FL surgeon gen'l does NOT mandate unvaxxed kids quarantine after measles exposure!

Parent Cafe
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For individuals wondering about the need to check titers and/or get boosters for measles: these steps are NOT recommended. Titer numbers usually wane over time, but that does NOT mean a person is no longer immune, because long term immunity is mediated more by cell-mediated (T cell) immunity than by humoral (B cell) immunity.

(The exception to this is with rubella, aka German Measles, where titers ARE taken of reproductive age women -typically during or shortly before pregnancy. If titers show no antibody response then a booster is given --after the pregnancy is over as it is a live attenuated vaccine.)

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deleted

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So worried only about Florida? Better stay home. 26 states (including DC) reported outbreaks in 23-24. And while this is not a political thread–the undocumented population coming over our borders are not necessarily vaccinated–and you’ll never know.

Measles cases in 2024

As of February 22, 2024, a total of 35 measles cases were reported by 15 jurisdictions: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York City, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington.

Measles cases in 2023

During January 1-December 31, 2023, a of 58 measles cases were reported by 20 jurisdictions: California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, New York City, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

Many people didn’t get kids vaccinated during Covid (no well child check-ups at doctor’s office) and it’s showing up.
Medical exemptions have increased over the years. The reasons include actual medical reasons(allergy, immune system problems), religious reasons, to “I don’t want it”. Doctors sign off.
So why not just make it ONLY medical reasons…
Another problem is that exemption laws are hard to enforce. In 2015, California outlawed nonmedical exemptions. After the law passed, medical exemptions jumped 250%. One reason was that some doctors began writing medical exemptions for parents who had personal objections to vaccines.

Not everything is attributable to politics. And the mandate of covid vaccines has made many wary unfortunately.

Public education appears to be the route.

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I hadn’t even thought of this…but yes…lots of forced Telehealth visits during the past years. It doesn’t take long to form a habit (like 6 weeks??). I wonder if there is a whole cohort of parents who simply didn’t do the normal pediatric visits for the last few years…and now are out of the habit.

DD had two babies during g COVID. One in mid 2020 and the next one the beginning of 2022…yes she is busy. One of the difficulties with pediatric visits is that she could not take the sibling. She could not even take the sibling in a particular urgent situation (nursemaids elbow-didn’t know what was wrong but toddler was in pain and couldn’t use her arm). DD had to panic call her H so he could meet her at the Urgent care to handle the baby!!!..

How would a less flexible parental life get all the pediatric visits when they couldn’t take siblings? Lucky DD… she had us…and her hubby had a somewhat flexible schedule. But many (most frontline essential workers??) didn’t have this option.

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Funny typo!

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I think they are taking the reasonable position of trying their best to manage a situation where they are not able to control other people’s decisions, only their own. The outbreak is where they are. If it were elsewhere, they’d have less cause for immediate worry. if she were not already ill,if they did not have an infant in their orbit to expose unknowingly. if, if, if. As I said before, decisions are always personal.

The choice isn’t binary. (Always stay home/ never be concerned)

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@parentologist, are you a MD?

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We recently took some immunity tests, since we were going to the Far East and weren’t 100% certain that we had all appropriate vaccines. My husband was immune to mumps and rubella, but not the measles. Apparently the immunity can wear off for some, so he got another vaccine. We wouldn’t have tested if we weren’t traveling, and I suspect many people may not have the immunity they think they do. These free rider anti-vaxxers are going to kill plenty of unsuspecting people besides themselves and their children. They bear complete responsibility after exposure to stay away from others.

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There is also a group of adults who never had the measles but got the first round of the new vaccine. I think it was about 1964 to 1972?, and ‘they’ (CDC?) are advising to get revaccinated because the first doses weren’t strong enough. I have 2 brothers in this group. The one born in 1962 had a few spots when the rest of us got measles when he was about 6 months old, and my mother swears he had the measles, but of course there is no proof of that. (other born in '66, so we’d all had the diseases by then and he wasn’t exposed). I’m sure neither has discuss this with a doctor.

There is a whole population of new immigrants who either aren’t vaccinated, haven’t had the diseases, or don’t know. Most are willing to get vaccinated if someone just does it. Here they are trying to get them all (entire family) vaccinated before they start school but they are entitled to start school immediately and the clinics aren’t keeping up with the need.

Have any of the other states issued mandatory quarantine orders? Is Florida doing something different than these other states?

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Not sure where your new immigrants are from, but you may want to note that China and Mexico have higher measles vaccination rates than the US, while India is only slightly lower.

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Other than titers, how would an adult with unknown vaccination records know if they needed to be vaccinated? My doctor had me do blood work, checked titers, and had me get the MMR just a couple of weeks ago. I’m in my 50s and my mom has no idea what vaccines I had (typical of my hippie mom, she either doesn’t remember or makes things up :roll_eyes:)

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I had measles during the big epidemic in the mid 1950’s. A horrible case. I never had mumps, and I wasn’t sure about rubella. I was immunized for everything again a couple of years before my first child was born. Was suggested by my PCP because I worked in a primary school.

In 2011, I had the MMR again as part of an immunization thing for a trip abroad. Which was fine with me. I was going to a couple of third world countries where immunizations weren’t as high as here. This was required (along with a polio booster shot).

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Probably just easier to get another MMR, if you don’t know.

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I want to thank @parentologist for starting this thread. I wasn’t aware of this story until this post. I think @ucbalumnus mentioned that people who were vaccinated in the early to mid 1960’s might not have immunity to measles any longer. This thread got me thinking.

I called my doctor’s office yesterday to see if I needed a booster, or to have my titer checked.
I had bloodwork done in 2012 (!!!) and it turns out I have NO immunity to measles! My records showed I have not had a measles booster. I have no idea how this was missed.

I have just returned from the pharmacy with a freshly sore arm after an MMR vax. Measles is soooo contagious. I’m actually going to avoid crowds for the next couple of weeks because a lot of people in my area spend time in Florida, especially over this current winter break.

Thank you to the hive mind here at CC.

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I had blood work done and did show immunity to all components of the MMR. I assume that means I am okay, right—even though I don’t know my actual vaccination status.

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Yes, so glad you did this!

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Yes, you are fine.

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I think a lot of doctors miss the boosters for adults over 40. They are more concerned about pneumonia, covid, flu and sometimes they don’t want you to have more than 2 vaccinations at the same time. I was insistent about the DTap and it took me a while to get it because of all the covid booster. I was concerned about whooping cough because I was working in a school with a lot of immigrants, their parents wandering the halls, and I thought whooping cough would do me in.

The hotbeds for measles a few years ago were wealthy communities. Boulder, Marin county CA, Orange Cty CA (including the outbreak at Disneyland). It was because of the antivaxxers and the autism study.

A kid at our school got whooping cough. He was fully vaccinated we were in Denver, not Boulder. He was really sick, like missed 6 weeks of school and basically a whole year of sports, ECs, just life in general because it took him so long to recover. His mother was a nurse and couldn’t figure out where he got it.

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Thanks!

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The pertussis vaccines we have now (acellullar) are not very effective, even in early childhood, and what little they have, wears off fairly quickly. The old whole cell pertussis vaccines were more effective, but also caused worse vaccine reactions. The reason that we are boosting older people with TdaP is to protect young infants, who die of pertussis, not to protect ourselves.

Because the DtaP and TdaP vaccines are not fully protective, there’s always the chance of contracting pertussis.

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