When people don't vaccinate their kids

[dietz199]

Sue22 Regretfully it is NOT silly. There are so may silly things that make it past legal challenges that this one has as much a chance as any. And, the non-vax parents ARE making a good decision in their opinion. So, while reasonable people see it as a silly example…it only needs to find the right legal bull dog to take it on - an in the process make a name for themselves.

I’d personally like it very much if we, as a society, returned to a reasonableness when it comes to saying ‘no’ to stupid people with stupid requests who insist that they need to be treated in a special way. However, I don’t see it happening very soon.

[Nrdsb4]

Have not read anywhere that folks who got vaccines should get a booster of MMR as adults, tho I did research this.

@Himom, there are certain adults who may need to consider getting another MMR shot:

People who did not seroconvert. One can be tested for measles immunity.

Others who may need to consider vaccination:

Many people age 60 years and older do not have records indicating what type of measles vaccine they received as children in the early 1960s. What measles vaccine was most frequently given in that time period? That guidance would assist many older people who would prefer not to be revaccinated.

Both killed and live attenuated measles vaccines became available in 1963. Live attenuated vaccine was used more often than killed vaccine. The killed vaccine was found to be not effective and people who received it should be revaccinated with live vaccine. Without a written record, it is not possible to know what type of vaccine an individual may have received. So persons born during or after 1957 who received killed measles vaccine or measles vaccine of unknown type, or who cannot document having been vaccinated or having laboratory-confirmed measles disease should receive at least 1 dose of MMR.

Some people at increased risk of exposure to measles (such as healthcare professionals and international travelers) should receive 2 doses of MMR separated by at least 4 weeks.

Do people who received MMR in the 1960s need to have their dose repeated?

Not necessarily. People who have documentation of receiving live measles vaccine in the 1960s do not need to be revaccinated. **People who were vaccinated prior to 1968 with either inactivated (killed) measles vaccine or measles vaccine of unknown type should be revaccinated with at least one dose of live attenuated measles vaccine. **This recommendation is intended to protect people who may have received killed measles vaccine which was available in the United States in 1963 through 1967 and was not effective.

Persons vaccinated before 1979 with either killed mumps vaccine or mumps vaccine of unknown type who are at high risk for mumps infection (such as persons who work in a healthcare facility) should be considered for revaccination with 2 doses of MMR vaccine.

http://www.immunize.org/askexperts/experts_mmr.asp

[sally305]

Sadly, I kind of agree with dietz here. It’s not that these people are making a reasonable case…it’s that all kinds of ridiculous things are getting through the courts these days. This is just another of them.

[TomSrOfBoston]

I got my measles immunity the old fashioned way in 1958: I got the measles. My sons and grandkids are fully vaccinated thankfully.

[cap]

I had separate vaccines for MMR, in 1964 and 1968. My doctor said it was not necessary to re vaccinate. I only had the one dose of each according to my mom’s meticulous records.

[jym626]

If people were declared disabled due to their inability to process data or understand science, there would be a lot of handicapped parking spaces to fill. I assumed, based on that, that diets was posting tongue in cheek.

[marie1234]

Well look, the reality is that if you can find a doctor to say you are special you can be exempted from just about anything. And, you can. So, there you go. I think that is what Dietz is referring too and he or she is right, unfortunately.

[bookmama22]

I had a friend who contracted measles in the pre-MMR days while teaching in the NYC public schools. He was extremely ill with high fever over extended days and was close to having to be hospitalized.
I don’t know the percentage exactly but in the pre-vaccination days, measles did leave to a certain percentage of those who became ill becoming fatalities.

[MamaBear16]

Well, I think the herd at Disneyland is not likely over-populated by Orange County anti-vaxxers since it’s mostly a tourist destination and they live down the street and are basically bored with the place. But, it’s an interesting diversion.

It might surprise you, but actually a lot of the Disneyland traffic is local. There are very affordable SoCal annual passes and I personally know people in OC and the vicinity who frequent the parks there more than once a week. Disneyland really does get lots of local visitors. This doesn’t mean that they are the cause of this outbreak, but when you have a big tourist attraction in a county with a low vaccination rate, things like this are more likely to happen.

[jym626]

It’s really not all that easy, depending on what the claimed disabilities are and what they are trying to do with a disability status. Getting a documented disability , especially if one is applying for social security disability, isn’t a walk in the park .

[romanigypsyeyes]

We’ve been fighting with disability for years. My dad was in a horrific car accident and is about as cut-and-dry of a case for disability as you can get. He can’t physically work. He can’t mentally work. And yet, it still took lawyers and years to get disability.

Anyone who thinks it’s easy is delusional.

[marie1234]

I got disability when I was pregnant. It took a doctors signature on piece of paper. Nothing more. But this is about exemptions and we already know people are allowed to be exempt for almost any reason they can conjure up because they are already doing exactly that in any number of areas. So yeah. I still don’t think the herd at Disneyland is predominately OC anti-vaxxers, But, I could be wrong.

[silverlady]

I read in the weekend edition of the WSJ that California prohibits daycares and preschools from banning children that have not been vaccinated. That includes those children of anti-vaxxers. I do not have an online edition, so I can’t link to the article.

[greenwitch]

I don’t think this is the same WSJ article, but it is interesting:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/vaccine-skeptics-on-the-rise-1422232476

In 2014, Amish travelers became infected on a church mission to the Philippines, where a large measles outbreak was under way; the disease spread rapidly once they returned to their communities in Ohio. That outbreak helped make 2014 the busiest year for measles in the U.S. since at least 2000, with 644 cases in 27 states.

OK, that seems incredibly ignorant of them, but at least their brains remained open to science.

Religion is often held up as a reason parents don’t vaccinate. But after the big outbreak in Ohio last year, Amish community elders were receptive to the idea of vaccination, said Robert Frenck, director of infectious disease at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.

“When the Ohio Department of Health went in and talked to their elders, they said we really don’t have an objection to the vaccination. We just didn’t understand it was that important,” Dr. Frenck said.

Here’s another argument for it being a US person (who perhaps went abroad and returned infected) being patient zero.

“People who come to the U.S. from other countries are very compliant [with vaccination] because they come from places where measles is still seen.”

[cosmicfish]

I still don’t think the herd at Disneyland is predominately OC anti-vaxxers

It doesn’t have to be “predominantly” anti-vaxxers for the disease to spread. To cause an outbreak, the number of non-vaccinated people just need to be high enough that a given infected individual contacts more than 1 vulnerable person during the contagious period. Ordinarily, in a fully* vaccinated group, the infected person never contacts even one vulnerable person. But in a place with a density as high as Disneyland (tens of thousands of daily visitors), you would probably not need more than a few hundred unvaccinated people to ensure that the virus spreads like crazy.

: “fully” in this case meaning the 99%ish of the population who are able to safely take the vaccination.

**: “safely” in this case meaning according to real science, not junk science and paranoid delusion. *

[TatinG]

I wonder if hospitals can ban non-vaxxers from going up to the newborn unit. Wasn’t there a recent scare in a California hospital that someone with measles may have visited the nursery?

[sally305]

I didn’t know pregnancy was a disability. Hmmm.

I certainly hope hospitals can ban people from the newborn unit.

The way things are going people might have to start “showing their vaccine papers” in various places.

[jym626]

Did you “get disability” or did you get a temporary handicapped tag, marie? What was the “disability”?

[romanigypsyeyes]

Oh good grief. Yes, pregnancies can qualify as a temporary disability and your employer must provide accommodations.

That is NOT getting disability. Did you get SSD for it? Medicaid/Medicare?

[MichiganGeorgia]

"“I’m not going to sacrifice the well-being of my child. My child is pure,” he added. “It’s not my responsibility to be protecting their child.”

While not sounding nice I’m thinking then why don’t we put his “pure” children in a room with a person with chicken pox for a day or so and see how he feels then.