Parents of children who are too youthful for measles vaccine

Since the explosion of the Odra West Texas began at the end of January, Dr. Ana Montanaz, a pediatrician in Lubbock, had tough conversations with families.

There was a worried telephone conversation with the mother of an unvaccinated toddler in Gaines, the epicenter of the explosion that developed a high fever and persistent cough.

There were several tense conversations with families about dubious remedies, such as cod liver oil and vitamin A, both of which were advertised by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a newly outstanding secretary for health and human services.

“Families with whom I touch the base in Gaines – they are afraid and are concerned,” said Dr. Montanez, who practices at Texas Tech University Health Science Center. The county has had low childhood vaccination indicators for years.

But the “most tough” conversations she had concerned the parents of children under 6 months, who are too youthful to vaccinate against a highly contagious illness, said Dr. Montanaz. In addition to calling parents unvaccinated children to make sure that everyone who spends time with their children is vaccinated, there is only as much comfort that they can offer – especially those who have to work and send their children to day care.

“I will say:” If we cannot vaccinate them, I do not recommend day care, “she said. “” But I completely understand that you have to work. ” “

Recently, one of her patients made a financially risky decision not to return to work, to stay at home and ensure the safety of her child.

Easily transferred virus

Odra is one of the most contagious viruses in the world and can live on surfaces or suspended in the air for two hours. Public health recommendations Call children to receive the first shot to protect from 12 months to 15 months and the second round aged 4 to 6 years.

Children living near the explosion can receive a dose of opposite vaccine, pigs and roses (MMR) early – up to 6 months. Mothers who have been vaccinated or had measles, gave some antibodies to their newborns who lend a hand protect them after birth, although in recent years the research suggested this Protection may not be so solid As doctors and researchers once thought.

All of them leave the parents of youthful children living in the current explosions of explosions in Western Texas and Recent Mexico – which according to experts are related – in a painful situation. Up to 20 children infected with measles get pneumonia, According to Centers for Disease Control and PreventionAnd about one in 1000 develops brain swelling.

According to CDC, nine out of 10 people will be infected with infected measles if they come into contact with an infected person, and children and youthful children whose immune system is still developing, are more exposed to solemn complications. So a child who simply breathes the same air that an infected person has touched or sneezed can get ailing.

Avoiding public places

Jenna Sullivan, a postpartum doula in Lubbock, said that she feels terrible for her clients who struggled with additional stress, which is already so “sensitive” sometimes for modern parents.

“We had a fairly tough flu season,” said Sullivan. “RSV does its job. The addition of measles to this caused fear to some of my families. “

Encouraged parents to avoid public spaces as much as possible Exhibitions at Walmart and TargetFor example – but he admitted that it is not always possible. She said that infants require habitual controls, and mothers may need to go to a doctor or lactation specialist, although she has recently helped customers to solve home connections, not to the office or clinic.

Dr. Montanaz and other local pediatricians said that they were coming back to the Covid strategy to protect children and offer parents a sense of comfort-and by testing visits early in the morning for families with youthful children and allow patients in their cars to avoid exposure in anticipation. Despite this, on Thursday, she said, an exhibition in the Novarg kindergarten, about which she and her colleagues warn families.

Pediatricians also said that they give more MMR vaccinations than usual. At Leaps & Bounds Private Pediatric Practice in LubBock (The unit, which until now had three reports of the Odra During the epidemic) suppliers usually give about 20 mmr vaccination per month. They gave over 160 since the explosion.

“Of course, parents are very concerned at the moment,” said Dr. Todd Brodbeck, a pediatrician from Pediatrics West Texas, also in Lubbock. “We get many phone calls, many questions: are my children protected? Did we have these vaccines? “

A sense of sensitivity and uncertainty

She said that Britta Anderson, a 38-year-old mother from Lubbock, felt overwhelmingly when her 13-month-old daughter was vaccinated against Odra last month, as well as cases in nearby Gaines.

“For a long time we worked really demanding to have it,” Anderson said, adding: “In the Odle it affects my awareness of how sensitive life is. For a moment I never take her health or her being here for granted. “

She feels calming the level of protection of her daughter (one dose of MMR vaccine has 93 percent compared to the Oder), although she plans to ask the pediatrician of her daughter about early obtaining a second dose. According to CDC, children can receive a second dose of vaccine before, otherwise, at the age of 4 to 6 – as long as 28 days have passed from the first dose.

But on the chat of the WhatsApp group, which Mrs. Anderson shares with several friends who are mothers, frustration is material. “There is definitely a sense of fear and uncertainty – only a sense of lack of high power or control,” she said.