When we were kids, there was no social media, so reports of the complications of measles was not widespread. From NIM: The most severe complications of measles are blindness, pneumonia, and encephalitis, leading to case fatality rates ranging from 0.1% in industrial countries to 15% in developing countries [7, 8]. Severe complications of measles are more common in children under 5 years and adults older than 20 years old.

Now we have the anti-vaxers and children from other countries that do not have a high vax rate coming in and infecting unvaxed children, so it is becoming more of a risk. Though death is a very small percentage, it is nonetheless real to the involved families.