One of the most gut-wrenching aspects of the recent measles outbreak on the West Coast is that a large number of those who have been sickened are too young to be vaccinated. Medical experts say that babies younger than one year old shouldn’t receive the MMR (mumps/measles/rubella) vaccine. Those kids are thus left to rely on herd immunity to keep from getting this devastating disease. It’s a reminder of what makes the anti-vaccine movement so outrageously dangerous. They’re putting people who have genuine medical reasons for not getting vaccinated in undue and unnecessary danger.
Fiona Stone knows what it’s like to have kids who can’t be vaccinated. She recently sat down with NBC News for a chat near her home in Santa Barbara, California. Stone’s middle son, Cameron, has an autoimmune condition, and it not only delayed him getting his shots, but also kept his two siblings from getting vaccinated on the normal schedule as well. Watch a clip of it here:
When Cameron was younger, he was forced to go on steroid therapy and chemotherapy, and the drugs so weakened his immune system that it was far too risky for him to start the normal vaccine regimen while he was under treatment. Stone was told that the antibodies would have had a “devastating” effect on his body. The measles vaccine is a “live virus” vaccine–that is, it contains a weakened version of the measles virus. While it normally causes a harmless infection, Cameron’s immune system was so weakened that if he had been exposed, he could have had to go to the hospital. For the same reason, he couldn’t get the chicken pox vaccine right away. While he was getting therapy, Cameron couldn’t go to places where large numbers of kids gather–such as playgrounds or kid-themed restaurants.
Stone then revealed that Cameron’s condition had a ripple effect on his siblings as well. Live virus vaccines go through your body and are expelled through feces. Stone was not willing to chance Cameron being exposed, so she opted not to vaccinate her other two kids until Cameron came off therapy. She found herself having to explain her children’s predicament to other parents, given that their kids were at risk as well.
Stone’s kids are now all vaccinated. She said that “there are situations when you have children that you cannot control,” such as autoimmune or kidney problems. Getting your child vaccinated, she says, protects kids who are in those situations. Errol Allen, executive director of the American Academy of Pediatrics, agrees. He probably speaks for a number of pediatric doctors when he says that there is no reason such things as “a trip to the grocery store, a football game or school” should put kids at risk of catching “an almost 100 percent preventable disease.”
I’m convinced now that at some point, we need to make it so anyone who hasn’t been vaccinated shouldn’t be allowed in school unless they have a medically valid reason for not getting vaccinated. It’s probably the most effective way to nip the anti-vaxxer nonsense in the bud that doesn’t veer into Big Brother territory. These anti-vaxxers either don’t know or refuse to understand that they’re not just putting their own kids in danger. They’re putting others in danger as well.
