Child in Liverpool dies of measles :(

[IShouldNotCoco]

I think that vaccine hesitancy is worse after the Covid nonsense conspiracies than it ever was during the Andrew Wakefield era (I had young children in both).

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/child-measles-dies-alder-hey-32048907.amp

Alder Hey also treats children with cancer who are on treatment and will have no immune system.

My son was an inpatient during all of his treatment (not Alder Hey) but many children are in and out during treatment, walking around the main areas etc it must be so scary for them.

They haven't mentioned in the article if the parents had refused, or even if the child was vaccinated.

But what we can take home is, even if that poor child could not have been vaccinated because of health issues if there had been good uptake of the vaccine the child would have been protected due to herd immunity.

And it's this which is putting vulnerable kids who can't be vaccinated and young babies at higher risk.

I would imagine that Alder Hay has strict arrangements re isolating infectious patients, I doubt they're on an open ward!

No, but it’s completely unnecessary

I struggle with anti-vaxxers logic.

You can’t really get herd immunity in measles as it’s so infectious. Even if just a few percent are unvaccinated it will still circulate ( albeit at a lower rate).

They'll probably still not vacc their kids.

They always somehow rationalise it in their own minds.

E.g.

Oh it was in Liverpool, uptake is around 74%.

Do quick research.

Oh where we live uptake is over 90% little Jonny will be just fine.

Once they know they are infectious, yes.

The issue is before when they are still infectious but before the measles rash appears so might just think it's a cold etc.

That's how it spreads so quickly.

But children who are ill enough to warrant admission will not be in the early prodromal stages of measles, almost certainly the rash will have appeared by that point.

If the child has medical issues, they could've been at the hospital for an appointment, coughed in the lift as an example and that's all it takes.

Illness can spread quickly around hospitals which is a reason why Alder Hey are so worried.

My friend is blind, due to childhood measles.

Ignorance is rife.

Agreed. Whatever the circumstances these parents have lost a child.

I think that we will soon see vaccination rates rise sharply again, but sadly it will be because outbreaks of preventable diseases will start to be more frequent and people start to see the consequences first hand again. I suspect it will happen in the USA first with the current administrations antivax stance which could give some parents here a wake up call to get their children vaccinated.

What a callous remark. I’m sure you wouldn’t feel that way if it was your child. Two children is 2 too many when it’s a completely preventable disease.

Actually the article said they DID have other health issues.

^^ absolutely this

No, it says that ‘it is known that they were suffering from measles and are believed to have had other health complications’.

Anti vaxxers are the sort of people who get their "research" from posts on Facebook and you'll never fix stupid. But we do need to clamp down on unvaccinated children and young adults attending schools and nurseries - my daughter had all her vaccines but was working in a college aged 19 with foreign students learning English, and ended up catching whooping cough. She was dreadfully unwell, ended up with 2 cracked ribs from coughing and was off work for nearly 4 months as she was so run down with it. Ended up in hospital twice needing help to breathe. I hate to think how poorly she'd have been had she not been vaccinated.

I’m not sure what point you’re making here.

Herd immunity for measles is achievable with a >95% vaccination rate, according to a variety of reputable sources. Herd immunity through natural immunity has never been achieved (obviously), and to pursue that as a strategy would result in a large number of measles deaths and serious sequelae.

I've worked in humanitarian settings where we are told that we cannot rely on herd immunity for measles - it can and will circulate in the community at 95% coverage. Obviously the more that are covered the better, but you cannot rely won a high coverage stopping transition with measles.

Does it matter if they did have health conditions or not?

This was a completely preventable disease. Is it only when a kid with no health conditions dies then the anti-vax brigade might consider vaccination?

Like I said they just rationalise what happens in their own minds-

Oh this kid had other health conditions. My kid will be fine if they get measles.

Oh I see. The more the better, of course!

I grew up near AlderHey . My awful eyesight I owe to measles at 5. My mother whisked me upstairs to a darkened room when she saw the rash. The curtains were unlined summer curtains. Over a month off school and most of the summer in bed. Very clear memory of the whole thing.

That's not how I read the article in the Times - it said other health conditions.

I had measles as a child. I didn't have any lasting effects from it but my aunt had it and it affected her eyesight.

Does Liverpool have a lot of migrants who've not been vaccinated? They tend to be dumped in the poorer areas (like Knowsley which a pp referred to).