routine childhood vaccination, the MMR vaccine protects against measles, mumps, and rubella: three diseases that once put American children at risk of death or permanent disability. Before the vaccine, nearly all children contracted measles because it was so infectious. Each year, 400 to 500 children died of the disease and 48,000 were hospitalized. Mumps was similarly virulent; before immunization, it was considered the most common cause of hearing loss and meningitis in children. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in just one year before the vaccine became available, 12.5 million Americans contracted rubella, or German measles, which triggered an estimated 11,000 miscarriages and 2,100 newborn deaths.
But today, through the wonders of modern medicine, parents are, for the most part, unaware of the trauma these diseases caused just half a century ago. And in so many ways, the MMR vaccine is a victim of its own success. Since all three diseases have been largely eradicated in the United States due to widespread vaccination, it’s easy to forget the devastation they once caused — until outbreaks caused by anti-vaxxers propel these preventable diseases into the limelight.
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