A mother stands crying over her sickly child, who recently turned five this past winter. After having suffered from the measles, he then was diagnosed with pneumonia and has very little likelihood to live. The doctor attempts to soothe the weeping female, but his tries fail and she only grows more hysterical.

The doctor sighs, “I’m sorry, ma’am, but there’s nothing we can do for him now. Maybe you should have considered getting him vaccinated to prevent this from happening.”

The recent outbreak of measles is more dangerous to children than the concept of their parents getting them vaccinated.

A recent report provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded a 6.8% increase in measles cases this month across a span of 26 states. This is the largest outbreak that has occurred since 1994.

This epidemic is largely caused by parents refusing to vaccinate their children, claiming the Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine is associated with risk of autism.

This belief is completely false, as the MMR vaccine has zero connection with autism. According to a recent CNBC article, officials found, “Eighteen studies from seven different countries on three different continents have since proven children who receive the vaccine are at no greater risk of getting autism.”

Therefore, parents who strike against vaccinations are actually condemning their kids to an even worse fate.

The measles disease not only causes the common symptoms of fevers, runny noses, and ear infections, but also causes deadlier linkages to pneumonia and brain swelling. The CDC found that one in 20 children are diagnosed with pneumonia after having an instance of measles.

Pneumonia is the most common cause of death from measles in young children.

In order to prevent these outbreaks, individuals must receive the two doses of the MMR vaccine to protect them against the disease. An article from Quartz Magazine found that if 95% of people accept the vaccination, then measles will be eliminated worldwide.

Parents need to take into consideration the complications that are proven to arise with the refusal of vaccinations rather than focusing on connections that don’t exist.