wrong-headed. We should be more concerned about what happens when an illness that is preventable is let loose and its impact on vulnerable populations. This is not mainly an issue of children catching the measles from others, but rather its impact on others.
Let me tell you a story. At the age of 39, I contracted chicken pox. I had thought that I had had it as a child. I may have had contact with it but I never had a full blown case. When I got it, two weeks after my then 4-year-old contracted it, I thought that I was going to die. The level of pain, misery and weakness helped me to truly understand why it can be fatal for adults to contract “childhood illnesses”.
When you are thinking about the measles vaccination issue consider this carefully. Think about the vulnerable populations. This is really not a personal decision, to be honest. This is a social decision, that is, the decision of the individual potentially has a far broader impact than on one child or even one family.
An embrace of myths about the measles vaccination is really about throwing the dice, with the well-being of others at issue.
(Bill Fletcher Jr. is the host of The Global African on Telesur-English. He is a racial justice, labor and global justice writer and activist. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and at www.billfletcherjr.com.)
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