Mom Slams Anti-Vaxxers After Her 5-Month-Old Baby Gets Measles During Outbreak

[Coventina]

The first time you can get the MMR vaccine is at 12-15 months old. Children under that age and people who are unable to get vaccines for medical reasons (eg they are allergic to the vaccine or have a weakened immune system) rely on herd immunity to not get sick. If enough people are vaccinated against a contagious disease (in the case of measles, 95 percent of the population) they create protection for the unvaccinated.

*snip*

Protection of the young and the vulnerable relies on others who can get vaccinated doing so. Unfortunately, as several mothers have found out over the last few months, the levels of vaccinations in the population may not be high enough to offer this layer of protection.

Sara Blum, from California, has shared her "terrifying" ordeal of her baby catching measles after discovering that her 5-month-old son Walter had a rash and a fever of 39°C (102.5°F). He was diagnosed with measles, and fortunately, after receiving medical care, he recovered well.

“This would have been 100% preventable if people would just trust doctors and science, and vaccinate their children rather than going off of their own opinions and doing their research through Facebook,” Blum wrote in a now-hidden Facebook post where she shared pictures of her son's full-body rash, MSN reports.

“Because of them, my little boy had to get measles and suffer. Luckily there were no major complications and he is doing okay, but it could have easily been a different turnout. He is only 5 months old and didn’t even have a chance to get vaccinated."

https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/mom-slams-antivaxxers-after-her-5monthold-baby-gets-measles-during-outbreak/

[Dr Hobbitstein]

1. I've said it for years, anti-vaxxers are fucking dangerous. nt

[Coventina]

2. Impossible, I know, but it would be nice if these idiots could be sued for damages.

In cases like these.

But, measles is SO contagious, the guilty party is pretty impossible to trace.
(And even then, the guilty party isn't necessarily the sick one, but a victim of parental abuse).

[Dr Hobbitstein]

5. Agreed. nt

[Aristus]

3. Even after her son recovers from the acute case of measles, he will still be at risk for

a complication called subacute sclerosing panenchephalitis. It only strikes around 1 in 1,000 patients with a history of measles, but it is 98% fatal. A patient immunized against measles avoids both measles and its post-acute complications. We should be telling this to all those people out there touting the 'natural immunity' acquired from contracting the disease itself.

[Initech]

4. There's a special place in hell for anti-vaxxers.