To anti-vaxxers: `Spend a month in my shoes'

About 17.3% of the U.S. population is over 65. That means 87.7% have no experience of the dreaded childhood illness I grew up with. The majority of people born before 1957 are likely to have been infected naturally and therefore are presumed to be protected against measles, mumps, and rubella (CDC website).

That means those of us who are still alive, 67 years and older, have lived through and survived the childhood illness of our era and what that meant. Having 1/3 to 1/2 of your class out sick, your mom actively encouraging you to go visit a schoolmate who is sick so you could get sick! Because, you did not want to get measles, mumps, rubella, or chickenpox as a teen or older. The complications are easily Googled or check CDC.gov for information.

I had measles in third grade, a year before the vaccine came out. I was sick, really sick. Really high fevers that caused hearing damage which basically wasn't dealt with until my early 60s. I learned to adapt and subconsciously got pretty good at reading lips. At my first real hearing test, the tech exclaimed, “Wow, you have a lot of scaring. High fevers?” Yep, measles, I answered.

After being fitted with hearing aids, my spouse was blown away when I made the comment, “I didn't know that tall grass makes noise when you walk on it!” Hearing aids are great, but will never give me perfect hearing.

So now, when I'm working in a classroom, if I have to ask a child to please repeat themselves or speak up, I tell them it's cause my ears are old and don't work so well. So, to all you parents who don't want your child vaccinated for MMR, spend a month in my shoes without hearing aids. I bet you will change your mind. And that goes to the Florida Surgeon General, Joseph Lapado, too.