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'Brady Bunch' star speaks out against anti-vaxxers using episode for their cause

Anti-vaccination activists are using an episode where the 'Brady Bunch' kids get measles to downplay the disease's symptoms.

An episode of the "Brady Bunch" has become the center of the debate on vaccinations, and Marcia is not happy. 

Maureen McCormick, who played Marcia Brady on the show, slammed anti-vaccination activists for using the episode "Is There a Doctor in the House?" to downplay the symptoms of measles. The episode features the six Brady kids contracting measles and staying home from school. 

A YouTube video was posted featuring a compilation of lighthearted quotes from the episode. "If you have to get sick, sure can't beat the measles," Marcia says in the video. 

"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 told NPR in an interview. "As a mother, my daughter was vaccinated."

"Brady Bunch" creator Sherwood Schwartz, who died in 2011, was also a supporter of vaccination. 

"Dad would be sorry, because he believed in vaccination, had all of his kids vaccinated," his son, Lloy J. Schwartz,  told NPR

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said today that 704 cases of measles have been reported in 22 states. It's the highest total for any full year since 1994, when 963 cases were reported. 

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