Public health officials are warning parents not to be fooled by claims that purposefully exposing their children to the measles virus at so-called 鈥渕easles parties鈥 is a safe alternative to the MMR vaccine.
New York City Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Dr. Herminia Palacio last week amid an outbreak of the virus that has prompted mandatory vaccinations.
Once eradicated in Canada, measles outbreaks have occurred in many countries this year. The United States has had
It鈥檚 not clear whether measles parties are actually happening, but anti-vaccination advocates continue to push the idea on social media.
鈥淢easles was the chicken pox of my parents鈥 generation,鈥 one woman wrote on Facebook on Sunday. 鈥淭hey would have measles parties so they could catch the measles because measles is safer to have as a child.鈥
鈥淶ero deaths people. ZERO. State of emergency, forced vaccinations, bullying, mandates all for ZERO deaths and an infection they admitted we used to have normal 鈥榤easles parties鈥 for,鈥 wrote another on Saturday.
Rachel Alter, a public health educator with March for Science, told CTV News Channel that the idea may have come from the 鈥渃hicken pox parties鈥 that happened before there was an effective vaccine against the virus varicella. Some people believed that it was better to expose children to varicella because the complications can be worse if contracted as an adult. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control
Alter says vaccines have made the idea moot. 鈥淭he vaccines are so effective that we really look down upon (the parties),鈥 she said. 鈥淚n some jurisdictions, they may be considered child abuse.鈥
鈥淔or measles which is an extremely contagious disease with a very, very effective vaccine, there is no reason to be going to these parties,鈥 she added.
Having measles as a child 鈥済ives you a much more significant chance of disability later in life,鈥 Alter explained. 鈥淭he most dangerous part is called SSPE, which is short for subacute sclerosing panencephalitis,鈥 she said. SSPE is 鈥渘eurodegenerative progressing disease that manifests after measles, about 10 years later.鈥
鈥淚t is fatal. It is painful. It is completely avoided if you get the vaccine,鈥 Alter said.
Steven Hoffman, a York University professor and director of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research鈥檚 Institute of Population & Public Health, said measles parties are 鈥渁 terrible idea.鈥
鈥淢easles is a very serious virus. In Madagascar, 120,000 people have gotten measles over the past few months and 1,200 have died,鈥 he told CTV News Channel.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not something we should be taking lightly,鈥 Hoffman added. 鈥淗ow fortunate we are today to live at a time when you can get vaccinated for it.鈥
