Measles parties are back—and they’re just as reckless as they sound

In the latest round of social media absurdities, a resurfacing trend has sparked concern among healthcare professionals: measles parties. Yes, people are intentionally exposing their kids to measles—because “natural immunity.”

Eric Burnett, MD, a New York-Presbyterian doctor specializing in Internal Medicine, summed it up perfectly: “Fun fact: you don’t need to intentionally expose your children to infectious diseases. There’s a safer, far less risky way to gain immunity to measles.”

Measles isn’t some harmless childhood rite of passage. It’s a highly contagious, potentially deadly disease that can cause a host of debilitating health conditions. The idea of “natural immunity” through infection? That’s just playing Russian roulette with your kid’s health.

And for what? The MMR vaccine is safe and effective. Yet, thanks to vaccine misinformation and a general mistrust in public health, measles is making an unnecessary comeback.

Doctors, we’ve seen this before. The challenge isn’t just the disease—it’s the misinformation. Patients need facts, but they also need resources they can trust. So, keep debunking, keep educating, and maybe—just maybe—society will stop trying to reintroduce medieval diseases for fun.

Because there’s still no cure for extremely bad decisions.