Cases of measles in school

[Savanna669]

My DS son has seen two cases of measles. In nursery but apparently they have siblings in different year groups. Children who are immuneocomprised are being told to have three weeks off. Parents are keeping their kids off now due to various things. school is stopping mass gatherings such as assemblies. Should we worry?

To all the anti-vax wankers, my DH is deaf and has visual problems caused by having measles as a toddler.
Ignorant people shouldn't have kids. Not vaccinating your kids is neglect. It's also utterly selfish.

One of mine isn’t vaccinated on medical advice.

It’s not like I had a choice (and the others are vaccinated).

please be aware that some of us have no choice and are going down the route of not vaccinating on medical advice.

I had measles 60 years ago. I remember it well as I was so poorly. No lasting effects thank goodness. I don't understand why parents of non immuno-supressed children choose not to have their offspring vaccinated.

My parents were anti vaxxers and I didn’t have any childhood injections. I consider it neglect. These kids will grow up to potentially be very angry at their parents for making such a terrible decision about their health. Leaving them so vulnerable.

Parents seem to forget that kids become adults who will have an opinion about the choices that were made!

I’ve now had every immunisation that I could! I’ve travelled abroad a lot, so I’ve had all sorts now.

And you are the sort of parent who I expect would be most angry about anti-vax movement who put kids like yours at massive risk. It’s just so awful.

Absolutely but the sort of statement that was made doesn’t include my kid. So I just wanted to be clear that not every child who isn’t vaccinated has anti vax parents :)

That is totally different though and their are many children who can't be vaccinated due to medical reasons. But that is why all other children who can be vaccinated should be, to provide herd immunity for those that can't be.

Some countries make it compulsory for children to be vaccinated if they attend public school. I think this would be a very good idea.

They are vaccinated and not in close contact with the class- if its anything like my kids school nursery and the school proper never even enter the same building, I wouldn't worry about this. I am so pleased to hear you have vaccinated.

My mum has spent her whole life deaf from a toddler from catching measles. She just missed the vaccination programme launching. When I think of the hugely life altering effect it has had on her whole life it makes me very sad and my grandmother carried immense guilt for having put her into the nursery where she caught it as long as I knew her.

I must admit I don't cope well when I encounter people who think its somehow healthier to just skip over the measles vaccination to 'build a immune system' or whatever it is they believe because a fb page told them so. My grandmother/ mum would have given anything for that vaccine because it probably would have saved her hearing.

The poor immunocompromised parents who can't vaccinate must be feeling worried.

My granny was deaf in one ear for life due to getting measles as a child. Who the hell wouldn’t vaccinate against that? Mental.

@HoppityBun
yes agree. My ex husband was left with infertility issues from mumps from not being vaccinated……his parents were no where to be seen when I had to spend £40k on IVF! (Not solely as a result of the mumps but one of the factors) .

And a risk of blindness too. When I had measles as a child the doctor insisted my parents put blankets over the windows to protect my eyes - closing the curtains wasn’t enough. This was in the 60s - so even then it wasn’t seen as a harmless childhood infection.

I'm 46, so too old to have had the MMR.

Fortunately I managed to avoid measles as a child, but I did catch mumps when I was nine and remember being very ill, to the extent that our GP made a home visit (it was my bloody birthday too!).

I travel a lot for work, particularly in SE Asia, and was advised to get the MMR as an adult as measles remains endemic in that region. Damn straight I took it!

It's a horrible disease and I'm so glad that I live in a time and place where medical science allows me to both avoid catching it and prevent transmitting it to vulnerable members of society.

You should worry to an extent. If your child is vaccinated they will be fine. It is the kids who either can’t be vaccinated or who are immunocompromised that are put massively at risk. Kids going through chemo for example. A child can give diseases to more vulnerable people and that is the part that gets me. Being vaccinated is a social responsibility not just to your child, but to everyone.

IMO it’s high time we made it a requirement for children starting school to be vaccinated. Obviously there would be exceptions for valid medical reasons. And anti-vaxxers saying they’ll just homeschool then, that should no longer be an option. IMO it’s too easy to homeschool in the U.K. - who ever checks that parents are competent, never mind it being a cover for neglect/abuse? Look at poor little Sarah Sharif.

Also, measles is an illness that's notifiable to the UK Health Security Agency, who will have advised the school on management of this

I had measles as a child in the 1960s. I remember my mum keepig the curtains shut. I'm pretty sure it affected my eyesight and hearing as well.

Sara Sharif was not a victim of homeschooling. She was on social services radar before she was even born, she was in foster care more than once before she even started school, another child was removed from the family home permanently due to the level of concern, yet Sara was repeatedly returned despite numerous concerns raised.
She was the victim of a shit system that prioritised the rights of a known violent man over those of a child and should have been removed to safety before she was even of school age.

Not if vaccinated. Some people can not be vaccinated for the measles. I spent some of my childhood unvaccinated for measles due to my heart. It took a specialist doctor to monitor me for a few hours so I could finally get the vaccine and my parents pushing and pushing for some support to get the vaccine (this was the 70s) and so glad I did. It's very important all that can be vaccinated is to protect the small amount of people who can't be. Measles is a killer but it's preventable.

I know your immunity drops off, but I got vaccinated when I started kindergarten (around 1985). I got tested last year and I'm still immune. So hopefully any kids who got it more recently than 46 years ago will still be immune.

I've seen a lot of comments on special media lately where its clear people, especially those in their 20's and too young to remember, mixing up chicken pox and measles, referring to "measles parties" and it just being harmless spots.

Measles was feared in the 80's, I was hospitalised and left with hearing loss, most people were so relieved when the MMR came out.

I wonder about the parents comment about the rash being covered is in the same vein? I always thought it was the cough that actually spread it?

Same.
Even a "mild" dose is nasty. I wasn't admitted to hospital but was left deaf in one ear.
Also herd immunity levels are met there is virtually no chance of catching it because you won't come into contact with it. Otherwise even the vaccinated can still get it, albeit mildly.

You should have had the separate vaccination as a child. I'm older then you and did, the measles vaccination was available in 1968. Although may have been a few years before the NHS rolled it out. 🤔

I’m 50+, had a measles jab as a baby, rubella jab at 13 and caught mumps aged 3/4 which was the likely cause of my hearing loss. Dd had mmr at a year and 18 months yet still had no rubella antibodies when tested at 18 and had to have a mmr booster.

This.
Literally the entire point of vaccinations.

If insufficient dc have been vaccinated, the vaccines don’t work. There needs to be a high take up, but many societies won’t do it. We are very stupid to let measles back in.