Our collective childhoods have always been influenced by Roald Dahl’s imaginative and comforting stories. Classics like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and Mr. Fantastic Fox continues to favor shelves, movie screens, and even Broadway stages.
But today, on what would have been Dahl’s 104th birthday, we will share one of his lesser-known, but certainly more provocative, works of literature.
Despite the whimsical nature of his fictional worlds, Roald Dahl took the importance of vaccination seriously, after losing his seven-year-old daughter Olivia to measles in 1962. Once the measles outbreak resurfaced in 1986 , Dahl wrote his own intense call. in action at the Sandwell Health Authority. His position on vaccinations is very clear:
Measles: a dangerous disease
Olivia, my eldest daughter, got measles when she was seven. Since the disease followed the usual course, I remember reading it to him often in bed and not feeling particularly alarmed by it. Then one morning, when she was well on her way to recovery, I was sitting on her bed, showing her how to make small animals with colored cleaners, and when it was her turn to make one, I noticed that she had her fingers and mind they didn’t work together and there was nothing they could do.
“Are you okay?” I asked him.
“I feel totally asleep,” she said.
Within an hour, he was unconscious. She was dead in twelve hours.
Measles had become a terrible thing called measles encephalitis and doctors could do nothing to save it. It was twenty-four years ago in 1962, but even now, if a child with measles develops the same deadly reaction to measles as Olivia, there is still nothing doctors can do to help her.
On the other hand, today there is something parents can do to make sure this type of tragedy does not happen to their child. They may insist that your child be immunized against measles. I couldn’t do this for Olivia in 1962 because in those days no reliable measles vaccine had been discovered. Today there is a good and safe vaccine available for all families and all you have to do is ask your doctor to administer it.
It is not yet generally accepted that measles can be a dangerous disease. Believe me, it is. In my opinion, parents who now refuse to vaccinate their children are putting the lives of these children at risk. In the United States, where measles vaccination is mandatory, smallpox-like measles has been virtually eliminated.
Here in Britain, because so many parents refuse, out of stubbornness or ignorance or fear, to allow their children to be vaccinated, we still have a hundred thousand cases of measles every year. Of these, more than 10,000 will suffer side effects of one kind or another. At least 10,000 will develop ear or chest infections. About 20 will die.
LET THEM SINK.
Every year, about twenty measles children die in Britain.
So what about the risks your children run from being immunized?
They are almost non-existent. Listen to this. In a district of about 300,000 people, there will only be one child every 250 years who develops serious side effects from the measles vaccination. That’s about a million a chance. I think there will be more chances of your child drowning in a chocolate bar than of suffering from serious illnesses from the measles vaccine.
So what do you care about? It really is almost a crime to allow your child not to become immune.
The ideal time to do this is at 13 months, but it’s never too late. All children in the school who have not yet received the measles vaccination should ask their parents to arrange for them as soon as possible.
By the way, I dedicated two of my books to Olivia, the first was “James and the Giant Peach.” That was when he was still alive. The second was “The BFG,” dedicated to his memory after he died of measles. You will see his name at the beginning of each of these books. And I know I would be happy if I could only know that his death had helped save a fair amount of illness and death among other children.
Needless to say, the subject of Dahl’s letter is strangely relevant even in our modern era. There is a proven solution to a seemingly endless health crisis, and yet this solution does not coincide with a senseless and unfounded rebellion.
In a time of continual dissonance and confusion, perhaps Roald’s words can teach us to think critically, to act boldly, and not to give in to fear, as they have done in their beloved creative works.
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