12 MAY 16, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Let’s protect each other at last
If you want to understand the
danger that measles poses to
our society, turn to the beloved
children’s author Roald Dahl.
In 1988, he wrote an open letter
describing the tragic death of his
daughter who had contracted
measles and developed from it a form
of encephalitis — an inflammation of
the brain — from which there is no
cure or recovery.
For decades, the measles vaccine
has saved countless children from
a similar fate — and spared parents
from enduring unimaginable
heartbreak. Readily available and
affordable, the vaccine took a serious
public health threat and brought it to
the brink of eradication.
Only the misinformation spread
by the anti-vaxxer movement in this
century has allowed for the deadly
threat of measles to re-emerge, as
we have witnessed in recent weeks.
The city shut down a Flushing school
on May 13 for failing to comply with
an order not to admit unvaccinated
students amid the outbreak.
Hundreds of people in the city
have come down with the measles in
EDITORIAL
Photo via Getty Images
the highest numbers in more than
a quarter-century — and the most
infuriating aspect is that it could
have been so easily prevented.
Mayor de Blasio and his
administration, to their credit, have
taken a zero tolerance approach
to the outbreak. They’ve ordered
mandatory vaccinations in “hot
zones” where measles cases have
been most prevalent, and closed
schools and other institutions that
failed to comply with city mandates
on protecting children.
The administration’s aggressive
approach to fighting the measles
outbreak is not some knee jerk
reaction to a minor crisis. Measles
is not a minor illness; it’s a highly
contagious virus in which indirect
contact with an infected person
puts you at serious risk of becoming
infected.
Defensive measures by public
health agencies, however, can only
do so much. It’s up to all of us to
protect ourselves and our children
from infectious diseases such as
measles — and the best and easiest
way to do that is to be vaccinated.
The anti-vaxxer movement has
tricked a number of parents into
thinking that the vaccines are
dangerous. Nothing about this
movement is grounded in reality
or fact. It’s a regression to the dark
ages in which generations of kids
lived with the fear of contracting
debilitating illnesses such as measles,
cholera, whooping cough and polio.
And the worst part is that it
poses a grave risk to children with
compromised immune systems who
are more susceptible to contracting
these viruses than those who are
vaccinated.
This goes beyond a parent’s
personal choice for their children.
The choice not to vaccinate poses a
hazard to thousands of others whose
parents who want to guard their
children in the best possible way.
Please protect your children, and
each other, by making sure they
are vaccinated. Let’s reverse the
backward trend and trust science
once again.
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ESTABLISHED 1908
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MARK HALLUM
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BILL PARRY
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