Editorial: Measles should not be a risk to our children's future

Please check your vaccine status and see your doctor. Photo / File

EDITORIAL:

This morning a baby is fighting for its life in Starship Hospital.

The infant is one of 937 people infected with measles around the country — a number that is rising alarmingly every day. It is New Zealand's worst outbreak of the disease since 1997.

It is easy to pass measles off as someone else's problem. Or, perhaps, to remember it as an adult disease causing a few spots and a few days of feeling unwell. But it can be a killer to our most vulnerable.

As Starship director Dr Mike Shepherd writes today, everyone can and should take a role in fighting it.

Shepherd and his staff are on the frontline. In a stark warning, he says children are likely to die.

"We see critically unwell children with measles, pneumonia and brain infection caused by measles on our wards and in our intensive care unit. It is very difficult to see children suffering from an entirely preventable illness."

And the point here is that it is preventable. Although you may be unlikely to succumb, you can easily carry the disease and spread it.

A child could be infected by entering a room where someone with measles has coughed several hours earlier.

Stephanie Peeni knows the risks better than most. Three of her four children contracted the disease and, although they are on the road to recovery, one has respiratory issues and another has rash scarring.

They were healthy children until they became victims of the outbreak.

"Imagine a child who has a weak immune system, or a heart condition or an adult who is fighting cancer," Peeni says. "Measles can kill so don't be ignorant, be educated, be vigilant."

So today the Herald on Sunday asks that you please don't assume you're vaccinated.

In Shepherd's words: "Help your community. The best way we can look after our most at-risk New Zealanders is to ensure that everyone who can be, is vaccinated."

Measles should indeed be a story of the past, not a risk to our children's future. Please check your vaccine status and see your doctor.