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?

Babies can't be vaccinated because they have some protection from maternal antibodies which stop the vaccine working properly. There's an argument/study which suggests babies could be vaccinated from 7 months when the maternal protection wanes. But, I would presume that a baby would benefit from maternal antibodies for as long as it was being breastfed.

Agree. They fall into the category of can’t be vaccinated and need to rely on herd
immunity.

Yes, I read that as well. How can this mistrust be overcome?

The irony is that our hospitals wouldn't be able to function without the large number of African and Caribbean medical staff that the NHS employs.

Which might explain why only 42% of front line NHS workers had a flu vaccination in 2023 and the covid booster rate in London was 79% .
A quick Google, so hopefully figures are correct.

It’s frustrating that this is all so preventable! I’m an adult about to get the MMR for myself because I’m not 100% sure I was vaccinated against measles as a child. (A single measles vaccine was routinely offered in the U.K. to my age group - pre MMR. But I lived overseas as a child and I’m not sure if I had it.) Having spoken to my GP, his advice was get MMR. Honestly, measles can be bloody dangerous. I’m not sure why anyone would trifle with it.

Was willing to assume that OP’s kids weren’t in the 3% of unsuccessfully vaccinated children in the country….

I mentioned being glad I was vaccinated to my mum, and she later called me back to say she wasn't certain whether I'd had the second jab. So I rang up occupational health, and they checked my immunity. If they hadn't been able to, I'd definitely have got the jab, even if I had to go privately. I work with vulnerable children, no way I want to put them at risk.

My newborn caught measles at 2 weeks old. He was absolutely covered in rash. He hadn't been vaccinated. He was unsettled but totally fine. No lasting effects luckily

My son was vaccinated and still got measles although the mildest case ever. He got 6 spots and was absolutely fine and full of beans as always. The gp confirmed it and said it’s a good thing, measles in a vaccinated child should now give a life time immunity. My son got it from school. Small class of 17. 15 out of the 17 got it 14 of them in the same way as my son extremely mild . There was one child who had not been vaccinated. He was very very poorly with it. Ended up in hospital and his vision was permanently affected. His parents didn’t believe in vaccinations.

Well you know what they say about assuming.

Beliefs in a nation about the ill effects of vaccines due to an ongoing belief in discredited studies

That's so so sad and what a lesson for them to learn...

A discredited study done by an evil man who should be in jail, not dating celebrities...😡

Absolutely. Terrible consequences

Considering the OP asked “should I worry”? And 97% of vaccinated children are vaccinated successfully, my answer of “not if your children are vaccinated” stands. One ought not to worry about the 3% chance unless there’s good reason to.

I assume you’re either an anti-vaxxer, a troll or both and will leave it there 🙄

Thing is, that means 3% of the vaccinated children in the school are vulnerable to it. You can hope your children aren’t in that 3%, but I actually would worry. Three per cent isn’t a super low risk. In a school like ours with 1000 kids, that’s 30 children. This is why herd immunity matters - the vaccination rate needs to be high enough that the disease falls out of circulation.

3% is not a low chance. Its not one in a million. If one in every 33 kids was going to get shot at Disney land no one would go. If one in every 33 lottery tickets sold won a million quid people would buy hundreds. 3% is not negligible, it's not nothing to worry about. You're giving false confidence, they're vaccinated so they'll be fine, probably, not certainly.

Maybe education is needed in this case

The Lancet has an article saying measles needs 95% vaccination rate to acquire herd immunity. This would mean 5% not having the vaccine are covered. We were considered to be measles free until recently. We now have areas where immunization is below 70%. Many are not close to 95%. If it was 97% vaccinated, the 3% would benefit from herd immunity. This is why we need a very big effort to make dc get vaccinated by withholding benefits.

Yes, perhaps, but unfortunately there are rising cases of babies getting measles now.

Thank you for the correction, I just looked into it further and see that I was incorrect.

Yes, and that's horrible, but hopefully as a PP said, the babies are getting mild cases because they have maternal antibodies. Obviously no measles is better.

What a shame for him. Do you think the parents have revised their stance on vaccines now or are they still belligerently thinking they were right?

God I’d be so angry as an adult if my parents had done that to me.

That nation, apparently, now being the UK

Which communities?