Girl in my class in junior high who was deaf from what was the last mumps outbreak in our area before the MMR became available. I know her parents would have done ANYTHING to spare her the health challenges and learning issues she had a result of what was permanent hearing loss. The notion that folks are being so cavalier about these outbreaks… Ugh. And only the old people (like me) remember how terrifying it was.
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My brother got mumps when he was a kid, also before MMR. I remember my parents being worried about the infertility/sterility issue but I think he was young enough that that wasn’t a serious danger at that point.
Actually thinking back I think he got measles too at one point, because I remember the darkened room thing. I didn’t get either, but I did get chicken pox (which I passed on to the poor kid…)
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It was terrifying, and it was apparently random as well. One sibling might be so sick that they didn’t know which way was up and had to be helped to get to the toilet. Their sibling might have a temperature of 99 and feel like going to bed 15 minutes early. Meanwhile the kid next door died or went deaf or blind. There was no way to predict what your experience would be.
And now this is all preventable. I still remember my reaction to the MMR vaccine. I had a short nap the next day.
Short nap, or unpredictable risk of dying or going deaf or blind. Pick one.
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"But that guy on YouTube said that it causes autism. "
The worst part is that the vast majority of these numbnuts don’t even know what autism is. It’s become a Scary Word, like “Communist”. They have no idea what it means, but since the YouTube guy played scary music and spoke about it is terrified tones, then it must be a Fate Worse Than Death.
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Anti-vaxers often only proselytize to prospective converts about the risk of death from different diseases, hiding all the other outcomes. It’s horribly misleading.
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Yes, anti-vaxers have set our country and world back many decades. 
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I saw what appears to be a genuine post (genuine as in, not made up to make antivaxxers look dumb) about a woman who claimed after her kid was vaccinated, the kid got autism and was given 9 months to live. How do people even believe this stuff?
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I read a national news report that some doctors in S Carolina’s outbreak have been allowing parents to vaccinate as early as 6 months to protect their infants, even knowing that it isn’t as effective as waiting – but parents are scared.
As the parent of a person with permanent immunosuppression, and as a nana-to-be, I have zero tolerance for people who say “there need to be more studies” as a way of hedging their anti vax position into something less dumb.
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Measles vaccine at 6 months is often recommended as an additional vaccine for infants going to measles-exposure areas before the usual 1 year of age (and 5 years of age later). I.e. infants in measles-exposure areas (which the US is now) should get a dose at 6 months, in addition to the usual ones at 1 year and 5 years (i.e. 3 total instead of 2 total).
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I have to ask, recommended by who or what? (Not at all contesting the information, which makes sense) My S/DiL are relying on AMA and the American Academy of Pediatrics, not the CDC etc.
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It’s long been recommended for infants traveling to areas where measles was a possibility. I haven’t yet heard it’s recommended across the board in the US but if I lived in an outbreak area or was traveling to one and had an infant under one year I would certainly ask my pediatrician. As mentioned above this is an additional dose - the two usual doses are still needed for maximum effectiveness.
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AAP web site recommends the 6 month extra dose if traveling internationally or if there is a community outbreak. Given that community outbreaks keep appearing in the US, should the entire US be considered to be at risk of measles now?
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I’m had a doozie of a case of real measles when I was in kindergarten…so maybe 1956…it was a huge measle epidemic IIRC.
I also had rubella.
But I never had the mumps, so I got an MMR vaccine at some point too.
But then when traveling to tropical (and not measles free) Africa, I had to get another MMR.
I sure hope I’m protected from measles!
I was told I had both types of measles, I remember having mumps. I’m not sure how long immunity lasts so I just went ahead and got a MMR booster last year at CVS.
Long ago I was deemed unimmune for Rubella. Got another shot then but I was never told that I was immune.
At my recent annual checkup with pcp, she ordered bloodwork and voila! I am, and to measles and mumps as well.