RPA-C in Williamsburg, Brooklyn
“Measles is just a rash,” they said.
Three-month-old Moshe’s eyes are red and have that obvious febrile sheen. His rectal temperature is 104.5, and flirting ever closer to a febrile seizure. Moshe’s baby skin is now turned ugly with a head-to-toe, deep red and pimply rash. On further exam, this child’s eardrums are bulging red and his lungs sound like a NYC subway train pulling into the station. Moshe’s fontanelles are sunken and his oral mucosa is completely dry. Moshe is dehydrated. Moshe may have a pneumonia. Moshe has uncomplicated measles.
Always-friendly Mrs. Rosenblatt usually marches in with her beautiful family in tow. Tonight she comes in after hours. She is four months pregnant with her 9th child. Mrs. Rosenblatt is vaccinated against the measles. Exposed by an uncaring neighbor, her face and body are now covered head-to-toe in an ugly measles rash. Distraught and concerned for her unborn baby, she would like to know the risks of measles in pregnancy. The data, though old, is not comforting. Most likely you will be okay, I reassured her, but unfortunately there is an increased risk of preterm delivery, NICU admission for your baby and the risk of spontaneous abortion. This is uncomplicated measles.
Yosef is a 4-month old child with deep blue eyes and ginormous cheeks. Yosef’s mother believes in vaccinations. Yosef had RSV bronchiolitis when he was a month old and ever since wheezes with every sniffle and cold. He struggles mightily to breathe but he’s a tough kid. Yosef has a cold and he’s been struggling. Using up our medical arsenal of nebulizer medications and steroids, each day he comes closer to an ambulance ride to the ER. But we have staved it off, and we are hopeful. Today something is different. His breathing is incredibly rapid; for every second that passes he’s taking one breath, 60 breaths a minute. He also has a fever of 103. This is new. Again, we attempt to help, but it is too late, and we send him by ambulance to the ER. Coming from a neighborhood with a raging measles epidemic, we relay our concerns to the ER attending. Yosef is admitted to the PICU. Initially he does well on high flow oxygen, but this is not enough. Yosef is sedated and he’s attached to BIPAP. Yosef has measles and a possible superinfection. Broad spectrum IV antibiotics are administered in attempt to ward off the infection. Yosef has complicated measles. We hope Yosef will survive.
These stories are real.
Much has been said about vaccinations. For the parents who assume the privilege of not vaccinating their kids until now, know this: you have skirted by, both by the grace of your immunity (since you are likely vaccinated) and the surrounding immunity of those who vaccinate.
When you fail to protect your children, you are mindfully ignoring the clear Torah directive of לֹא תַעֲמֹד עַל דַּם רֵעֶךָ and affecting the spread of this life-threatening virus that would otherwise not be raging through our community.
Those on chemotherapy, the old, the sickly, the asthma patients, the unvaccinated 4-month-old babies — all of these people are at risk of developing life-threatening complications from “a simple case of the measles.”
Please vaccinate your children.
*names have been changed to protect patients’ identities.
These people who give defective excuses for not vaccinating their children against Measles need to realize that it creates a chilul hashem
Extrapolate. Which defective excuses are you referring to here, in particular? I’d love to learn more.
Anti-vaxers, including those comments in this article, quote fiction as fact, and I’m happy for those corrective comments, especially historical ones, to blunt them, point blank.
Medicine although not perfect, like anything in this world, has improved immensely, reflected by our longevity. To hear them pine for the days of old, with its high mortality rates, and average life expectancy, half of that today, is idiocy at its best.
-PH
You are sadly misinformed regarding the reasons you’re presuming people choose not to vaccinate and are advocating for medical freedom. You see, disease numbers were well on the wane before vaccines entered the market thanks to better sanitation, hygiene and health management (for which we can and do thank some of the world’s greatest doctors and researchers!) However, the chances of having a negative reaction are 1 in a million doses, with around 45 doses of all vaccines given to each person, meaning that 1 in every 22.2 thousand people will have a negative reaction. Some of those reactions include… Read more »
According to the numbers presented in the article behind the following link (https://thefederalist.com/2019/04/09/top-10-anti-vaccine-falsehoods-truth/) – and by the way, reading the entire article might be beneficial – “People were 167 times more likely to die from measles before the vaccine existed than to suffer severe reactions to the vaccine today.” Clearly, the risk of suffering severe harm or death from catching measles is MUCH greater than the risk of suffering severe harm or death from the vaccine.
cannot be convinced by logic or science. It really sounds as if they have a collective case of OCD, fixating on the small risks, rather than the large global ones. Useless to argue; they can’t discuss this rationally. The only benefit of schools and shuls making vaccines mandatory is that people “on the fence,” probably a majority of the unvaccinated, will vaccinate when it becomes inconvenient not to. The hard-core anti-vaxxers will not. May Hashem protect us all.
It is not true that before measles vaccine was introduced in 1963 “by age 15, every single person had had the measles and lifelong immunity (about 50% by age 5 and another 45% by age 10).” I was born in 1948. When the neighbor kids got measles (and what were then considered the other childhood diseases: mumps, chickenpox, and german measles) my mother sent me to their house to get in bed with them. I never caught anything from them. I got german measles, mumps and chickenpox on my own all by about age 12, but I NEVER GOT MEASLES.… Read more »
Waiting for the girl schools to wake up. Many newly married girls at risk for rubella. I had measles at 6 and still remember suffering. Chicken pox in my 30s and was very ill. Rubella twice. Having blood test Monday and will revacinate if necessary. Not for me For those around. No use arguing with anti vaxxers Can’t be convinced no matter what
There are people with compromised immune systems who can’t go to these crazy parties. Get your shots and don’t put anyone at risk, it’s lethal for them. Think about others.
You make a good point, I just want to add that vaccination does not equal immunity (as we know from post-marketing data) and individuals that are immunocompromised think they are safe around vaccinated people when they are not.
Your point very obviously does not constitute a counterpoint at all. The fact is that immunocompromised people are FAR safer around vaccinated people than non-vaccinated people. Given the same exposure to a person carrying measles, contrast the likelihood that a vaccinated person will catch the disease to the likelihood that a non-vaccinated person will catch it.
And be certain of what you push for. America is a country that protects freedom of choice. As of now it is not legal to discriminate based on vaccines. And it shouldn’t be! Think about it. Fighting for the government to get involved in this is begging the government to take control of our health and thereby our lives. What can this mean? Well you know your bff on life support? Well when the government takes control of our health choices they may also choose to decide how long someone should be on life support and when it becomes a… Read more »
My grandmother contracted measles while in her third trimester and lost the baby. She knew others who had babies born with defects after measles during pregnancy. Any more made up facts to share?
There is no denying that measles was killing hundreds of thousands annually before the vaccine.
The goal is to completely eradicate measles, just like we were able to do with small pox, and close to doing with polio.
The key to eradication is agressive worldwide vaccination campaigns, as was the case with small pox. Measles is much more contagious than small pox, so the only way to prevent imported cases from resurging is to completely eradicate it on an international level.
The people in Williamsburg are smart! They are having measles parties so their young kids get measles and then they’ll be immune for life. With the right care- high doses of vitamin a and c and lots of rest and fluids it’ll pass without complications.
Stop panicking people
But no one else wants to be part of these “ parties” no one wants be meserable or have complications during pregnancy etc
Note the irony of your “Irony” post: for over 50 years following 1963 the medical community did not hear of measles cases, not because of “immunity wearing off” or any such argument, but because EVERYONE WAS VACCINATED. The people who’ve refused to vaccinate have made it a serious and dangerous problem for the community at large. Hashem Yishmor!!
Sure. Vaccines made the disease stronger. Let’s go with that.
Regardless of how we got here, it is now necessary to get it.
So you can go on and on and about woe is vaccines for making us in this predicament… as long as you get the vaccine.
While tragic, every case mentioned is a product of vaccination policy which has shifted those susceptible to measles from children aged 1-10 where complications are extremely rare, to far more susceptible populations such as adults, and as stated in this article pregnant women and infants under 6 months. Before vaccination was introduced in 1963, _no_ pregnant women and practically no infants under 6 months contracted the measles (in the 1962 statistics, they stated mortality rates under 6 months are unknown because there were so few cases). Why? Because by age 15, every single person had had the measles and lifelong… Read more »
This is really important information especially since measles is preventable, as long as parents are responsible and vaccinate their children.
Thank you for sharing. Please vaccinate your children. – Vaccines don’t cause autism. No reputable data demonstrates it does. – If you’re anti-vaccine because you distrust data, then there’s a double standard for you to dredge up fringe data to support your cause, while ignoring stronger more replicated data. – VAERS reporting system is not regulated. Any mom can post what she believes is an association, and it becomes a fulfilling self-generating prophecy; the more people post, the more the “cause” is supported, the more people feel legitimized to post… tachlis, VAERS itself is proof of nothing. I can create… Read more »
Are you giving them the recommended doses of vitamin a?
Loading them up on vitamin c? This plus more should keep it uncomplicated iyh
if you”re not a license medical professional please don’t share your opinion
If you choose not to vaccinate,……. please move to an area where others feel the same way.
A sin and danger to society those who do not vaccinate.
How do we push for more than just ohelei torah to kick out un vaccinated kids? I have one immune compromised child. Shouldn’t bais rivka and ULY be pushing this standard too to curb the outbreak?
All ULY demand vaccination and Beis Rivkah at least preschool demand 100% vaccination . As a parent I believe there is no unvaccinated children in those schools . But u can call their office and ask
We need to listen to our medical professionals and stop this epidemic. Thank you for coming out and standing up for the children of our community!
Thank you very much for posting this. I underwent chemo and treatment that wiped out my previous measles immunity and it is still to soon after for me to get my measles shot for a few more months. People choosing not to vaccinate are causing this serious disease to have a resurgence, and it puts my life at risk! I am frankly terrified and am thinking of moving in with my in-laws out of the country until this passes, if it ever does. Stop listening to uneducated conspiracy theorists and VACCINATE.
Please vaccinate your children or the schools will not allow your children to attend. Stop endangering everyone else’s children. AND STOP BLAMING IT ON RELIGION!