It's time to change how we vaccinate for measles

Measles will soon ignite in Gaza. It will come as a banal surprise. Measles will hitch a ride silently, arriving in a febrile, rashy adult from an endemic region like India, Ethiopia, Thailand, or Italy. Like in Samoa, where measles swiftly killed 82 babies and children, measles will infect unprotected, malnourished children of Gaza and lead to hundreds of preventable measles deaths. Chillingly, the coming measles outbreak will likely occur once there's some semblance of normalcy returning to battered regions. Unwittingly, laborers and aid workers may bring measles with them. When the outbreak occurs, a desperate, centralized measles vaccination catch-up campaign will follow. And despite having a safe, highly protective injected measles vaccine for sixty years, it will be challenging to assemble trained vaccinators to safely and systematically deliver sterile injections of the traditional measles vaccine. Plus, a centralized effort in Gaza will inevitably place children, their parents, and healthcare workers in harm's way. What if we allowed people to vaccinate themselves against measles?