The Measles Outbreak: A Reality Check

     

Disclosure:  I have two children with autism, they are both fully vaccinated.  I believe that vaccination is hugely important and my children WILL be vaccinated.  I don’t want them to die of a disease that could be prevented.

Guess who is not fully vaccinated in this family?  Or at least is more likely to be an issue.   ME.  And my husband.  In your family, it’s likely YOU.  Why? 

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/01/26/whats-really-behind-the-measles-outbreak

Two doses of vaccine were not recommended until 1989 – meaning that anyone over the age of 26 today may not have received a booster. Orenstein says the CDC for this reason advises adults traveling outside the U.S. get an MMR vaccine.

According to an article in the Journal of Infectious Diseases, people who were not in the targeted age group went unvaccinated, leaving a gap of people in older age groups who were not protected. "The major problem with measles in highly vaccinated populations occurred among middle school, junior high school, senior high school, and college students," the article read. "The quickest way to eliminate that problem would be a mass revaccination campaign of all such students. This was considered too expensive and logistically difficult to carry out."

Orenstein says the reason public health measures focus on vaccinating younger children is because they suffer the most severe consequences of measles. This approach, however, means some adults could have been missed during that time period. "What I wonder about are these people who fell through the cracks," Orenstein says

Here, directly from the CDC website:

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/downloads/adult/adult-schedule.pdf

Measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccination

• Adults born before 1957 are generally considered immune to measles and

mumps. All adults born in 1957 or later should have documentation of 1 or

more doses of MMR vaccine unless they have a medical contraindication

to the vaccine or laboratory evidence of immunity to each of the three

diseases. Documentation of provider-diagnosed disease is not considered

acceptable evidence of immunity for measles, mumps, or rubella.

Measles component:

• A routine second dose of MMR vaccine, administered a minimum of 28

days after the first dose, is recommended for adults who:

—— are students in postsecondary educational institutions;

—— work in a health care facility; or

—— plan to travel internationally.

• Persons who received inactivated (killed) measles vaccine or measles

vaccine of unknown type during 1963–1967 should be revaccinated with

2 doses of MMR vaccine.

Mumps component:

• A routine second dose of MMR vaccine, administered a minimum of 28

days after the first dose, is recommended for adults who:

—— are students in a postsecondary educational institution;

—— work in a health care facility; or

—— plan to travel internationally.

• Persons vaccinated before 1979 with either killed mumps vaccine

or mumps vaccine of unknown type who are at high risk for mumps

infection (e.g., persons who are working in a health care facility) should

be considered for revaccination with 2 doses of MMR vaccine.

Rubella component:

• For women of childbearing age, regardless of birth year, rubella immunity

should be determined. If there is no evidence of immunity, women who

are not pregnant should be vaccinated. Pregnant women who do not have

evidence of immunity should receive MMR vaccine upon completion or

termination of pregnancy and before discharge from the health care facility.

Health care personnel born before 1957:

• For unvaccinated health care personnel born before 1957 who lack

laboratory evidence of measles, mumps, and/or rubella immunity or

laboratory confirmation of disease, health care facilities should consider

vaccinating personnel with 2 doses of MMR vaccine at the appropriate

interval for measles and mumps or 1 dose of MMR vaccine for rubella.

Now, tell me, have you all followed this guideline?  I am a nurse right?  I worked in a hospital for the first 8 years of my career.   I had to get my hepatits B vaccination as part of being employed; I had to get TB tests annually.  I was expected to get the flu shot.  No one checked my titers for measles, mumps or rubella.  And for people in my age range, we should be checked.

“Anti-vaxers” are to blame right?  Did it occur to you that you may be a big part of the problem too??  I think there needs to be more education about this issue. 

On “anti-vaxer” parents:  I disagree with not vaccinating your child.  I do.  I have done a ton of research as a mom, and even more as the mom of two boys with autism.  The benefits do outweigh the risks.  If you are worried about your child having a reaction, there are measures you can take to help “shore up” your child’s immune system, to protect them the best you can.  And you can spread out vaccines (although not the MMR which is no longer available in separate doses-  http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/health-concerns/vaccines/separate-measles-mumps-rubella-vaccines-longer-available-can-parents) .  Which I believe is fine- as long as you take the time to follow through.  I have a good amount of medical knowledge, both professionally and of course personally.  Even with all of that information, my education, and my experiences, I have found myself questioning the norm.  And I have had numerous medical professionals tell me the norm is wrong, I have had professionals tell me that my son is vaccine injured.  Literally told me that.  Once again, I am well educated and have a very hard time swallowing all of the conflicting information.  Imagine how those who have less information and are hearing these statements must feel. 

What pisses me off is the holier than thou people out there that slam anyone who questions the status quo.  And I mean- Pisses.  Me.  Off.  Most of these parents do not have children with autism or other health issues, in my experience. It’s easy to judge when your toddler is running around you saying WORDS and going to regular preschool.  When you haven’t had a professional tell you that vaccines have affected your child negatively.   I have come so close to defriending some people who are otherwise dear to me lately because I can’t stand the snide posts that are constantly in my news stream.  I have chosen to block their posts instead, we all have our opinions, and I can love you and not agree with you.

I have kept my mouth shut to this point because I feel like I will be attacked no matter what I say.  But screw it, I started a blog to express myself, and this is how I feel.  Before you go attacking parents for not vaccinating, look at the facts above, we, as parents, are being infected MORE than our children.  We are more responsible for this outbreak spreading than any unvaccinated children.  Get your titers checked people.  We are just as much to blame for this situation, if not more so.  So yes, kids need to be vaccinated, but so do we.  It’s much easier to blame the problem on others, to single out one group, especially when you disagree with them to begin with.  If only it were that simple.