Category: MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella)
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Rubella After Vaccination: The Virus That Went From Baby-Wrecker to Unemployed
Last time we covered rubella, it was in the middle of running one of the great uncredited public health disasters of the 20th century — 20,000 babies born with congenital rubella syndrome in a single epidemic, thousands deaf, thousands blind, all while everyone kept calling it “just a mild rash.” So what happened once a…
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Rubella Before Vaccination: The Mild Rash That Broke 20,000 Babies
Rubella has the most deceptive marketing in the history of infectious disease. “German measles.” “Three-day measles.” Sounds like a long weekend, not a virus responsible for one of the worst public health disasters of the 20th century. Let’s talk about what actually happened before 1969, because “mild rash” is doing some heavy lifting there. Welcome…
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Mumps Before Vaccination: The Disease That Made Grown Men Cross Their Legs
Everyone remembers mumps as “the one where your face puffs up like a chipmunk.” Cute, right? Wholesome, even. What nobody mentions at the nostalgia table is that this “harmless” childhood classic also had a nasty habit of going after teenage boys in the one location that gets everyone’s attention. Let’s revisit the pre-vaccine glory days,…
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Mumps After Vaccination: The Career Nosedive of a Once-Great Chipmunk Cheeks Franchise
Welcome to “Remember When Kids Just Died?” A daily two-part tour through every vaccine-preventable disease, starting with polio on September 1, 2026. Each disease gets two posts: the pre-vaccine era, when parents enjoyed the character-building experience of burying their children, and the post-vaccine era, when we ruined everything by making childhood survivable. Cramming both into…
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Measles Before Vaccination: The Childhood Rite of Passage Nobody Asked For
Welcome to “Remember When Kids Just Died?” — a daily two-part tour through every vaccine-preventable disease, starting with polio on September 1, 2026. Each disease gets two posts: the pre-vaccine era, when parents enjoyed the character-building experience of burying their children, and the post-vaccine era, when we ruined everything by making childhood survivable. Cramming both…
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Measles After Vaccination: A Comeback Story Nobody Should Be Rooting For
Welcome to “Remember When Kids Just Died?” — a daily two-part tour through every vaccine-preventable disease, starting with polio on September 1, 2026. Each disease gets two posts: the pre-vaccine era, when parents enjoyed the character-building experience of burying their children, and the post-vaccine era, when we ruined everything by making childhood survivable. Cramming both…