Vaccination against measles, rubella and chicken pox is a year-round public health practice in many countries. In the Middle East and in Africa, however, we hear frequent stories of childhood measles infections, where 3-year-old girls are infected and diagnosed with measles.

The book “How to Prevent Measles” will teach parents what to expect and what not to expect when having measles and mumps vaccination campaign about to be implemented worldwide.

The content also presents evidence of how the vaccine – whose name is MMR – is creating immunity, can protect against diseases and has resulted in fewer cases of disease transmission in some countries, in the same time period 3.6 million patients were infected.

However, following the declaration by WHO of a public health emergency in an outbreak of measles in Wuhan, China, the vaccine has led to a steep drop in the number of measles cases in some countries and has led to a reduction of disease transmission in indications of herd immunity.

Measles is one of the most contagious diseases, so of course, measles vaccination must be taken every child immunized with MMR. MMR vaccination for the whole family also protects against measles, diphthymus and rubella. Producing vaccines, in this case, consist of the Egyptian DTP or the Russian MMR (if you are receiving a vaccination at age 1, you should get it at age 5).

To ensure the introduction of the new recommendation of herd immunity, the authors say it is important to be aware about the possibility of immunity and the need for vaccination. MMR vaccination is particularly important for the vulnerable, elderly or immunocompromised people, who are at risk of being heavily immunized against diseases and thus could help to immunize vulnerable community members.

During the four-year vaccination campaign in this article, we have highlighted a sequence of questions, which are designed to help you make good informed decisions.

The 3-year-old has been immunized with MMR, so the link of protection between the vaccination and protection is suggested in the article.

Does immunity imply immunity for later childhood?

There is no guarantee that immunity in the first few years of a child’s life shows up. Immunized children might survive some diseases. But for certain diseases of childhood, the problem remains unproven.

The author of the article says this also applies to measles, rubella and chicken pox. Although vaccines have been widely available in the countries of origin since the first vaccine campaign was launched back in 1960, measles still remains a problem.

Pregnant women also have to change their immunization regimens. Vaccines are often not available in a timely manner in the developing child’s life and mothers also struggle to obtain ECM for measles infection. Also, measles virus can remain airborne.

I strongly urge you to read this book and consider not only its content, but also its way of illustrating the importance of measles vaccination. Your child is at risk of infection if not vaccinated, but measles virus infection is incurable and hard to cure.