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Families fear for children too young to be vaccinated

Natalie Swaby
KING-TV, Seattle
Beckett Bradshaw, left, 10 months old is too young to receive a dose of the measles vaccine so his mother, Natalie; sister, Kenzie, 8; dad, Brandon; and brothers Andy, 4, and Dillon, 10, will be waiting until spring to go to Disneyland.


MAPLE VALLEY, Wash. — Parents Natalie and Brandon Bradshaw broke the news to their kids: They're not going to Disneyland, at least not right now.

After saving money for two years, the family of six was supposed to leave Monday for the Happiest Place on Earth, and the Bradshaw children have been looking forward to the trip for months. But a measles outbreak centered on the Southern California theme park has the parents worried.

"I have never even seen anyone with measles," Brandon Bradshaw said. "Then I started researching it and saw those pictures and said, 'We are not going.' "

Unvaccinated children are some of the most vulnerable to the highly contagious respiratory disease, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nine of 10 people who are not immune and come in contact with an infected person will get the virus, which starts with a fever, runny nose, cough, red eyes and a sore throat.

Three of the Bradshaws' children — Dillon, 10; Kenzie, 8; and Andy, 4 — have been vaccinated, mom Natalie Bradshaw said. But Beckett, who is 10 months old, has not because he is generally considered too young.

The CDC recommends that children get their first dose of the vaccine at 12 to 15 months old with a second dose at 4 to 6 years old. Kids can receive the second dose earlier, but the shots have to be at least 28 days apart.

If necessary, children as young as 6 months can receive the vaccine, but they will have to get two shots later at the regularly prescribed times.

"We have an 8-month-old at home, so it (measles) freaks me out," said Garrick Russell of Kennewick, Wash. He and his 8-year-old son, Ace, are vaccinated; the baby is not.

Leighton Bereche of Mesa, Ariz., is too young to receive the vaccine. But the 4-month-old potentially was exposed to the virus last week when her mother, Shana Bereche, took her daughter to Phoenix Children's Hospital's location near their home.

"It's infuriating to protect a preemie baby through utero and after and then know that all she did was go to a doctor's appointment that she had to go to and she was exposed," Shana Bereche said. Leighton is under a 21-day quarantine until Feb. 11 as Maricopa County Health Department officials monitor her and 194 others potentially exposed when a measles patient came to the hospital before the telltale rash appeared.

Leighton received a shot of immunoglobulin Monday to help build her immune system since she won't be able to get the vaccine for at least two more months.

Shana Bereche and her 4-month-old daughter, Leighton, were among those potentially exposed to measles at a Mesa, Ariz., health center.

For parents, the possibility of measles should be a far greater worry than people's fears late last year of contracting Ebola.

Measles is contagious four days before the rash emerges. The virus can spread to others in the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes. And it can live for up to two hours in the air or on a surface after an infected person has left the room, the CDC said.

The good news: In more than 99% of cases, measles can be prevented with two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. The bonus: Those who have had the vaccine also get immunity from mumps and German measles.

"I feel good because they're immunized, and I think they're protected," said Diana Sarabia of Fort Worth, Texas, who had her young children Kimberly and Omar vaccinated as soon as they were eligible. Tarrant County had a case of measles diagnosed earlier this month; the infected adult arrived in Texas on a flight from India that stopped in Dubai and was contagious while on the plane.

But some parents, concerned that a British doctor in 1998 had recommended further investigation into a possible relationship between bowel disease, autism and the MMR vaccine, have decided against immunizing their children, according to the History of Vaccines, a website from the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

Numerous studies since then have found no link between the vaccine and autism. The physician later was found to have falsified data and is no longer allowed to practice medicine in Great Britain.

"We know what the disease is. We have the vaccine for it. It's no different from the flu," said Jillian Cook of Rochester, N.Y. "Things happen. You should have been vaccinated."

In California, Palm Desert High School sent 66 students home Wednesday because they never got measles shots. They have to stay home until officials determine that they are healthy because another teen with measles came to class Jan. 12 to 16.

Dr. Jack Wolfson, a cardiologist in Paradise Valley, Ariz., doesn't believe children should receive any vaccinations and instead should build their immune systems naturally.

"This is a perfect example of why it does matter, at some point, to have your child vaccinated," said Christine O'Kelly of Palm Desert. "We all know as parents our kids need to be immunized."

Still, some people — including doctors — are not convinced.

"We should be getting measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox. These are the rights of our children to get," said Dr. Jack Wolfson of Wolfson Integrative Cardiology in Paradise Valley, Ariz., who does not believe children should receive vaccinations of any kind. "We do not need to inject chemicals into ourselves and into our children in order to boost our immune system."

In 1962 before a measles vaccine became available in the USA, more than 9 in 10 children were infected by age 15 and more than a half million cases were reported annually, according to The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

An average of 450 people died each year in this country between 1956 and 1960. But complications, some that became lifelong, affected thousands and included respiratory, sight and hearing problems.

Even now, as many as 1 in 20 children with measles will develop pneumonia, and 1 in 1,000 will get encephalitis, a swelling of the brain that can lead to convulsions and brain damage, the CDC said. Measles is one of the leading causes of death among children worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.

The lesser symptoms such as the red rash, fever and inflamed eyes were enough to persuade the Bradshaws to put the brakes on their Disneyland vacation. But they won't miss out forever, just until spring when Beckett gets his first dose of the measles vaccine.

"It was really sad," 8-year-old Kenzie said. "But to keep him safe, it is OK."

Contributing: Chris Hrapsky and Tram Mai, KPNX-TV, Phoenix; Dennis Wagner, The Arizona Republic;Lauren Zakalik, WFAA-TV, Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; David Nyczepir, The (Palm Springs, Calif.) Desert Sun; Linda Dono, USA TODAY.

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