The number of measles cases is at an all-time high, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announcing Monday a total of 704 cases in 22 states after the disease was eradicated in 2000.
Now, a star of the popular 1970s-era sitcom "The Brady Bunch," Maureen McCormick, who played Marcia Brady on the TV show, is slamming the anti-vaccination movement for using a clip from an episode of the "The Brady Bunch" to further its message.
In the 1969 episode, Marcia Brady and her siblings catch the measles, and Marcia says, “If you have to get sick, you sure can't beat the measles.”
McCormick has faulted movement supporters for using the clip to further their message that it’s better to have the measles in childhood and develop an immunity to it naturally.
"I think it's really wrong when people use people's images today to promote whatever they want to promote and the person's image they're using, they haven't asked or they have no idea where they stand on the issue," McCormick said in an interview with NPR.
She also said she had the measles in real life and that she remembered it as a miserable.
“Having the measles was not a fun thing," McCormick said. "I remember it spread through my family.”
McCormick also said she vaccinated her own daughter against the disease.
Measles is a viral infection, typically occurring in childhood, which can almost always be prevented with a vaccine, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Also called rubeola, measles can be serious and even fatal for small children.
Symptoms include fever, a dry cough, a runny nose and a rash.
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