Measles: To Disneyland and Beyond

[nrdsb4]

What is the percentage of American's that are not vaccinated? Do we know? And what vaccines are currently "required?"

I'm sure that info is around somewhere. Maybe some of our more talented and prolific googlers will find it. Note that a lot of anti-vaxxers tend to be found in clusters these days, rather than some kind of even distribution across the country, so a general number may not indicate a specific enough picture of this development.

Also, not all those not vaccinated are anti-vax; they may be ineligible to get them, or they may just not have gotten around to doing it or may not know their vax status. My husband is not anti-flu shot, he just never gets around to getting it done. He always thinks he's going to go get it tomorrow.

 

[MyBelle]

First of all, patient zero has NOT been identified, even by the CDC. Secondly, it is a fact that foreigners come to our country. When herd immunity is present, these foreigners have very little power to affect the population in big numbers. Foreigners have been coming to Disneyland for years, and rarely did measles outbreaks occur because most of our kids were vaccinated. The antivaxxers kids make it MORE likely that the disease will spread not only amongst themselves, but on to other vulnerable individuals who never went NEAR Disneyland.

From the CDC:



The above was from an advisory dated January 23, 2015.

http://emergency.cdc.gov/HAN/han00376.asp

It is also a fact that adult Americans travel to foreign countries and many adults are not vaccinated. Ebola wasn't present in the United States until someone brought it from a foreign country. Places like Disneyland have attracted foreign tourists since they opened.

I've seen generalizations about anti-vaxxers but the multiple news reports have made it pretty clear parents don't vaccinate for a variety of reasons including medical reasons. Some parents are distrustful of the vaccine and their state governments and their pediatricians have respected their right to refuse it.

As long as these exemption laws exist, it is up to their pediatricians, not the government, to convince parents that the vaccines are safe and in the best interest of children. It is up to parents to determine the risks of exposing their vulnerable children to viruses in places like amusement parks and schools.

JMO

 

[MyBelle]

What is the percentage of American's that are not vaccinated? Do we know? And what vaccines are currently "required?"

It is unknown how many adult Americans are vaccinated. I think it highly unlikely the millions of undocumented workers in the U.S. are vaccinated.

JMO

 

[PrairieWind]

I think what is known is the number of exemptions being give. And that seems (to me) to be very low. So I actually think the exemptions "controversy" is being overblown.

 

[MyBelle]

I think what is known is the number of exemptions being give. And that seems (to me) to be very low. So I actually think the exemptions "controversy" is being overblown.

So do I.

 

[blue22]

It is unknown how many adult Americans are vaccinated. I think it highly unlikely the millions of undocumented workers in the U.S. are vaccinated.

JMO

There are articles on the CDC website about the rates of vaccinated children and adults in America. Even so, they report on the limitations on findings these rates, because it's self reporting. And I completely agree, those undocumented are unlikely to be vaccinated.

 

[bexlex]

We do have our share of "rare" conditions but fortunately PANDAS isn't among them.
I know a couple of kids with PANDAS though so I am familiar with it.

http://pandasnetwork.org/understandingpandaspans/about-pandaspans/whatispans/

My kids just got strep when most kids didn't.
Generally it starts happening after age 2... but my girls had it before.

I wanted to wait on the 12 months vaccines because I was concerned she was immunocompromised.
I wanted to wait until we did blood work to check on that, before injecting her with a live vaccine.
However I was guilted into it by being told basically she could die if she got the chicken pox.

Turns out she has a white blood cell count of 3, all the time. (We do blood work every 6 months.)
No real medical explanation for it but her other blood work also showed she was immunocompromised.
Of course that blood work was not done until AFTER she got the chicken pox from the vaccine and spent a week in the hospital. :thinking:

The Pediatrician had never seen a full blown case from the vaccine... and he was MY Pediatrician too.
He walked us over to the hospital personally to admit her, he knew he should have listened to me... and has done so ever since. :twocents:

She actually broke out in the chicken pox rash at a good family friends funeral.
Her 2 month old sister got RSV shortly after the chicken pox hospital stay and spent a week in the hospital.
It was quite the eventful February. :sigh:

Cyber Hugs to you sweetie!!:grouphug: Hang in there!!!

 

[LinasK]

The Disneyland outbreak started with a tourist from a foreign country, not with an American "anti-vaxxer." The risk of contracting a virus at such a place has always been there and always will be there. It is unrealistic to believe there is a way to identify those who are not vaccinated in order to keep them out.

JMO

True, but Disneyland was designed to be a "safe", happy place to have fun. The average person isn't going there thinking they have to protect themselves from deadly diseases when they go there. Maybe they should, but that's a different story.

 

[LinasK]

I have no idea about who isn't vaccinated, but I believe vaccines are required for measles, mumps, rubella, whooping cough, tetanus, polio and possibly chicken pox (that wasn't around when my kids were young, so I'm not sure about it).

The TDap shot which is the booster for the DTap shot is required for kids entering 7th grade in public school in CA, and they demand a record of vaccination signed by a health professional. I have kept a copy of all my daughters' shots and her school has it on file.

 

[Hiandmighty]

First of all, patient zero has NOT been identified, even by the CDC. Secondly, it is a fact that foreigners come to our country. When herd immunity is present, these foreigners have very little power to affect the population in big numbers. Foreigners have been coming to Disneyland for years, and rarely did measles outbreaks occur because most of our kids were vaccinated. The antivaxxers kids make it MORE likely that the disease will spread not only amongst themselves, but on to other vulnerable individuals who never went NEAR Disneyland.

From the CDC:



The above was from an advisory dated January 23, 2015.

http://emergency.cdc.gov/HAN/han00376.asp

I understood it to be an unvaccinated American who went overseas and contracted measles then went to Disney during the infectious period and started the infection. But i don't know that they can know for sure.

 

[LinasK]

I'm sure that info is around somewhere. Maybe some of our more talented and prolific googlers will find it. Note that a lot of anti-vaxxers tend to be found in clusters these days, rather than some kind of even distribution across the country, so a general number may not indicate a specific enough picture of this development.

Also, not all those not vaccinated are anti-vax; they may be ineligible to get them, or they may just not have gotten around to doing it or may not know their vax status. My husband is not anti-flu shot, he just never gets around to getting it done. He always thinks he's going to go get it tomorrow.

BBM. My husband is like that too, but since I got the stomach bug Sunday and he witnessed me vomiting, it prompted him to get his flu shot!!

 

[Migmuu]

What is the percentage of American's that are not vaccinated? Do we know? And what vaccines are currently "required?"

Which vaccines are required is decided on the state level. But generally, they include: polio, meningococcal disease, MMR (measles, mumps, rubella), DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis [whooping cough]), varicella (chickenpox) and hepatitis A & B. Some states also offer the HPV vaccine to middle and high school girls (since the HPV2 vaccine only works on females).

I don't think we really know how many people are unvaccinated. That's something that would be very hard to figure out because 1) It's done by self-reporting, 2) many Americans who were vaccinated may not be up-to-date on their shots, and 3) it'd be almost impossible to to account for illegal immigrants, whose population ranges from 7 to 20 million people. But we do have an idea of how many school-aged children are vaccinated, and what the rates are by state/region:

• The CDC found that 94% of kindergarteners had the MMR vaccine, 95% had the DTaP vaccine, and 93% were vaccinated against chickenpox
• Mississippi has the highest rate of MMR vaccination with 97.7% (Congrats to Mississippi for being no.1 in something other than obesity and teen pregnancies) and Colorado had the lowest with only 81.7%. Seven states + Washington DC had rates less than 90%
• DTaP vaccination rate was 95% or over in 25 states, but less than 90% in five states and DC
• Chickenpox vaccination rate was at least 95% in nine states, but less than 90% in eight states and DC
• In certain parts of Oregon, the vaccination rate among schoolchildren is less than 50%. In some areas, only a quarter are actually vaccinated
• According to a recent study, 6 out of 7 schools (public and private) has an MMR vaccination rate of 90%+
• Ohio, Colorado and West Virginia are tied for the worst MMR vaccination rate, with an average of only 86% of all children in those states being immunised

California overall has a 90.7% vaccination rate (which is well below the needed 95%, but it's not too horrible). The issue is that the anti-vaxxers tend to be concentrated in certain areas. Los Angeles, which is only 27 miles from Disneyland, has a lot of the anti-vaxxers and alternative medicine types.. Obviously, a lot of Los Angeles residents visit Disneyland due to the short distance, so it's really not surprising at all that the outbreak is so close to one of the major "hubs" for anti-vaxxers.

 

[LinasK]

I think what is known is the number of exemptions being give. And that seems (to me) to be very low. So I actually think the exemptions "controversy" is being overblown.

I just read it was up to 10% in Oregon, which is NOT low considering how contagious many of these diseases are. Measles was eradicated, so was Polio. Prior to last fall, there hadn't been a major outbreak of Ebola since the 70's. These deaths were unnecessary. Fear of science is ignorance.

 

[LinasK]

Which vaccines are required is decided on the state level. But generally, they include: polio, meningococcal disease, MMR (measles, mumps, rubella), DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis [whooping cough]), varicella (chickenpox) and hepatitis A & B. Some states also offer the HPV vaccine to middle and high school girls (since the HPV2 vaccine only works on females).

I don't think we really know how many people are unvaccinated. That's something that would be very hard to figure out because 1) It's done by self-reporting, 2) many Americans who were vaccinated may not be up-to-date on their shots, and 3) it'd be almost impossible to to account for illegal immigrants, whose population ranges from 7 to 20 million people. But we do have an idea of how many school-aged children are vaccinated, and what the rates are by state/region:

• The CDC found that 94% of kindergarteners had the MMR vaccine, 95% had the DTaP vaccine, and 93% were vaccinated against chickenpox
• Mississippi has the highest rate of MMR vaccination with 97.7% (Congrats to Mississippi for being no.1 in something other than obesity and teen pregnancies) and Colorado had the lowest with only 81.7%. Seven states + Washington DC had rates less than 90%
• DTaP vaccination rate was 95% or over in 25 states, but less than 90% in five states and DC
• Chickenpox vaccination rate was at least 95% in nine states, but less than 90% in eight states and DC
• In certain parts of Oregon, the vaccination rate among schoolchildren is less than 50%. In some areas, only a quarter are actually vaccinated
• According to a recent study, 6 out of 7 schools (public and private) has an MMR vaccination rate of 90%+
• Ohio, Colorado and West Virginia are tied for the worst MMR vaccination rate, with an average of only 86% of all children in those states being immunised

California overall has a 90.7% vaccination rate (which is well below the needed 95%, but it's not too horrible). The issue is that the anti-vaxxers tend to be concentrated in certain areas. Los Angeles, which is only 27 miles from Disneyland, has a lot of the anti-vaxxers and alternative medicine types.. Obviously, a lot of Los Angeles residents visit Disneyland due to the short distance, so it's really not surprising at all that the outbreak is so close to one of the major "hubs" for anti-vaxxers.

BBM. Having grown up in L.A., and lived there for 18 years, I disagree with this statement. Anti-vaxxers, and tourists visit Disneyland from all over the world. Disneyland existed long before Disney World, in fact Disneyland is over 50 years old. This outbreak was NOT caused by a local from the LA area. In fact I personally know 4 anti-vaxxers in Northern Calif.

 

[Yoda]

Five children at a KinderCare Learning Center in northwest suburban Palatine have been diagnosed with measles, Illinois and Cook County health officials announced Thursday.

All five children are under younger than 1.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/chi-measles-palatine-20150205-story.html

 

[Yoda]

According to this earlier news report, there was a person who had the measles Jan 17th in Palatine. They went to hospital, clinic, supermarket.

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/health/cook-county-measles-289935451.html

 

[MyBelle]

True, but Disneyland was designed to be a "safe", happy place to have fun. The average person isn't going there thinking they have to protect themselves from deadly diseases when they go there. Maybe they should, but that's a different story.

There is nothing "safe" about Disneyland. Authorities are telling parents with infants to stay away just in case they are incapable of figuring it out on their own.

It may be the happiest place on Earth, but California health officials are warning people to stay away from Disneyland unless they're vaccinated.

That means all babies under the age of 1, who are too young to get the vaccine, and people who for various other reasons have not been immunized or who haven't already had measles.

"People ask whether it is safe to visit venues where measles has been identified and may be circulating. The answer is yes, considering you have been fully vaccinated," Dr. Gil Chavez, state epidemiologist for California, told reporters. "Parents of infants may consider staying away."

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/me...outbreak-could-get-worse-experts-warn-n291426

 

[PrairieWind]

10% would not be low, i agree. I had found some numbers on-line that was showing numbers like 1 and 1.5% but I don't know where that was. I am sure there are various reasons people are not getting kids vaccinated. I don't think its necessarily "fear of science." I don't know that the Disney outbreak has been for certain tracked back, but I know I had read somewhere that it was foreign tourists, but again, I don't know how certain that was. Not sure it really matters.

 

[wendybtn]

Something I've found really interesting in this debate (not necessarily here, but in the population at large,) is how no one is talking about adults. I know VERY few adults who are fully vaccinated for anything. There are parents themselves who aren't fully vaccinated calling for forced vaccination of all children. I think adults should also be focused on. More children in our country are fully vaccinated, than adults. The adult vaccinated rate is very low. Adults are passing on diseases and it's not being talked about. Yet, I don't hear anyone talking about suing adults who don't vaccinate themselves. Ironic.

As an adult, you can make an appointment, drive to the place at a specified time, get whatever shots for travel, tetanus boosters etc., and sign your own papers. A child is dependent on someone else for the above to happen.

 

[jjenny]

As an adult, you can make an appointment, drive to the place at a specified time, get whatever shots for travel, tetanus boosters etc., and sign your own papers. A child is dependent on someone else for the above to happen.

Being that it was a long time ago, I personally don't know what I was or wasn't vaccinated for as a child.
I presume that's the same for a lot of adults.
Also, who knows how long the immunity lasts?