Before vaccines became standard care, parents who wanted to build their children’s immunity to common diseases often brought them to play with other neighborhood kids already infected with bugs like the measles and chicken pox. Now, a small group of parents opposed to vaccines are reviving “pox parties” via social media sites like Facebook. Recently, one mother catered to that crowd by advertising homemade lollipops tainted with the varicella virus…yep. “pox pops.” Nancy Shute is correspondent for NPR's science desk and blogger for NPR’s shots blog, covering health and medicine.
A Pox on your Pops!
(Andreas Photography via Flickr Creative Commons)
