Glamour.com: A Measles Outbreak Could Have Killed My Daughter
A few weeks ago a child was diagnosed with measles in Clark County, Washington, just over the river from where my family and I live in Portland, Oregon. I was hoping it was nothing more than an isolated incident, but the disease spread. Soon there was a full-on measles outbreak, complete with a long list of schools, restaurants, churches, and doctors offices that could be contaminated with the virus. Portland’s airport, NBA arena, science museum, and even Ikea are all on the list. Now the total number of confirmed measles cases in Washington and Oregon is hovering around 40—most of them in kids—with at least a dozen more under investigation.
It’s no coincidence that Clark County, the epicenter of the measles outbreak, is an antivaccination hotspot. The area has the lowest measles vaccination rates in the entire state of Washington—just 84.5 percent of Clark Country kindergartners were current on their measles vaccination in the 2016–2017 school year (down from 96.4 percent in 2004–2005). “Measles was considered eliminated thanks to vaccination,” says Jennifer Vines, M.D., deputy health officer for Multnomah County Health in Portland. “Now we are backsliding.”
Thankfully, I’m the mother of a fully vaccinated seven-year-old. I feel very confident that she is protected, and I am not concerned that she will contract the virus. But if this had happened two years ago, it would have been a different story.
Two years ago my little girl was battling childhood kidney cancer. Her cancer was eradicated, but months of chemotherapy and radiation ransacked her immune system. While her body bounced back, she was still at risk of contracting any number of infections—especially highly contagious ones like measles. Compromised kids, like my daughter then, can’t get vaccinations; their immune systems are too weak to develop the response that is so protective (and some vaccines contain traces of a live virus, which could lead to infections in people with weak immune systems). She was vulnerable. Unprotected. Had there been a measles outbreak two years ago, my daughter would have been a sitting duck.
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/voices/a-measles-outbreak-could-have-killed-my-daughter/ar-BBT2X7D?li=BBnbfcL
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