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?

Was it? I had measles in 1970. My dad was a doctor, and we were vaccinated against everything available - but not measles.

I work in social care. I have lost count of the number of people I have worked with over the years who have had profound multiple physical and learning disabilities caused by their mothers catching measles during pregnancy. It is imperative that women are aware of this risk before they start a family and get vaccinated if they aren’t already.

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?

Homeschooling is not allowed in the country I live in. And rightly so I think.

My son had all the vaccinations as a child. I have no medical training, why would I go against medical advice?!

It was certainly generally available on the NHS by the time I was vaccinated as a baby in 1970/71. I still have my vaccination card from back then. Only a single dose of each vaccine was given, unlike the two for MMR now, but it was enough to stop me getting anything when there was a simultaneous outbreak of measles, Mumps and German measles in our area in the late 70s. Just about all the unvaccinated kids got at least one of them.

I remember visiting a family member in hospital and then being taken to see a friend’s son who had been hospitalized with measles at the same time. My mum clearly hadn’t realised how desperately ill he was (or she wouldn’t gave turned up with me aged 7 in tow) - he was in an oxygen tent, obviously in isolation. He recovered, but it was touch and go for a while.

I had mumps as a child. I remember my brother and my dad being kept well away from me.

I can remember having rubella vaccination at secondary school.

I think my brother had measles when he was young.

We are in our 50s

German measles, if caught by a pregnant women, is very dangerous for the baby. Sadly too few people care.

When I was at school all 12/13 yr old girls were vaccinated against German Measles. They also used to test to see if you still had immunity when you went for MW appointments during pregnancy.

I’m totally deaf in one ear and have partial deafness in another from flu. Hearing loss is much more common following measles though. Get your kids the immunisation. Hearing loss is really disabling, missing out on conversations that your friends are having.

It's a massive concern, but if your child is fully vaccinated, then they will be fine.

I understand why the school has advised immmuno compromised children to stay at home, but it's outrageous that these children should be denied the ability to access education because of the irresponsible decision-making of other parents.

I don't support a general ban on unvaccinated children attending school, as that is effectively punishing the children for having feckless parents, but where there is an actual outbreak, surely schools need to be telling parents of unvaccinated children to keep their kids at home as well? Or at the very least, schools should have the right to know the vaccination status of all pupils so that they can segregate the unvaccinated ones appropriately.

Totally agrees Some provinces in Canada are the same including Ontario which is the largest with 1/3 of the total population. You have to show verification or valid exemptions.

Hopefully but it's not a certainty. My measles immunity wore off by my early 20's.

The mmr jab is 95% effective. In 'high risk' situations (where family members have it or it's circulating in close contact communities like schools) the chance of it preventing you from catching it actually drops to 92%.

It's disingenuous to say there's no need to worry if someone is immunised. Does it need to be a big worry, no, but there is still a risk.

I don't think unvaccinated children should be allowed in mainstream school. Of course there should be an expiation for immunocompromised children.

I’m 51 and had the MMR vaccine. We were given MMR rather than the single rubella vaccine in 1988.

I also had mumps when I was about 6, it was utterly miserable.

Exactly this. Unless they are not vaccinated for medical reasons.

What about tiny babies and those under one (yet to have MMR.) It’s terrifying frankly.

All children should have vaccinations and it should be law (unless against medical advice or immuno comp backed up with evidence). If you want your child in mainstream school, you should have to provide their vaccination evidence.
Enough is enough. All the idiots online doing their "research" are putting their kids at risk should be done for medical neglect. I hope their kids never have serious, long term complications from infection and disease that could have been prevented.

How did you find out your immunity was no longer effective?

Maternal antibodies should give young babies some protection, they definitely interfere with vaccine effectiveness. This wains at around 7 months , so there is argument to vaccinate earlier than 1 yr old. I seem to remember reading about a Dutch study into this. It might also depend on the duration of babies receiving maternal antibodies.

I've always been tested when pregnant. That was back in the early 2000's though, i don't know if it's still routinely tested for.

They stopped rubella titer testing in 2016 in the UK.

Actually now I've said that it may have been the rubella immunity aspect they test for rather than measles. I remember I was advised to get an mmr jab after baby was born.

Sorry, I misinterpreted your post and am clearly a bit dolally today!

Yes, agreed this is just awful

I understand that some immigrant populations are more likely to be concerned about side effects of the vaccine,and less likely to vaccinate their children. This also needs to be addressed, if it’s correct.

It makes me very angry that some people don't get their kids the vaccines (medical exemptions aside).

We are so, so lucky in this country to have a vaccine programme that has the potential to (and has in past) eradicate some very nasty, sometimes deadly, diseases. And yet we are throwing away our privilege, because some parents would rather listen to social media than a doctor. There is also, imo, a growing trend for parents to just think about themselves and their kids, rather than seeing the bigger picture that herd immunity provides.

I find it staggering that we are allowing an almost eradicated illness to raise its ugly head again. I can only assume it's because the parents are too young to remember what it was like before the measles vaccine/MMR. How could we, as a nation, be so ignorant? I agree that it should be a requirement that all children starting school are vaccinated, if it's possible for them to be so.