My good friend and I took our kids to the mall the other day. Her little 10 month old had been sick, but was looking great and if his little illness had gone away. We had a great day, the kids were pretty good and we each bought a new pair of shoes!!!
Today, I get a call from her and she tells me that her little boy has gotten worse and she did some research on the internet and finds out that he most likely has the measles!!!! Children aren't given the measles shot (MMR) until they are 12 months. She had called to warn me. Luckily, all of my kids are up to date on their vaccinations, so they probably would be just fine. However, we have a mutual friend who does not believe in vaccinating her kids. She thought she better give her a call and let her know. Our friend's response was not what she had in mind... She told her that her kids would not get sick because their immune system is high because she does not get them immunized and that her son got sick because of his previous immunizations. That is so contrary to our beliefs, my friend didn't know how to respond. What do you think about child immunizations? They are required for school and when our friend was asked about that , she said "By the time they are 5, I won't have a problem and will get them immunized". Don't you think that goes against everything she was talking about? Anyway, I'm just not sure how to take that. I really think that every kid needs to be immunized to be protected from these health issues. My friend and I were talking and hoping that this little measles scare would shock her in to getting her kids immunized. Apparently not.
Another topic of the measles: my friend took her baby to the doctor and the Dr. told her that he is 99% positive that the baby has measles. He wanted to do a blood test just to make sure, however the treatment would be the same no matter what. The test is just done so they can monitor the number of cases and the location of the cases to warn the public in case of an outbreak. That is just fine, however, the test would cost my friend a pretty sizeable amount. Should she have to pay for this even if it won't help her child? Should the state or county pay for it since it is for the good of the community? My friend opted out of the test because of finances, but feels as if she should have it done if it would help others. Her question was: should she really be responsible for it and couldn't they tell the community that there is a case of the measles and inform them of the symptoms anyway?
Side note: the baby is doing fine and is towards the end of the illness, he will be treated at home and kept comfortable!
2 comments:
I am definitely for adult vaccinations.
But I think before I vaccinated my children I would do a lot of research beforehand, just to be sure. I guess I just feel that it's dangerous to do anything uneducatedly to very young and growing children just because the mainstreem does. Not that I'm against vaccinations as a whole or anything, I would just have to research a lot on the specific vaccinations.
Guess it's kinda how I feel about flu shots. Research has proved them very effective for school children and elderly adults, but less so for middle age adults. Probably because children and elderly are mosre sucseptible to flu anyway. So I personallly don't get flu shots right now. But when I'm old I probably will if they keep me from being sick 4-5 or 6 times a year.
Kinda a long answer, I know.
I guess the only thing I'd say about the mother who chooses not to vaccinate: that's her right, but she has to be acting extremely responsibily with that choice. If you don't vaccinate for measles, be really concerned that your child doesn't come in contact with possible measle carrying kids. If she's not carrying the responsibility of the choice, then I think that's wrong.
Anyway. Thanks for your comment on my blog. :) I'm like hearing from you.
Dear Ms. Andrews -
Sorry for the blind post - and I hope you get this as it's been a could of years since your post. I found your post through a search on the internet. I am writing a short article about measles and how scary it can be when a young child gets them, in the rare occurance.
I am wondering if indeed the child of your friend you write about in "Measles Scare" did in fact have the measles. I was so glad to hear the baby was o.k.
If so, do you think she would be interested in speaking with me about the experience?
I can be contacted at allison@lincolnparkpr(dot)com.
Thank you,
Allison
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