measles outbreak Vancouver
 

Vancouver has a measles outbreak, (both Vancouver's do actually both Canada and US but not related)

9 people so far.

What is crazy is of the 127 schools in the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, only 27 have vaccine rates above 90%, apparently the vaccine rate overall is getting too low for herd immunity to work as well.

I am not sure if I received 2 dose vaccine or 1 dose, my birth year falls into a range where 1 dose may have been given, trying to see if my parents kept my baby vaccine records.

The outbreak seems to have started at 3 French schools.

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2019/0...ls_a_23670871/

https://globalnews.ca/news/4968207/v...date-outbreak/

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

According to this morning's paper, they have found the indicator child ................. someone who was not vaccinated but had visited a region in the Philippines where there is currently a measles outbreak.

There is also a measles epidemic in Washington State, and the rate of vaccination is even lower in those schools, as in many other US states.

The major problem seems to be that a) many parents distrust vaccination, and b) have absolutely no knowledge of the terrible results that exposure to "childhood" diseases can have.

It is very scary for parents who do get their children vaccinated, even more for parents whose children cannot be vaccinated because if immune-deficiency, cancer treatments, etc.

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

Maybe follow California's lead, they went from having very lose vaccination laws and various ways to get out of vaccinations to have some of the toughest, end result vaccination rates went up.

Pretty much now unless a child has a valid medical reason they cannot get a vaccine, if parents want to enroll their kids in school, they have to vaccinate.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/16/u...-students.html

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

But Washington, Oregon and a number other states do not have stringent rules about kids being vaccinated before enrolling in school.

" All 50 states have legislation requiring specified vaccines for students. Although exemptions vary from state to state, all school immunization laws grant exemptions to children for medical reasons. Almost all states grant religious exemptions for people who have religious beliefs against immunizations"


It seems some of our Medical Officers are looking at mandatory reporting status of vaccinations when child is enrolled in school on the principle that then there will be a list of children vaccinated and those not vaccinated. The parents of non-vaccinated children will be contacted, asked why, and given information as to the truth about vaccinations (vs the untruths of the no vaccination online sites).

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

May I just say that no one in the world so much deserves a lingering painful death as Andrew Wakefield. I mean I hate naturopaths, homeopaths, aromatherapists, all variations of barefoot doctors and I hate the way the Health Freedom News guides people to reading the Spotlight and then to thinking Trump is some kind of liberal pinko. I loath all of the alternative medicine people, but among this sleazy bunch of charlatans preying upon the vulnerable, he's the one who most wants denial of medication in his time of need.

Of course schools should require vaccination of students and in the case of unvaccinated children the answer is not the provision of information but replacement of the parents; the current ones are defective.

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

The father of the children at the center of the outbreak has spoken to media, also seems the doctors at the hospital misdiagnosed as well.

"Bilodeau brought him to BC Children's Hospital on Jan. 21. He said medical staff were aware that the boy hadn't been vaccinated, but they ruled out measles and instead conducted tests for malaria and influenza."

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...8r9R5apXp0M_6c

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

That father is now calling for all children to be vaccinated after all 3 of his children have come down with the disease.

He said he wasn't against vaccination when the children were babies, just didn't like some of the methodology.

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

I'm sorry if I appear to be ignorant about this subject, but I don't have kids, so havent been following the measles discussion
I remember that I had measles when I was about 9 years old, back in 1973 and I think everyone in our class had it, but nobody made a big fuss about it. I had a temperature and it was itchy...
I am still alive and kicking... I have no damage that I know of https://britishexpats.com/forum/images/icons/icon10.gif
So what's the big fuss about measles these days?
Please enlighten me!

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

You were lucky. Those that died of now-easily-preventable childhood diseases (measles leads to potentially fatal complications including encephalitis in up to 1 in 10,000 cases, and can cause permanent hearing loss and other non-fatal complications) are not around to crow about how they survived the outbreaks in years past.

As the parent of an immunocompromised child, I find I get quite viscerally upset by the stupidity of parents who believe the woo about vaccine safety. Just immunize the damn kids.

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

An increasing number of parents elect not to vaccinate their children. In consequence, diseases such as measles, that had been effectively eradicated, are resurgent and are killing children. Due to the mechanics of herd immunity it is not just the children of the derelict parents who are at risk. Polio seems likely to be the next big comeback success.

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

Thank you for clearing up the risks. I had no idea it was so dangerous. And I guess I am glad that I survived it without further complications

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

I think measles has come back specifically because of the MMR scare that happened. The father of the infected children in Vancouver specifically mentioned the MMR risks that were in the media at the time, and chose not to give that specific vaccine to his kids.

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

Yes. The root of the anti-vaccination fad is Andrew Wakefield's unjustified attack on the MMR vaccination.

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...63f1119917.jpg

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

I'm with you, I have zero patience for anti-vaxers, people who believe the earth is flat, and bible bashers who think that earth is only 6,000 years old.

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

Even 36 years ago I was told by both my Pediatrician and GP (as well as the head of Pediatrics at the University of Hong Kong) NOT to vaccinate my son with the 3 in 1 if there were any history of allergy or asthma in the family. My son had already had his 1st MMR 3 in 1 and suffered a severe reaction to it, which the Pediatrician(s) advised me was directly related to the combination of the vaccines and the fact that my mother had been asthmatic and there were other allergy issues in the family.

After that my son had the vaccinations individually and over a longer period of time, without any further ill effect.
I'm not anti vaccine but personally feel that they should be given in single doses, not combined into mega doses of multiple vaccines.

:)

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

It's true that there were isolated concerns pre-Wakefield, his efforts date from 1998. Nonetheless he's certainly the leading promoter of child illnesses today and largely responsible for the current outbreaks of measles. Do you know what your child's doctors were concerned about?

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

All Wakefield's conclusions and advice have been discredited, and he has been struck off the British Register.

Unfortunately, those conclusions are still being spread on the internet by his "adherents".

I'm of the generation that had to have all the childhood diseases, no vaccinations available. I was lucky that I managed to weather all of them without too many problems, and we seemed to escape having a polio epidemic in my home town.

Polio vaccines came in just before I finished high school, and I remember having to go and take a sugar cube with the vaccine on it.

The only other vaccination I've had was smallpox before we left the UK for the US, it was a requirement for entry.


I have no patience with the anti-vaxers and others who do not have their children vaccinated, except where the child has a medical reason not to have them. That's especially true reading the local paper and the story of the family that is in total isolation until next Saturday because they took their almost 1 year old son to Children's Hospital Emergency in Vancouver on one of the days when the infected child was there.

The baby has no resistance to measles, and they are in isolation at home until it is certain that he was not infected.

He has just turned 1 either yesterday or today, and he was booked to have his 12 month vaccinations, including the first MMR in a couple of days.

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

Are you sure it was measles and not chicken pox you had? I had measles in 1968 and I can still remember how ill I was. Apparently I've had chicken pox but if I did I was not sick enough to remember it.

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

Ugh, Anti-vaxers.
https://www.wkbw.com/news/local-news...r-vaccinations

Why not just put them in another school? As for the mothers comments about being cruel that her kids aren't being educated. Well, it'll be far crueler if they are severely ill, or cause their fellow students to become ill.

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

I had that. I remember thinking something must be wrong as medicine was supposed to taste bad. :rofl:

I had German Measles and aside from not being allowed to go to an uncle's wedding I can't remember anything about it.

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

I've had German measles, chicken pox, & mumps. From what I remember, mumps was the worst.

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

When I was growing up the health department would put a sign on the door and you would be in isolation in your house - even school books / library books had to be fumigated... for certain diseases. I can still remember being sent to friends houses to 'catch' whatever was going around.

I've had Mumps (twice)
Whooping Cough
Scarlet Fever
Scarletina
Measles
German Measles (Rubella)

Chicken pox (as an adult).
Meningitis (as an adult)


I lived to tell the tale :p

I've had polio vaccine on a sugar cube, tetanus injections (but still got lockjaw) and smallpox vaccine to go to live in Hong Kong.
I wasn't given the TB vaccine as I apparently have natural immunity from my mother, who had TB before I was born. My sister had the vaccine as they hadn't checked her 'test' and was extremely ill for weeks.

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

Around 3.5% of children in the US are homeschooled and I would bet my bottom dollar that vaxx rates are significantly lower in the "home school community", and I would guess that mandatory vaccination requirements for enrollment in school is one of (a number of) the driving factors behind the rise in homeschooling.

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

I blame facebook

https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/14/1...ories-pressure

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

At least this is a step in the right direction....demonetizing anti-vax you tube videos.

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47357252

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

They should just publish the news articles of the 70 dead babies that died in the Philippines this year from measles. Dead babies always get people thinking.

Re: measles outbreak Vancouver
 

I suspect that American anti-vaxers are largely immune to the sight of dead babies in other countries. (Pun intended. :))