By the way . . . make sure your holidays are happy

THE children have just gone back to school after a couple of weeks on the move, visiting friends and relatives and far-flung places. As well as making new friendships and happy memories, some will have come into contact with measles.

The infection is so contagious that a staggering 90% of people close to an infected person will also become infected, if not immune. I am literally talking about only being in the same room as someone who’s infected — it’s that easy to catch measles.

For a full four days before spots erupt, you can spread the virus. The virulence of the germ explains why, back in the day, we nearly all got measles, en masse. Whole families, classmates, groups of friends — it was a given. But also as I recall from personal experience, it was ghastly. It used to be somewhat of a rite of passage but now, thanks to vaccination, kids don’t have to suffer — that is, assuming you vaccinate them. This year, 40 cases of measles have been confirmed in people who mostly did not have the MMR vaccine. That’s the free, evidence-based vaccine that will protect you or your little one against measles.

Around 5% of people get pneumonia as a result of measles, a consequence that is the most common cause of death in the measles patient. We need 95% of the population to be immune to stop this infection in its tracks, and we aren’t there yet.

Following the publication of a now dis- credited paper linking MMR to autism and inflammatory bowel disease, many parents took a step back from the vaccine.

This scientific paper published in a reputable medical journal in 1998 did then, and is still doing irreparable damage. Staunch anti-vaccine campaigners still believe there is a global conspiracy between governments and pharmaceutical companies trying to coerce us into having the MMR.

As a result of ill-informed and emotive campaigns children are missing out on the MMR and many are going on to develop not only measles, but also mumps and rubella. The facts speak for themselves. Why opt for infection over inoculation? There is, I believe, no excuse.