To think there shouldn't be measles outbreaks?

[fatandhappy47]

Surely we shouldn't be having an issue with measles?
Had an email from school (secondary) 'reminding' us to keep kids off with measles, which got me thinking

All my kids band my friends kids of the same age had their MMR (however my youngest did get measles before this)

So why is it an issue in secondary schools of all places? Are people just not vaccinating their kids?

@RampantIvy yet evidence suggests Eastern European culture is distrustful of medics and the government (perhaps there’s additional reasons beyond WW2). We worked with Catholic Churches to help encourage this group to get their covid vaccine.

@oakleaffy no, that's not the case. I don't know why you are so convinced. My grandmother told me about measles parties happening. My dad was born in 1946. The younger you were when you had it, the thinking was that the more likely you wouldn't be left with vision or hearing impairment or worse.

No it’s a journalist’s quote ‘Popular in the 1950s before mass immunisation, the measles party is making a comeback,’ which has no basis in fact. As a child and also measles sufferer of the 1950s, if there were any measles parties, most children would have been far too ill to party.

I did hear about chicken pox parties in the 60s. Only in the media - never heard about a real family actually holding one!

How are you sure this is wrong? What evidence? Let me be clear I am in no way advocating this kind of thing but they did happen.

There are even references to measles parties in medical journals.

Me neither!
My 1st was born 2004 & there was a LOT of 'noise' about MMR & ASD at that time. Both my Dc had all their jabs, I paid for them to be given separately. Both DC are also Autistic. It's genetic.

Does anyone know how much protection there is from just the first mmr? My dc cannot have their second ones so I’m just wondering as had heard (but not sure if it is correct) that for most children one gives good protection ?

Lol.

I caught chicken pox from my neighbour, who was even older - late forties or early 50s. Like you though, I regularly mixed with children who had it and never got it from them.

www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/low-vaccination-rates-measles-parties-fueled-2019-measles-outbreak-nyc

Some mad people are still trying to do them now 🙈

Yes, seen and it's just plain wrong.

I think they have perhaps garbled measles and german measles, especially as this is an account from 5 decades after the time they claim it happened. If it had been happening (which it wasn't) there would be considerably more evidence than one newspaper article (compare to the amount of the evidence for german measles and chicken pox parties)

If it was happening in 2001 (which I doubt as their only example is a clearly invented one), it didn't work, as there wasn't any concerning rise in numbers at the time. And could only possibly have appealed to people who were extremely ignorant about the disease itself.

Children “ Thrown out to play?”
No child with measles is capable of doing anything but lying miserably in bed.

That would be German measles “ Rubella “ if they were capable of playing.

Measles has been a notifiable disease in the UK since 1940 (1912 in the USA). It’s absolutely ridiculous to claim that it wasn’t recognised as a very serious virus in the early 20th century.

Apparently the first one gives immunity to the vast majority but about 15% need a second to boost up their immunity fully.
I read that on a WHO publication so I think its probably a reliable source.

Most people get full protection from the first jab I believe. The second one is for the few who weren't covered.

The efficacy of the measles jab is something like 98% which imo is one reason why it's such a good vaccine to have, given how horrible the disease is.

And could only possibly have appealed to people who were extremely ignorant about the disease itself.

Well yes, of course. But before vaccines were available some parents wanted their child to catch measles at pre-school age because the older you become, the more likely you are to die from it.

In countries where vaccines for measles were no available, I have heard it said that people knew it was a realistic possibility that they could lose children from measles.

I cannot believe there was such a thing as Measles parties. It can be deadly. I had measles as a 3 year old and it nearly killed me.

I didn't have it due to an egg allergy so I needed the herd protection

That’s something at least. We are waiting to see if we can get it done at the hospital for observation afterwards if it’s an option (dc with autism and loeys dietz with aneurysms and have severe meltdowns with anything medical and the gp will not do any more vaccines there after incidents in the past so we need to proceed carefully and safely ). I’m just panicking as measles is now going round 😞

It’s so frustrating that anti vaxers but the rest of us at risk. A colleague of mine said she prefers her kids “build up natural immunity” natural immunity was the cause of the higher infant death rate pre vaccines. How stupid are people. They don’t seem to be able to think critically.

If anyone does it now they are a loon. If people did it before it's because they saw it as the lesser of two evils. Because they couldn't get vaccinated. Like I said, my grandmother mentioned that she had been aware of them but had not wanted to partake.

Does that mean that there will be a likely increase specifically within the Muslim population as they won't take the vaccine due to it containing pork derivatives?

There should be better awareness that there are non-pork derivative options available!

I'm not Muslim but if faced with the possibility of my child dying or being badly affected by a disease (and not having selected the standard vaccine due to beliefs about pork being unclean), or just having the vaccine, I'd pick the vaccine every time! Madness to think that people choose not to..

@MyopicBunny
Well neither of us is going to be able to prove measles parties one way or the other. I certainly never came across it nor ever heard about any in my 50s/60s childhood. It would have been a reckless thing to do.

I suspect measles and german measles (rubella) have been conflated.
Before girls were offered a rubella vaccination at 13 it was considered better they'd had it before any chance of pregnancy. The vaccine changed that totally.

It’s scary isn’t it - it’s basically a meningitis / encephalitis party 😩

I just googled to see if I can have it now and I can't as immunocompromised. Argh
I've had a rubella vaccine separately but I'm not vaccinated against mumps or measles

I can remember reading a report of measles parties in the 1980s amongst anti vaxxers. But it was a tabloid story and was presented very much as these people are extremely stupid. It included an interview with a mother who had thrown one. The thinking was if children caught measles very young it would be a mild illness. But this was recognised at the time as an extremist view. It was on a par with people who believe trackers are part of the covid vaccine.
Measles was not always a severe illness. I had very mild measles as a child. I had to stay off school but felt perfectly well and I remember playing outside by myself while other children were in school.
Measles vaccinations are essential though and I knew as a child it could be serious. But it wasn't always serious. And if I am honest I don't think pretending it is helps as many of us have had measles and know that is not true. We need to be honest to promote higher vaccination rates.
When I was a child mumps was seen as the really serious illness to be avoided and with lots of risks attached.

And I am talking about measles. I also had german measles. People knew these were different illnesses.