Latest news with #MMRV
Newsweek
23-05-2025
- Health
- Newsweek
Texas Sees Surge in Babies Getting Vaccinated: 'Really Scared'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Measles vaccination rates among babies in Texas have increased more than 30-fold in some instances as parents are "really scared" about an outbreak in the western portion of the state. Lara Anton, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of State Health Services, told Newsweek that because of the West Texas outbreak, the agency recommended that infants living in or visiting outbreak-designated counties get an early (zero) dose of the measles vaccine at 6 to 11 months. Why It Matters In February, Texas experienced its biggest measles outbreak in about three decades. West Texas saw an influx of almost 50 cases, and health officials attributed the drastic uptick to a close-knit, undervaccinated Mennonite community. Cases have continued to rise in the months since, leading to hospitalizations and the deaths of two children. A sign outside the Lubbock Public Health facility in Texas on April 9. A sign outside the Lubbock Public Health facility in Texas on April To Know The ongoing situation has resulted in Texas parents being more proactive to vaccinate their babies than in years past. Truveta, a health care and analytics company, shared internal data showing that about 10 percent of 10-month-old children in Texas had received at least one measles vaccine in April alone—about 10.4-fold higher than the January 2024 to January 2025 average. Also in April, about 8.7 percent of 6-month-olds in Texas received a measles vaccine. That's a 31.7-fold increase compared to the 0.3 percent averaged between January 2024 and January 2025. In March and April, about 20.1 percent of all first measles vaccines were administered to children between 6 and 11 months—an 11.5-fold increase compared to 2019, when international and domestic outbreaks were ongoing. "It does show that parents really are scared, and that parents don't want to wait," Nina Masters, a senior applied research scientist at Truveta, told the Texas Tribune. "They don't want to wait 12 months to get their child vaccinated. They want to wait six months and one day, and they want to do it as soon as they can." Newsweek has contacted Truveta for comment. The Centers for Disease Control recommends the first measles vaccine (administered in the U.S. as the combined measles, mumps, rubella vaccine, or MMR or MMRV) to be issued between 12 and 15 months, with a later dose around kindergarten age—i.e., ages 4 to 6. However, Truveta data from 2020 to 2024 found a "stark decline" in the number of kids overall receiving the vaccine on time. Anton said children who received an early dose of the measles vaccine should still get the two regularly scheduled doses, meaning they would ultimately get three doses of MMR—with the second dose coming at least 28 days after the early dose. DSHS data showed that between January 1 and April 30, 51,275 doses were administered—including 44,168 to children 12 to 15 months. In 2019, the annual total was 54,184. However, the Texas immunization registry requires people to opt in. As most Texans have not done so, the overall count of early MMR vaccines administered during this time period could be different, the DSHS spokesperson added. DSHS, which provides two weekly updates on cases, said on May 20 that 722 cases had been confirmed statewide since late January. Less than 1 percent, or fewer than 10 of the confirmed cases, are estimated to be actively infectious since their rash onset date was less than a week ago. Individuals are described as infectious four days prior to and four days after rash onset. Of those 722 cases, 92 of them have led to hospitalizations. Two children have died, including an 8-year-old girl in Lubbock. She died of "measles pulmonary failure" in April at UMC Health System. DSHS said the following counties had ongoing measles transmission: Cochran, Dawson, Gaines, Lamar, Lubbock, Terry and Yoakum. On Tuesday, Dallam was removed from the list of designated outbreak counties because it had been 42 days, or two incubation periods, since the last infectious case. There have been 15 documented measles cases outside the West Texas region this year. DSHS reported that of the 722 confirmed cases, 688 were found in unvaccinated individuals or those with an unknown vaccination status, while 19 individuals who received two-plus doses of the MMR vaccine were infected. What People Are Saying Lara Anton, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of State Health Services, told Newsweek: "DSHS has been encouraging people to get vaccinated if they are not immune to measles because it is the best way to prevent illness and stop the virus from spreading." Miranda Yaver, an assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of Pittsburgh, told Newsweek: "We now have over 1,000 confirmed measles cases in the United States, and this is avoidable with vaccination, which we know to be safe and effective. We are seeing the proliferation of vaccine hesitancy, with a pronounced partisan split, extending well beyond the COVID vaccine. As secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has immense power and responsibility to promote vaccine safety and efficacy, especially amid these outbreaks that have resulted in some tragic deaths." Kala Hunter, a Texas mother of a 2-year-old son, told NBC News: "Being in the hotbed of the measles outbreak, it was a no-brainer. If it was safe to get him vaccinated early, we were going to protect him." What Happens Next DSHS said in its May 20 assessment, "Due to the highly contagious nature of this disease, additional cases are likely to occur in the outbreak area and the surrounding communities." The national conversation around vaccines is also set to continue. Earlier this month, when asked whether he would vaccinate his own children against diseases such as measles, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told the House Appropriations Committee: "My opinions about vaccines are irrelevant. I don't think people should be taking advice, medical advice from me. I don't want to give advice."
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
RFK Jr misleads on chickenpox vaccine use in Europe
Kennedy's claim came during a May 14, 2025 hearing of the House Appropriations Committee, when Democratic Congressman Mark Pocan asked if he would vaccinate his own children against chickenpox. The secretary did not answer directly, saying: "I don't want to give advice. I can tell you, in Europe, they don't use the chickenpox vaccine, specifically because the pre-clinical trial shows that when you inoculate the population for chickenpox, you get shingles in older people, which is more dangerous" (archived here). Kennedy expressed repeated skepticism over vaccines throughout his more than ten-year career as chairman Children's Health Defense, an organization AFP has regularly fact-checked for spreading misinformation about vaccination. Since taking over at HHS, he has continued to send mixed messages about vaccines that boast long safety records. His response to a measles outbreak in Texas that left two children dead, for example, has been criticized for underemphasizing the efficacy of vaccines that protect against the virus. His agency is also seeking to introduce new testing requirements for all vaccines, which experts worry could make updates for existing shots less available and more expensive. AFP's review of vaccine recommendations across Europe show his comments about chickenpox and shingles are inaccurate. A 2022 study found that 28 European countries administer the shots, with 16 using the MMRV, a vaccine that protects against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox (archived here and here). According to the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency of the European Union, the chickenpox vaccine is mandatory as of May 2025 for young children in Hungary, Italy and Latvia (archived here). Varicella, commonly referred to as chickenpox, and herpes zoster, also called shingles, are both caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV). The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says anyone infected with varicella can develop herpes zoster. While children generally recover from chickenpox in four to seven days, the disease can lead to serious complications, and it is more dangerous for adults. Pregnant individuals are particularly vulnerable, as the virus can harm the fetus (archived here and here). The United States began vaccinating against chickenpox in 1995, making it the first country to add the shot to its routine childhood immunization schedule (archived here). As of 2025, there are two chickenpox vaccines licensed in the United States (archived here). The vaccine's implementation dramatically cut hospitalizations and deaths linked to chickenpox infections, José Romero, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases, told AFP (archived here). "We have a vaccine that is effective, that is safe, that's been tested for over a decade -- over two decades -- and that has really done away with the number of hospitalizations, cases and deaths due to chickenpox," he said May 20, 2025. The CDC estimates that in its first 25 years, the vaccination program prevented 91 million cases of chickenpox while also saving $23.4 billion in healthcare costs (archived here). The agency also says children who get the chickenpox vaccine "have a lower risk of herpes zoster when compared with children infected with wild-type VZV" (archived here). Like chickenpox, shingles causes a painful, itchy rash, but it tends to take two to four weeks to heal. For some 10 to 18 percent of people, the infection results in a more serious long-term nerve pain known as postherpetic neuralgia (archived here). An estimated one million cases of shingles occur annually in the United States. The CDC says the rate among US adults "gradually increased over a long period" for reasons unknown, but that it has "recently plateaued or declined" (archived here). Some evidence has suggested that for adults who had chickenpox in childhood, later exposure to children infected with VZV would boost immunity and prove protective against shingles. But a study from the United Kingdom showed the impact may not be as robust as initially thought (archived here and here). US researchers separately followed the impact of their country's vaccination program from 1998 to 2019. They found that modeling, which predicted the program could precipitate a rise in shingles cases among adults who had previously had chickenpox, was not supported by the real-world data (archived here). They also found that in addition to directly reducing chickenpox morbidity and mortality, the vaccination program "reduced herpes zoster incidence among children and adolescents born in the vaccine era." When the United Kingdom's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation decided to recommend adding the chickenpox vaccine to its schedule of shots for children in 2023, it specifically referenced the study from the United States as alleviating concerns for older populations who have recovered from a varicella infection (archived here). Ellen Rafferty, a researcher at the University of Alberta (archived here), also told the BBC in 2024 that her modeling study from Canada did not show "conclusive evidence" of a surge in shingles cases following the introduction of a chickenpox vaccine program (archived here and here). For adults concerned about shingles, the United States recommends that those over the age of 50 receive a vaccine (archived here). A single shot against the virus first became available in 2006, and in 2017, another vaccine that does not use a live virus earned approval (archived here). Read more of AFP's reporting on vaccine misinformation here.
AFP
22-05-2025
- Health
- AFP
RFK Jr misleads on chickenpox vaccine use in Europe
Kennedy's claim came during a May 14, 2025 hearing of the House Appropriations Committee, when Democratic Congressman Mark Pocan asked if he would vaccinate his own children against chickenpox. The secretary did not answer directly, saying: "I don't want to give advice. I can tell you, in Europe, they don't use the chickenpox vaccine, specifically because the pre-clinical trial shows that when you inoculate the population for chickenpox, you get shingles in older people, which is more dangerous" (archived here). Image US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies before the House Appropriations Committee on May 14, 2025 in Washington, DC (GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Samuel Corum) Kennedy expressed repeated skepticism over vaccines throughout his more than ten-year career as chairman Children's Health Defense, an organization AFP has regularly fact-checked for spreading misinformation about vaccination. Since taking over at HHS, he has continued to send mixed messages about vaccines that boast long safety records. His response to a measles outbreak in Texas that left two children dead, for example, has been criticized for underemphasizing the efficacy of vaccines that protect against the virus. His agency is also seeking to introduce new testing requirements for all vaccines, which experts worry could make updates for existing shots less available and more expensive. AFP's review of vaccine recommendations across Europe show his comments about chickenpox and shingles are inaccurate. A 2022 study found that 28 European countries administer the shots, with 16 using the MMRV, a vaccine that protects against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox (archived here and here). According to the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency of the European Union, the chickenpox vaccine is mandatory as of May 2025 for young children in Hungary, Italy and Latvia (archived here). Chickenpox Varicella, commonly referred to as chickenpox, and herpes zoster, also called shingles, are both caused by the varicella-zoster virus (VZV). The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says anyone infected with varicella can develop herpes zoster. While children generally recover from chickenpox in four to seven days, the disease can lead to serious complications, and it is more dangerous for adults. Pregnant individuals are particularly vulnerable, as the virus can harm the fetus (archived here and here). The United States began vaccinating against chickenpox in 1995, making it the first country to add the shot to its routine childhood immunization schedule (archived here). As of 2025, there are two chickenpox vaccines licensed in the United States (archived here). The vaccine's implementation dramatically cut hospitalizations and deaths linked to chickenpox infections, José Romero, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases, told AFP (archived here). "We have a vaccine that is effective, that is safe, that's been tested for over a decade -- over two decades -- and that has really done away with the number of hospitalizations, cases and deaths due to chickenpox," he said May 20, 2025. The CDC estimates that in its first 25 years, the vaccination program prevented 91 million cases of chickenpox while also saving $23.4 billion in healthcare costs (archived here). The agency also says children who get the chickenpox vaccine "have a lower risk of herpes zoster when compared with children infected with wild-type VZV" (archived here). Shingles Like chickenpox, shingles causes a painful, itchy rash, but it tends to take two to four weeks to heal. For some 10 to 18 percent of people, the infection results in a more serious long-term nerve pain known as postherpetic neuralgia (archived here). An estimated one million cases of shingles occur annually in the United States. The CDC says the rate among US adults "gradually increased over a long period" for reasons unknown, but that it has "recently plateaued or declined" (archived here). Some evidence has suggested that for adults who had chickenpox in childhood, later exposure to children infected with VZV would boost immunity and prove protective against shingles. But a study from the United Kingdom showed the impact may not be as robust as initially thought (archived here and here). US researchers separately followed the impact of their country's vaccination program from 1998 to 2019. They found that modeling, which predicted the program could precipitate a rise in shingles cases among adults who had previously had chickenpox, was not supported by the real-world data (archived here). They also found that in addition to directly reducing chickenpox morbidity and mortality, the vaccination program "reduced herpes zoster incidence among children and adolescents born in the vaccine era." When the United Kingdom's Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation decided to recommend adding the chickenpox vaccine to its schedule of shots for children in 2023, it specifically referenced the study from the United States as alleviating concerns for older populations who have recovered from a varicella infection (archived here). Ellen Rafferty, a researcher at the University of Alberta (archived here), also told the BBC in 2024 that her modeling study from Canada did not show "conclusive evidence" of a surge in shingles cases following the introduction of a chickenpox vaccine program (archived here and here). For adults concerned about shingles, the United States recommends that those over the age of 50 receive a vaccine (archived here). A single shot against the virus first became available in 2006, and in 2017, another vaccine that does not use a live virus earned approval (archived here). Read more of AFP's reporting on vaccine misinformation here.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
HHS Secretary RFK Jr. falsely claimed measles vaccine was never fully safety tested
Statement: It's 'all true' that the measles vaccine wanes quickly, was never fully safety tested and contains fetal debris. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s comments about the measles vaccine briefly took center stage during his May 14 Senate testimony. Kennedy appeared before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to discuss Health and Human Services' 2026 budget, and senators questioned him about the 2025 measles outbreak that has killed three people, including two children. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., questioned Kennedy's statements about the measles vaccine. "You have consistently been undermining the measles vaccine," Murphy said. "You told the public that the vaccine wanes very quickly. You went on the 'Dr. Phil' show and said that the measles vaccine was never fully tested for safety. You said there's fetal debris in the measles vaccine." Kennedy answered, "All true. All true." Murphy tried to point to Kennedy's remarks from his testimony earlier the same day, but Kennedy interrupted: Murphy: "This morning, in front of — " Kennedy: "Do you want me to lie to the public?" Murphy: "That's not — None of that is true." Kennedy: "Of course it's true." Before becoming the nation's top public health official, Kennedy notched two decades of work as a leader in the antivaccine movement. Kennedy's inaccurate statements mischaracterize how the measles vaccine is made, how it was tested and how it works. Infectious disease and vaccine experts told PolitiFact that the two-dose MMR vaccine provides lifelong protection; that scientists safety tested it before it was approved for use; and that it does not contain human fetal cells or whole fetal DNA. We contacted HHS and received no response. In early April, Kennedy told CBS News that measles persists because the vaccine's effectiveness decreases fast. "We're always going to have measles, no matter what happens, because the vaccine wanes very quickly," he said. That's inaccurate, vaccine experts said. The measles vaccine is part of a combination vaccine known as the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, or the MMR vaccine. It also can include the varicella vaccine, called the MMRV vaccine. Two infectious disease doctors and a vaccinology professor told PolitiFact that when people receive the measles vaccine's recommended two doses, it provides strong, long-lasting protection against measles infection. "You will have about a 97% chance of being protected and that protection will extend lifelong," said Dr. William Schaffner, infectious disease professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. That matches what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — an agency Kennedy oversees — says about the measles vaccine's efficacy. The MMR's measles vaccine "provides one of our most remarkably durable and long-lasting protective vaccine-induced antibodies," said Patsy Stinchfield, a retired pediatric nurse practitioner and the immediate past president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. Measles antibodies might decrease over time, but that doesn't mean a person's vaccine-induced protection against measles infection is waning, experts said. Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said that to be protected against disease, "all you need is immunological memory cells," Offit said. When you're exposed to the virus, there's plenty of time for those memory cells to become activated and trigger the immune system to make measles antibodies, he said. For other diseases covered by the MMR vaccine, the protection can wane over time, said Paulo Verardi, a University of Connecticut virology and vaccinology professor. That's true of mumps immunity, for example, so people who got vaccinated as children might be less protected from infection as adults, he said. But the measles vaccine doesn't have that issue, he said. "It is rare for someone who has been vaccinated to get measles, and if they do, it is usually a mild case," Verardi said. "Most outbreaks happen not because the vaccine wears off quickly, but because not enough people are vaccinated." During a town hall hosted by TV personality Phil McGraw, known as Dr. Phil, Kennedy said, "The measles vaccine works," and said HHS recommends vaccination against measles. But there are "problems" with the vaccine, Kennedy added. "The problem is — it's really with the mumps portion of the vaccine and the combination — and it was never safety tested," he said. "That combination was never safety tested, and people just assumed that, you know, if the three separate vaccines were safe, then when you combined them they would be safe. But we now know there's some viral interference." Varardi said U.S. regulators approved the first combined MMR vaccine in 1971 "after extensive clinical testing to make sure it was safe and worked well." Kennedy also often talks about testing vaccines against placebos — inactive substances that provide no protection against disease — and HHS recently announced potential changes to vaccine testing that would require placebo testing. When the MMR vaccine was combined, research had shown that each of the components was safe and effective individually, and it isn't always ethical to test them against placebos that would leave test subjects unprotected from infection, Offit said. Fortunately, Offit said, we have "about 50 years of data" on the billions of doses of the MMR vaccine that have been administered. Schaffner said scientists continue to monitor the MMR vaccine's safety. Ongoing vaccine safety surveillance is important to catch extremely rare side effects. A Finland MMR vaccine study found that 5.3 in every 100,000 people vaccinated experienced serious adverse reactions. A 2021 study found that among 12,032 vaccinated people, four people reported serious vaccine-related events. During an April 30 News Nation interview, Kennedy said some people "have religious objections to the vaccination, because the MMR vaccine contains a lot of aborted fetus debris and DNA particles, so they don't want to take it." The MMR vaccine contains weakened live viruses, and viruses must be grown in cells. The measles and mumps viruses are grown in chicken embryo cells and the rubella virus is grown in human fetal cells, which first came from an elective abortion performed in the early 1960s and have been replicated in labs and used to manufacture vaccines for decades. Before it becomes a vaccine component, the virus is extracted from the cells where it is grown and then it is weakened and treated with an enzyme that fragments any remaining DNA, Offit said. So, does the MMR vaccine contain "fetal debris," fetal cells or whole fetal DNA? No, said Offit and Varardi. Whatever DNA is present from the original cell line used to grow the virus likely could be measured in picograms, "meaning trillionths of a gram," Offit said. The origin of the cells used to grow the virus has historically sparked religious concerns. Religious leaders including the Catholic Pontifical Academy for Life concluded that it is both morally permissible and responsible to use the vaccine, the Catholic News Agency reported. Kennedy told Murphy that it's "all true" that the measles vaccine wanes quickly, was never fully tested for safety and contains fetal debris. Scientists say the measles vaccine offers lifelong protection that is 97% effective at preventing the virus. Scientists tested the MMR vaccine before it was approved for use and perform ongoing safety surveillance research; studies show that serious adverse effects are rare. Finally, the MMR vaccine may contain trace amounts of fragmented DNA, but it does not contain whole fetal cells or fetal DNA. We rate Kennedy's statement False. PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. PBS News, WATCH: RFK Jr. defends his questioning of measles vaccine while saying he recommends it, May 14, 2025 Interview with Dr. William Schaffner, professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, May 15, 2025 Interview with Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and professor of pediatrics in the division of infectious diseases at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, May 15, 2025 Email interview with Paulo Verardi, virology and vaccinology professor at the University of Connecticut, May 15, 2025 Email interview with Patsy Stinchfield, a retired pediatric nurse practitioner and the immediate past president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, May 16, 2025 Dr. Phil Primetime on YouTube, Inside RFK Jr.'s Health Agenda 100 Days In | Dr. Phil Primetime, April 30, 2025 Medical News Today, Fact check: How long does protection from the measles vaccines last? April 16, 2025 CBS News, Watch: RFK Jr.'s first network TV interview as HHS secretary, April 9, 2025 Reuters, US Health secretary Kennedy revives misleading claims of 'fetal debris' in measles shots, May 1, 2025 Health, Fact Check: Does the MMR Vaccine Really Contain 'Aborted Fetus Debris'? May 2, 2025 Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Vaccine Ingredients: Fetal Cells, accessed May 15, 2025 New York, RFK Jr. Claims the MMR Vaccine Contains 'Aborted Fetus Debris,' May 1, 2025 CIDRAP, Texas announces second measles death in unvaccinated child, April 7, 2025 NBC News, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. falsely claims measles vaccine protection 'wanes very quickly,' April 11, 2025 The Guardian, RFK Jr and health agency falsely claim MMR vaccine includes 'aborted fetus debris,' May 1, 2025 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Measles Vaccine Recommendations, accessed May 16, 2025 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Health Alert Network, Expanding Measles Outbreak in the United States and Guidance for the Upcoming Travel Season, March 7, 2025 Medpage Today, Here's How We Know Vaccines Are Safe and Effective, May 15, 2025 Science News, HHS says new vaccines should be tested against placebos. They already are, May 14, 2025 News Nation YouTube channel, RFK Jr.: Measles cases in US not as bad as in other countries | CUOMO Town Hall: Trump's First 100 D, April 30, 2025 The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, Serious adverse events after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination during a fourteen-year prospective follow-up, December 2000 The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, Evaluation of the Safety and Immunogenicity of M-M-RII (Combination Measles-mumps-rubella Vaccine), November 2021 Cleveland Clinic, MMR Vaccine, accessed May 16, 2025 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, About the Vaccine MMR and MMRV Vaccine Composition and Dosage, accessed May 16, 2025 Catholic News Agency, What does the Catholic Church teach about vaccines? May 6, 2019 The Reporter Lansdale Pennsylvania, Merck Vaccine Tests Completed, Dec. 17, 1971 This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: RFK Jr. falsely claimed measles vaccine was never fully safety tested
Hamilton Spectator
16-05-2025
- Health
- Hamilton Spectator
Hamilton public health investigating measles exposures at restaurant, venue
Hamilton public health is investigating after patrons at a west-end Italian restaurant and downtown entertainment venue were possibly exposed to a confirmed case of measles earlier this month. The public health unit announced the potential exposures in a media release Thursday, noting that they were related to a case of measles in a non-Hamilton resident; however, it's unclear where the person is from. The local exposures come as the province continues to grapple with a growing measles outbreak that began in October and has infected more than 1,600 people since it began. None of those cases have been connected to Hamilton residents as of Thursday. Public health said it has notified and will be following up with 'known identified contacts' who have been exposed to the highly contagious virus, which can easily spread to those who are not fully vaccinated or have not previously been infected. So far, Hamilton public health has only reported two potential exposure sites connected to the case. They are as follows: Infants, pregnant people and those with weakened immune systems are more at risk of severe complications from the virus, noted the public health unit. 'Measles is a serious, vaccine-preventable infection that can cause severe lifelong complications,' said Dr. Bart Harvey, associate medical officer of health, in a statement. Those who were potentially exposed are asked to watch for symptoms for 21 days after an exposure, even if they are up to date with their vaccinations. Symptoms typically last for one to two weeks and may include a high fever, cough, runny nose and small white spots with white centres on the inside of the mouth and throat, as well as a red, blotchy rash. Folks from the community are reminded to check their immunization records to ensure they are up to date on their measles vaccines, either MMR or MMRV. 'Vaccination against measles is highly effective,' said Harvey. 'It is strongly recommended that you and your family are up to date with appropriate measles vaccination.' Two doses are recommended for anyone born in or after 1970, according to the release, while those born before 1970 are considered protected against measles. Those who were born after 1970 and are not fully vaccinated are asked to avoid contact with those most vulnerable to the virus. Contacts who are students or child-care workers with only one dose of the vaccine will be asked to stay home until they are fully vaccinated. Those who were at either exposure site and are not fully vaccinated are asked to call Hamilton public health at 905-546-2424 , ext. 7970, with any questions and concerns. If someone has developed the symptoms of measles, they are asked to stay home and not attend work, school or any other public spaces. They should contact their doctor and, if attending a clinic or hospital, call ahead to ensure precautions are in place.
