Vaccine skepticism is growing in our country, and with the new nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., I fear this will only worsen with time. This is not because I believe we need to be vaccinated against every single potential disease out there. Far from it.
At the time, I greatly worry that more people will forgo vaccination against truly horrific diseases that can be potentially eliminated completely. One that comes to the forefront of my mind is measles.
In my entire medical training and subsequent career, I do not think I have ever come across a case of measles, even during my Pediatrics and Infectious Disease rotations. That is because a substantial proportion of the population, including myself, were vaccinated against this viral illness.
As of November 21, 2024, there have been a total of 280 cases of measles in the United States, but globally, in 2023, there were an estimated 10.3 million of cases of measles, of whom 107,500 died. Most of those who died were children younger than 5 years of age. That is a tragically high number.
What makes it so tragic is that vaccination against measles can potentially eliminate the disease completely, as immunization (and natural infection) confers lifelong immunity. Here’s the rub: you really do not want to “naturally” catch measles. It is a horrible disease, with potentially deadly complications.
Measles is a viral illness that is highly contagious. It is characterized by fever, cough, runny nose, conjunctivitis (red eye), and a rash. If that was it, I would not be so worried about it. The problem is that, in approximately 30% of cases, one or more complications occur that can be deadly.
The most common complication is diarrhea, and this seemingly innocuous complications can cause serious illness. Yet, measles can also cause:
(1) suppression of the immune system and subsequent secondary bacterial infections;
(2) stomatitis, or inflammation of the mouth and throat, that can prevent kids from getting proper nutrition and hydration;
(3) pneumonia, which is the most common cause of measles-associated death, along with croup and bronchiolitis;
(4) neurologic complications, including encephalitis, acute disseminated encephalitis, and the frightening subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE), which is a fatal and progressive disease of the central nervous system that occurs 7 to 10 years after the natural infection.
(5) Keratitis, which can cause blindness, and corneal ulceration;
(6) Myocarditis and pericarditis;
(7) And people with immune suppression or pregnant women are at increased risk for serious measles infections and complications, including death.
In 2019, a measles outbreak in American Samoa caused 5707 infections and 83 measles related deaths, mostly in children younger than the age of 5. Measles is such a horrific disease, and with such an effective vaccine, why risk these potentially awful complications?
Now, is the measles vaccine completely, 100% harmless with no risk of side effects? Of course not. That said, the risks associated with the vaccine are far less than the risks of the actual infection.
Side effects of the MMR vaccine, which is a live, attenuated viral vaccine, include:
(1) Fever;
(2) Temporary rash;
(3) Temporary swelling of the lymph nodes;
(4) Allergic reactions;
(5) A decrease in platelet levels, which is rare, but can happen;
(6) Seizures due to the fever;
Research has indicated that there does not appear to be an increased risk of encephalopathy or encephalitis, thankfully, associated with the vaccine. And, as noted above, these side effects are pretty minor and mostly associated with the body’s immune reaction to the vaccine, and those risks are so much less than the risks associated with the actual virus and subsequent infection.
Measles is no joke, folks. It can absolutely kill little kids, and this is so very tragic. If there is any viral vaccine that I would want my kids to get, it would be the measles vaccine.
