Weigh the risks of getting the vaccine, kids Post #774642 • Liberal Forum

This was 2013, and Manchester, England, where we lived, was experiencing a measles outbreak that resulted in more than 1,000 suspected cases. A 1998 study by a British doctor, Andrew Wakefield, linking the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine to autism had caused vaccination rates to plummet. The study was later retracted and Mr. Wakefield stripped of his medical license, but the damage had been done. In 2013, most of the cases were among school-age children whose parents had refused to give them the vaccine, which is not compulsory in Britain, or among babies too young to be vaccinated, like my daughter. (The first measles vaccine is usually given at 1 year of age.)

While I was concerned about Renae, I wasn’t panicked by the diagnosis. At the time, I thought of measles as being like chickenpox. And I knew she was in the right place, in the hospital. Doctors were able to stabilize her breathing quickly, and her fever was responding to Tylenol. Renae would feel poorly for a bit, and then get better.

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