Building Family Core Memories of Measles
The Real Truth About Vaccines
Do you have any family core memories of measles?
I know I don’t…
But then, I never had measles. I was lucky enough to be born just after the first measles vaccine was developed.
Building Family Core Memories of Measles
And I was fortunate enough to be vaccinated and protected and never got measles.
But if you ever had measles, I’m guessing you would remember the experience.
The family isolated in their home for weeks in June while all eight unvaccinated children, who range in age from a 1 to 15, recovered from measles. Their 14-year-old son experienced the most severe symptoms, and went to the emergency department when coughing and nausea rendered him unable to keep down water or medicine.
“Measles isn’t fun, seeing your kids sick isn’t fun,” said Gina King, 41, who lives outside New Holland. But, she added, “I know this is going to be added to the King family core memories.”
Inside Pa.’s measles outbreak: A family rides out the virus, doctors treat severely ill children
After all, having measles is not like that episode of the Brady Bunch!
At best, a typical case of measles, without complications, is a good week of a high fever - up to 104°F (40°C) to 105°F (40.6°C), deep cough, red, watery eyes that cause a dislike for bright light, sore throat, and irritability.
“I feel like I’ve been lied to,” Kiley told his wife as his fever rose to 104 degrees. He tried to manage his symptoms at home with cod liver oil and vitamin D, supplements endorsed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the U.S. health secretary. He isolated himself in the living room to avoid infecting his four children and coughed and dry-heaved his way through the night.
‘I Feel Like I’ve Been Lied To’: When a Measles Outbreak Hits Home
And then there are the kids who have complications.
“Ethan came down with a severe rash and a fever on January 21. In the days that followed, his appetite diminished and he grew weak to the point where he could no longer stand up by himself. He began to fade in and out of consciousness.”
Mom of 7-year-old hospitalized with brain swelling from measles: ‘I still wouldn’t have given my son the vaccine’
Complications like measles encephalitis, which you would think parents would want to avoid adding to their family core memories!
“One infant experienced symptoms compatible with acute measles meningoencephalitis and was hospitalized several weeks later, outside the period included in this report.”
Characteristics of Patients Hospitalized with Measles During an Outbreak — West Texas, January–March 2025
What else?
“Patient zero, as identified by the Globe and Mail newspaper, was a Canadian who was living in Thailand when measles broke out there in 2024. In October that year she attended a wedding in the province of New Brunswick where she was later admitted to hospital with severe illness and tested positive for measles.
She had never been vaccinated for measles, nor had several of the other wedding guests. From there they brought the virus to communities across Canada where vaccination rates were low. Mennonite and other Anabaptist communities were mostly affected, but experts say other communities with similarly low vaccination rates are also at risk.”
How a wedding lost the Americas its measles-free status
What do you think of a new family core memory of starting a measles outbreak at your wedding that eventually sickens thousands of people and causes at least two deaths?
Bottom line - you will never forget if your unvaccinated child has a severe case of measles or suffers life-threatening complications that could have been prevented with an MMR vaccine. So instead of building family core memories of measles, get your kids vaccinated and build the antibodies that will protect them, so they can avoid getting measles altogether.
More on Remembering Measles
Roman Bystrianyk is Trying to Rewrite the History of Measles
What We Know About the Hospitalized Measles Patients in the Texas Outbreak
Inside Pa.’s measles outbreak: A family rides out the virus, doctors treat severely ill children
‘I Feel Like I’ve Been Lied To’: When a Measles Outbreak Hits Home
Mom of 7-year-old hospitalized with brain swelling from measles: ‘I still wouldn’t have given my son the vaccine’ https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/measles-encephalitis-south-carolina-anti-vaccine-b2918500.html
Grandma Knows Best: The Generation That Survived Polio Has Something to Say About Vaccines