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The Measles Outbreak: Why Now?
10 years ago measles had nearly been eliminated in our country.
Back in 2000, the childhood disease of measles was all but eliminated. But this year, the United States has seen the highest number of cases of measles in the past ten years. In just the past five months alone, 127 cases of measles were reported by the Centers For Disease Control. The cases occurred in 15 states and over 40 percent of the patients had to be hospitalized.
Why the sudden resurgence?
Two words: no vaccinations.
Measles is highly contagious. Over 90 percent of unvaccinated people who come in contact with the respiratory disease will contract it. Since symptoms are so common (runny nose, coughing, sneezing, red, watery eyes) and the most contagious period of time occurs before the rash breaks out, infection can be extremely easy to pass on to people who have not been vaccinated.
The National Institute of Health reports that vaccinations is the best way to prevent the disease:
Some parents do not let their children get vaccinated because of unfounded fears that the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps, and rubella, can cause autism. Large studies of thousands of children have found no connection between this vaccine and autism. Not vaccinating children can lead to outbreaks of a measles, mumps, and rubella — all of which are potentially serious diseases of childhood.
The U.S. states with the outbreaks include Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington state, as well as Washington, D.C. Today, Charlottesville, VA is reporting a small measles outbreak that they believe began after a woman contracted it in India, came home and spread it in her town.
Just last month, parts of Europe, France in particular, saw a major measles outbreak that health experts attribute to unvaccinated children, reports the Huffington Post. The World Health Organization reported nearly 5,000 cases between January and March in Europe.
I am on the way today to the doctor to get my daughter vaccinated. What I always wonder about is how schools are so adamant about getting the medical documentation before the school year starts but by simply checking off “religious reasons”, kids can enter a building without the proper vaccinations.
I’ll admit that I am the first to be suspect of the new crop of vaccinations. For example, I am still pretty leery about Gardisil, the shot for girls starting at age 9 used to prevent certain types of human papillomavirus (HPV). To me, it’s still a new vaccine and I’m not convinced that 9-year-olds need it. But with an established vaccine like the MMR, I am more traditional, I guess because they’re been around for so long. I even had them when I was a kid and suffered no repercussions. Yet I understand the concern of thousands of parents who feel that there is a definite link between vaccines and autism. I empathize with those parents whose children have become gravely sick and/or died from vaccines. There are no easy answers. Everyone has their own beliefs regarding vaccines.
Do you vaccinate your kids? What vaccinations worry you, if any? Do you think there is a link between vaccinations and autism?
Vaccination Information: Required immunizations for kids 0-6 years
Read Danielle’s blog Just Write Mom.
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23 Comments
Shandra commented on May 27 11 at 8:30 amI vaccinate my kids and I am absolutely comfortable and proud of my choice. I did read up on it and I find the evidence on the anti-vax side to be weak. I think vaccines are one of the most natural means of fighting disease we have, bringing the body’s own immune system online to learn how to handle the stronger germs when they arrive. Certainly there are risks with vaccines, but there are also risks to antibiotics that are used to fight primary or secondary infections when people contract vaccine-preventable disease; risks to incurring the diseases, etc. While I agree that some vaccines, like the chicken pox/varicella one are still being proven in the wild in terms of effectiveness, and we’ve learned that you need a pertussis booster (and some strains of pertussis lead to higher rates of vaccine failure) I still think these are some of the best tools against disease going. As for the added “toxins” – I don’t think people understand the difference between the fact that vaccines are so monitored that you get a list of the teeeeeeeeny tiiiiiiiny amounts of stuff – amounts that you would get from daily life.
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It absolutely saddens me that innocent babies have died and will continue to die because people don’t remember how awful some of these diseases were and are, and because they are not well able to evaluate risk. I’m not a stranger to vaccine reactions; as someone who’s allergic to eggs and had to get a series of rabies shots I had a bad reaction and then had to be supervised for the rest of the shots, with Benadryl in my system and an epi-pen at hand. When I was deciding whether to continue the shots I spoke with a coworker of mine who was raised in India. He said he had watched people die a slow and tortured death from rabies, and that rabies is absolutely fatal if you actually get it. Since I knew the raccoon I had come into contact with was a carrier, I kept going.
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I try to respect other people’s choices, but I do believe that not vaccinating is kind of a anti-the-man trend that will result in tragedy for some families and I think vaccines – and society – is a victim of its own success in that way; people just don’t get it because we have been fortunate to grow up where we didn’t watch people in our community contract polio; deal with lifelong complications of measles and mumps; die of tetanus and so on.
Danielle Sullivan commented on May 27 11 at 9:01 am@Shandra Thank you for sharing your story and your views. I agree, I’d never forgo getting my child vaccinated for a long term, contagious disease like measles or mumps. The HPV concerns me however. I doubt it’s need and validity, especially for 9-year-old girls. I hear you about society becoming a victim of its own success.
goddess commented on May 27 11 at 9:15 amThey also allow for philosophical exemptions- for which I WILL use if they ever mandate Gardisil- or even flu vaccines.
If there is an outbreak of a disease for which vaccine mandates exist, those children unvaxed/undervaxed are not permitted to attend the school.
However, having had a child who suffered severe brain damage and eventually died from adverse reaction s to his infant vaccines, I would never dream of forcing anyone to accept a vaccine for themselves or on behalf of their children, for something that might ultimately kill them. Their choice, not mine.
Polina commented on May 27 11 at 9:50 amI am sorry, but its not a “simple” choice to tick of religious reasons (or personal beliefs- depending on where you live- in my opinion these two reasons are synonymous anyways). Many parents do extensive research before making that apparently simple decision. No one should be forced into vaccinating. That is unconstitutional, and undemocratic.
As for those who make the argument that those who choose not to vaccinate are some how harming their children, I believe the same ‘could’ be said for those who do choose to vaccinate. No matter what you choose to do, there can be negative side effects. You can recover from the measles, but you can’t unvaccinated.
How about this for some stats. Since 2000, 118 people have been reported dead following the MMR vaccine. 86 of them under the age of 3. Another 471 have been left disabled, 290 under 3 years of age. This is in the US alone.
Also, please try to do your research. A simple google search brings our the flaws to your figures. Since 2000 there has been a 78% decrease in measles related deaths. Read it yourself. http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.1a019a978f421296e81ec89e43181aa0/?vgnextoid=d2ab966fe5555210VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD
Danielle Sullivan commented on May 27 11 at 11:06 am@Goddess I am so sorry for your loss. I can imagine how many feelings this subject must bring up for you and I am so appreciative that you shared your story with us.
@Polina The study you cited speaks about measles outbreaks globally, not just the U.S. In the U.S. we are seeing more measles cases than we ever have in the last 10 years. While measles was almost gone from the United States in 2000 according to the CDC, it still kills nearly 200,000 people each year around the world. I am glad the globally it is decreasing, that’s a wonderful fact, but it’s also disturbing that it is making a comeback in our country.
kikiriki commented on May 27 11 at 11:35 amIt’s an issue that certainly has many sides, as Goddess points out. But I know that there is also incredible pain felt by families who lose a child because they didn’t vaccinate, or were unable to vaccinate. The babies in California who were too young to be vaccinated for pertussis and who subsequently caught the contagious disease and died in 2010 come to mind (I think there were 9). The risks of vaccination are real for an small but incredibly important number of children. But I worry that at some point in time, we might see the risks of not vaccinating be born out to a much larger number of children, with disastrous results. I’m actually quite nervous to send my oldest child to school for the first time this year because I will have a newborn who won’t be old enough to be vaccinated and I live in a community where there are parents who have not vaccinated their children. Does the right of parents to not vaccinate trump the right of my newborn to not be at risk of catching a potentially fatal disease from non-vaccinated children? I’m not so sure.
Shandra commented on May 27 11 at 11:46 am@Goddess I’m so sorry. I’ve lost a child too. I truly believe that vaccinations save many more lives than are lost but that makes NO difference when your child was one of them.
Shandra commented on May 27 11 at 11:55 amAnd @Polina, try running those stats against an annual average. As I said, if it’s your kid it makes no difference. But 118 dead and 471 since 2000? Out of how many kids vaccinated? I don’t want to sound callous but adding that together that’s 59 a year. Since 4 million kids are born in the US every year, assuming 80% were vaccinated that’s 3.2 million. For 60 of those to have an adverse reaction is pretty crazy good as far as risk goes. Again I am not being callous to parents who have experienced that – I lost my daughter to a 1:10,000 risk. But let’s get real. Driving your child to the doctor holds more risk.
Paul commented on May 27 11 at 12:42 pmIt may or may not be true that ‘only’ 59 children a year die from vaccine complications. However this needs to be questioned for a number of reasons. Doctors are very reluctant to accept that a particular reaction is caused by a vaccine and generally don’t report to VAERS reactions. This has been reported on many occasions.
It also ignores the government payout to Hannah Polling – on the basis that vaccination aggravated her prior mytochondrial condition. causing her autistm-like symptoms. It is now known that her different genetics are not so rare.
It also ignores the fact that high vaccination rates are not accompanied by similar good outcomes for childhood mortality rates on a national basis.
It also ignores the growing suspicion that vaccination is implicated in the massive epidemic of auto-immune disease that rises year on year.
It also ignores the parents who saw the immediate response of their children ot vaccination.
You take your decision and I’ll make mine.
sarah commented on May 27 11 at 1:43 pmThis blog and the comments scare me! my dd one year well child is soon approaching =/ there is not any unbiast information out there! I have been vaccinncting on schedule minus the flu and chicken pox. wondering if i should at least hold off until Shes a bit older for certain vac’s? any advise:)
goddess commented on May 27 11 at 1:58 pm@Paul- most vaccines are contraindicated for those who suffer mitochondrial disease- and this is just getting out there- as well as more and more cases of mito being DXed.
Kirsten commented on May 28 11 at 10:08 amThis is an issue that will be a hot-button, probably always. I personally chose not to vaccinate my boys, but it did not have to do with autism–one of the biggest studies showing a link was discounted, and the evidence seemed weak at best. I did, however, read the Sears Vaccine Book wherein the author actually recommends vaccinating. He also explains why some parents choose not to give each vaccine and what is used to make each. My husband and I set up a group of criteria for each vaccine (family history, ingredients, and whether the risks of the vaccine side effects seemed riskier than the virus it vaccinated against) and then looked at each individually. We did also pray about the decision after we had researched. I feel like we were very level-headed and did not base this decision on scare tactics, hysteria, emotions, or bad research.
I certainly would hate to have any part in an outbreak or to have either boy contract something we could have vaccinated against. Still, we stand by our decision in light of that. Something I do wonder about these outbreaks–are the children contracting (in this case measles) children who are unvaccinated only, or both? Because as a parent of an unvaccinated child, I am taking that responsibility. But I would be seriously ticked if I DID vaccinate my child and they still contracted whatever we vaccinated against.
There are definitely people who make decisions based on faulty information or based on something emotional. I don’t know any of those people. I think that with this decision (as with all), parents need to take the time and responsibility to make an educated choice that they feel best suits their family. If my kids contract something we didn’t vaccinate against (which I hope doesn’t happen), we will take responsibility for our decision.
ChiLaura commented on May 28 11 at 2:41 pm@ Kirsten: You wrote: “But I would be seriously ticked if I DID vaccinate my child and they still contracted whatever we vaccinated against.”
Well, you didn’t do your research well enough. You know what? Kids who are vaccinated can get sick BECAUSE OTHER KIDS AREN’T VACCINATED. Herd immunity isn’t 100%, but it falls far short of what it could be with every “self-educated” know-it-all like you who “did her research” and chooses not to vaccinate her child. So you not vaccinating your kids puts both your kids and my kids at a higher risk than if you did vaccinate. Not to mention all the kids who CAN’T be vaccinated for medical reasons. So great that you’re planning to “take responsibility for [your] decision” if your kid gets sick, but what about everyone else’s kids?
You may actually have good specific reasons for your decision. Maybe a family member is predisposed to terrible reaction to vaccines. I don’t know that. But your reasoning presented here is the same touchy-feely shit that leads to the deaths of babies who can’t be vaccinated because they’re too young.
Oh, right, I forgot, you prayed about it, so God blessed your decision. [eye roll] I’m a Christian who believes in prayer, but you’re not praying; you’re seeking justification for your decisions. If someone else’s kid gets sick from your children, that’s on YOU, not on God.
Magnoliamama commented on May 28 11 at 4:23 pmThank you Chilaura. I feel like we have a moral responsibility to do our part for other human beings. We vaccinate because we want to protect our family and because we believe it’s immoral to spread preventable diseases to those individuals who *must* rely on the heard. We know several people who absolutely cannot be vaccinated and it has nothing to do with some imaginary fear of ingredients or what they think God told them to do.
My daughter had an actual reaction to the MMR vaccine and we should be able to rely on the heard but selfish, poorly informed parents making poorly founded decisions makes that impossible.
Vaccinate your kids people! When we were making these decisions for our daughter three years ago, no VPDs were active. Now both Pertussis and Measles are coming back. What’s next?!
Mohawk742 commented on May 28 11 at 8:59 pmDanielle, excellent post… until you tried to be even-handed or “fair” or… something, and wrote: “Yet I understand the concern of thousands of parents who feel that there is a definite link between vaccines and autism. I emphasize with those parents whose children have become gravely sick and/or died from vaccines. There are no easy answers. Everyone has their own beliefs regarding vaccines.
Do you vaccinate your kids? What vaccinations worry you, if any? Do you think there is a link between vaccinations and autism?”
You are enabling the people who advocate exposing pregnant women to rubella, and children too young (or non-candidates for some other reason) for vaccination to the blindness and even death caused by “German” measles. No, there is no connection between autism and MMR. The man was a fraud from start to finish. But it’s not HIS fault you believe there might be… it’s Oprah’s. She needs to apologize and back away from that, but she refuses, saying now that she’s not medically competent to make that statement. She sure thought she was competent to spread the myth, though.
Brit commented on May 29 11 at 8:03 pmI am vaccinating both of my children. My daughter is only 2 months old and we live in one of the states where there was an outbreak. Now I am scared to take my child around other children. I think it’s ridiculous that so many people can just mark off that they have religious reasons for not getting their children vaccinated. I am seriously considering homeschooling my children so that I may keep them safe from the unvaccinated children. It is a scary thing. Every time that my kids vaccines come up I do get worried that they may have an adverse reaction…though I would much prefer to worry about that once every few months then to worry constantly that my child my contract something that horrible from not being vaccinated.
@Polina, you said ” You can recover from the measles, but you can’t unvaccinated.” Guess what?! You can also die from being unvaccinated, or have permanent problems!
E's mom commented on May 29 11 at 9:50 pmAs the mother of a vaccine injured child (encephalopathy), I have a different perspective. I followed the rules, played the game and lost big time.
Questions – why is measles suddenly such an awful disease? Thirty years ago medical journals considered it “mundane” and “no worse than the flu.” Just one example:
And as for the assertion that there is no connection to vaccines and autism, new studies are suggesting otherwise. The most recent publication, with many other on the books:
http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a938070200~frm=abslink
@chilaura – from the tone and language in your post, I find it hard to believe that you are a prayerful Christian. You might want to work on that.
ChiLaura commented on May 29 11 at 11:29 pm@ E’s Mom — Even Christians who pray can still dislike bullshit, believe that science knows something, and hate the idea that “I prayed about it!” is a valid claim of God’s blessing and not some magic excuse to absolve a person of responsibility. Also, Christians can like the word “shit,” and we don’t have to be nice when we smell…wait for it… bullshit.
Thanks for your advice, though. I’ll talk to my priest about it.
anon commented on May 30 11 at 4:59 amMaybe you know everything you need to know about HPV. Maybe you know that more than a dozen of the 150 strains of the human papilloma virus are cancer-causing strains, passed through sexual contact. Maybe you know that penetration isn’t required to spread these strains – that simple skin-to-skin contact can do the job. Maybe you know that it can take a decade or more for the changes started by the HPV infection to turn into a full fledged cervical cancer (or oral cancer, or anal cancer, depending on the type of sexual contact). (The Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2008 was given to the guy who figured this out, after decades of diligent and innovative work) Maybe you know that the treatments for those pre-cancerous cervical cells keep the death rate low in this country, but at a tremendous cost. Maybe you know that cost isn’t just the pain and expense of the procedure, but also the treatment-damaged cervix, leading to infertility, miscarriages and premature birth. And maybe you know that even women who take care of themselves and are conscientious about PAP smears and follow up can be the ones who die in agony at age 36, leaving a kindergarten-aged child behind. http://cellwarnotebooks.blogspot.com/
There are a couple of HPV vaccines to choose from (Gardisil protects against fewer strains of cancer-causing HPV, so it wouldn’t be the one I’d choose). But they are relatively new, so no one can be sure how long their protection lasts. There is a point in giving them to relatively young women, and it’s this. HPV is epidemic, and HPV infection rates in young women appear to go from zero to terrifying about the time they hit puberty and start sexual activity. The vaccinations don’t help you AFTER you’ve been infected.
With what we know now, I would not vaccinate my daughter at 9. I would wait as long as I possibly could before she might be interested in sex – probably age 14-16 – to maximize the period of known protection from the vaccine. I’d also tell her what I know about HPV and other STDs, tell her about condoms (which don’t prevent HPV but may cut the risk somewhat), and encourage her, frankly, to stay away from casual sexual activity. And I would know that even if the vaccine only postpones a case of precancer or cancer, rather than preventing it outright, that at least I’d given my child five (or more) extra years to enjoy her life and health and to conceive, deliver and parent her own healthy child.
betsy commented on May 30 11 at 8:41 pmAlthough my children have been vaccinated, I can clearly see the other side of the argument. There’s an undeniable conflict of interest on the part of the pharmaceutical companies that are pushing the vaccines, and we’ve never followed children who followed the current CDC schedule over a lifetime to see what possible effects vaccinations could have later in life. And @chilaura, yikes, can we try to be respectful of each other?
anon commented on May 30 11 at 8:55 pmSome new data: HPV related oral cancers have risen 225% since 1988 – mostly in men. We are on the cusp of a pandemic, according to Mount Sinai’s chief of head and neck oncology. These are horrible cancers, which appear to be caught mostly by men who have performed oral sex on infected partners – although mouth to mouth contact (kissing) can’t be ruled out. These cancers and their treatment cause a tremendous amount of suffering in relatively young people. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303657404576355403363380510.html
Sandy Gottstein commented on Jun 01 11 at 9:57 pmMaybe it’s not because of too few vaccinations, but too many…
Implications of vaccination and waning immunity
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/276/1664/2071.long
robyn commented on Apr 20 12 at 2:45 pmI find this very irresponsible reporting. Where are you getting your “facts” about it being unvaccinated children being the ones causing the problem? Very often vaccinated children are a part of these “outbreaks”, which begs the question how effective are the vaccines in the first place. Every parent should get to weigh the risks of getting vaccinated (and yes, there are major risks) to getting the disease itself (chicken pox??? Please, I ‘ll take it for my kids verses the risk of vaccines!)
Please, let’s stop this propaganda. Let’s talk about both sides of this debate. The answer is not so simple as to just give them the MMR when they are six months old! Did you notice the new numbers in Autism for boys — it’s now 1 in 50. That is more scary to me!
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