[kalishea]

Hi there,
Can someone please help answer some questions for a stressed out, losing sleep mama that is questioning whether to vaccination her son?

Here's the deal... my son is 5.5 and very healthy. He has not received any vaccinations. We will be traveling in 2 weeks and this has raised some concerns for DH and I. With the recent Measles outbreak (including 3 cases in our area), we have had to make some changes for our son, including having him miss karate due to some Disneyland travelers being in his class and also limit exposure to crowded areas. This is okay with us except we are concerned with the airline and cruise traveling we are doing shortly since these are extremely crowded areas. So, we are trying to make an informed decision on whether to make any vaccination changes at this point. Here are our questions:

~do vaccine reactions decrease, increase or stay the same with older children opposed to infants/toddlers?

~how long is the post-vaccination reaction window and/or actually getting the measles from the vaccine since it is a live virus vaccine? (we don't want him to get it and then get on the cruise ship 2 weeks later and have a reaction or measles there)

~if DS got the first MMR say this week, would it even protect him in 2 weeks when we start traveling or would he need the 2nd dose to be fully protected?

Any help with any or all of these questions is greatly appreciated!

 

[Anne Jividen]

Are you traveling to a place where measles is endemic?

Not sure what you mean by "decrease/increase or stay the same". Vaccine reactions are not contingent on age.

If it were me in this situation I would be more compelled to protect my child from a vaccine reaction then I would to protect him from wild caught measles or stigma in the event that some other child's infection could be traced back to your unvaccinated child.

Your bugaboo has a VERY good chance of surviving the measles if through some chance he may become infected. That carries the added benefit of lifelong immunity.

As far as y'all being responsible for some little buggaboo with leukemia contracting the measles, I would say there's very little chance of that. I realize you never mentioned leukemia but that seems to be a media mime of late. You are are great public citizen and an even better mama! Science before popularity! But that's just me.

 

[kathymuggle]

I think 5 is a good age to get measles or MMR. This my take on things - hopefully others will answers as well. You are new, so for the record, I identify as non-vax, but I have a lot of respect for the selective/delayed position. I think the chances of your child being exposed to measles, depending on where you are going is still very, very low. There are currently what -100 cases in the USA. In a country of 330 million.

~do vaccine reactions decrease, increase or stay the same with older children opposed to infants/toddlers?

MMR, IMO opinion is more dangerous under 3, and over 10-12. I worry about extreme reactions in the very young, and i worry about arthritis type reactions in the plus 10. I think arthritis type reactions are more common in females.

~how long is the post-vaccination reaction window and/or actually getting the measles from the vaccine since it is a live virus vaccine? (we don't want him to get it and then get on the cruise ship 2 weeks later and have a reaction or measles there)

Take a look at this page. It seems like temporary reactions are over with by the 2 week mark.

http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/public/publications/immune/mmr.aspx

~if DS got the first MMR say this week, would it even protect him in 2 weeks when we start traveling or would he need the 2nd dose to be fully protected?

The second dose is to "catch" the small percentage of people for whom the first MMR did not take. It is not a booster. According to literature, 95% of people are protected by one shot (and if you feel so inclined, you could have titres drawn before any second shot. He probably will not need a second shot)

Any help with any or all of these questions is greatly appreciated!

Kathy.

I am also going on vacation soon. I thought this article on plane travel and staying healthy was pretty informative.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970204058404577108420985863872

 

[kalishea]

Thank you Anne and Kathy for taking the time to reply to my questions.

We will be traveling by air to Florida, going on a Caribbean cruise and then spending a few more days in Florida before flying home. So nowhere too exotic.

I don't know, I am thinking that it might be too close to departure (2 weeks from today) at this point to risk getting anything before we leave (not that I am necessarily leaning that way, just a thought) in the event of any reaction. We have 3 measles cases in Utah (they are even in our county) from the Disneyland outbreak and I haven't been concerned from that, but something about traveling by air and cruise ship makes me a little more nervous (I get that way about traveling even when the media is not talking about measles outbreaks and vaccinations every 5 mins).

Thanks for the link on germs on planes, Kathy. I am going to go read that now.

 

[samaxtics]

I'm not positive but I thought the time to watch for MMR reactions was in the 10-12 day range. I don't think I would want to have a medical emergency on a cruise ship.

 

[Leav97]

"Immunity to measles, mumps and rubella starts to develop after two weeks"

- http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vaccinations/Pages/mmr-questions-answers.aspx#travelling

 

[samaxtics]

I found the timeline for some of the reactions:

MMR vaccine can cause a rash or fever in some children five to 12 days after the needle is given. This may last for a few days. Occasionally, a high fever can cause a convulsion.

The mumps part of the vaccine may cause fever and swelling of the glands in the neck.

The rubella part of the vaccine may cause a mild fever, rash or swelling of the glands in the neck in one out of seven children. This usually happens 6 to 10 days after getting the shot and lasts for one to 2 days.

http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/public/publications/immune/mmr.aspx

 

[Lineymom]

?

Not sure what you mean by "decrease/increase or stay the same". Vaccine reactions are not contingent on age.


.

Actually the MMR has been shown, according to the vaccine insert, to cause arthritis in some puberty aged girls, so thus the argument to get it before puberty. Not that I am pushing that, just something I struggle with what to do with my own kids.

 

[kathymuggle]

Thank you Anne and Kathy for taking the time to reply to my questions.

We will be traveling by air to Florida, going on a Caribbean cruise and then spending a few more days in Florida before flying home. So nowhere too exotic. "

I found this map on the current measles outbreak.

 

[Anne Jividen]

Actually the MMR has been shown, according to the vaccine insert, to cause arthritis in some puberty aged girls, so thus the argument to get it before puberty. Not that I am pushing that, just something I struggle with what to do with my own kids.

I'm sorry! That's right! Vaccine reactions CAN BE contingent on age. My bad!

The limited information I know of regarding age-related vaccine reactions is of course the #CDCwhistleblower scandal. In a nut shell it suggests African-American males who received an MMR before age 3 were 340% more likely to receive a diagnosis of autism, and although I don't have a document to cite what I have garnered over the years is that most parents who identify their child's regression into autism as a vaccine reaction report noticing signs b/w 12 and 30 mos.

Sorry again!

 

[Anne Jividen]

Actually the MMR has been shown, according to the vaccine insert, to cause arthritis in some puberty aged girls, so thus the argument to get it before puberty. Not that I am pushing that, just something I struggle with what to do with my own kids.

I'm sorry! That's right! Vaccine reactions CAN BE contingent on age. My bad!

The limited information I know of regarding age-related vaccine reactions is of course the #CDCwhistleblower scandal. In a nut shell it suggests African-American males who received an MMR before age 3 were 340% more likely to receive a diagnosis of autism, and although I don't have a document to cite what I have garnered over the years is that most parents report signs of autism b/w 12 and 30 mos.

Sorry again!