In 1943, the famous, adored and newly pregnant actress, Gene Tierney volunteered at a support-the-troops nightclub called Hollywood Canteen.
She left the club infected with Rubella.
Today, most of us are blessed to know very little about Rubella’s devastating effects on fetuses. Rubella can cause about 20% of babies to be miscarried, about 20% to be autistic, and many to suffer deafness, blindness, heart disease, liver disease, spleen disease and serious developmental delays.
Gene gave birth to her baby girl, Daria, early. Daria was born weighing just over 3 lbs, deaf, partially blind with severe cataracts, and with brain damage so severe that she never learned to speak.
Two years later, at a tennis match, Gene Tierney met a fan, a former member of the Marine Corps, who shared that she’d snuck out of a Rubella quarantine to go to Hollywood Canteen that night. “Everyone told me I shouldn’t go,” the star struck fan told Gene, unaware of what she was responsible for, “but I just had to go. You were my favorite.”
What do you do when you come face-to-face with someone who has just told you they’re responsible for causing your child permanent and severe disabilities? This inspired an Agatha Christie murder story, though in real life Gene didn’t harm the woman.
What happened to them? Gene struggled with depression for many years and Daria was institutionalized for much of her life. Thankfully, Gene’s friend Howard Hughes paid for Daria’s medical expenses ensuring she received the best care possible.
The happy ending to their story is that in 1969, a vaccine was introduced which can prevent Rubella. Rubella (also known as German Measles) is the “R” of the MMR vaccine. The World Health Organization just declared that Rubella has finally been eliminated from the Americas.
But, we also just declared that Measles was finally eradicated in America not long ago. We’ve seen from the recent Measles outbreaks that a declining number of people are receiving the MMR vaccine and that we’ve lost herd immunity in many places. Globally, Rubella still causes about 120,000 babies to have severe birth defects, annually. It’s still out there.
If you’re concerned about the safety of vaccines, shedding, ingredients in vaccines, effects of Aluminum, or you just don’t trust our government or Big Pharma to give you straight answers, please ask your doctor if they vaccinate their kids.
Your decisions can affect other people’s lives in big ways.
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