Seeing Spots

There are six confirmed cases of measles in southwestern PA.
Measles. In the same zip code as my not-yet-old-enough-to-be-immunized child. In children old enough to be immunized. Who should have been and weren't.

With more and more parents opting out of childhood vaccines, herd immunity is waning and an epidemic is waiting. How about polio? Our parents breathed a sigh of relief when immunization wiped that disease from the U.S. But this generation of parents doesn't remember. Will it take a return of the iron lung? How quaint. Leg braces? Permanently paralyzed infants? What tragedy will be required to remind people they are lucky to live in a developed country with all the advantages that entails?

As a childless pediatrician I could calmly listen to parents enumerate their many reasons for not wanting their kids vaccinated and patiently counter their usually uninformed or misinformed opinions. I was shocked by the tragedy when I would see a child, near death in the ICU, fighting for their lives against a vaccine preventable disease. I felt awful for the parents who would have to live with the guilt. Worse for the children who didn't have a choice. But it wasn't personal.

As a parent, my stance is simple and selfish.
Vaccines do save lives.
They do not cause autism.
Don't cheat your child out of the best preventative care measure in history.
And keep your unvaccinated potential reservoir for preventable disease away from my angel until he is fully immunized. Stay out of the schools, libraries, McDonald's PlayPlaces. When measles comes, with Darwinian precision, for your child, I don't want mine caught in the tide.

Stepping off my soap box now.

Rest assured that as a pediatrician I can still carry on a reasonable conversation about the subject if required. But I will not hesitate to bring up the measles here in our area or to remind them that their children are breakable and only they can protect them.