With measles outbreaks surging across the nation and quarantines popping up in California, a North County woman is worried the government is not doing enough to prevent the spread of the disease.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said you don’t need to get a measles vaccine if you were born before 1957, but 75-year-old Paula Shapiro feared she could be putting her younger neighbors in danger.
“From the history that I know, I never got the measles,” said Shapiro.
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CDC said that people born before 1957 are likely to have been infected naturally and therefore are protected against measles.
“I’m unsatisfied with the answer because one of the stories told in my family is how many times they exposed me to measles by putting me in cribs with other kids and that I never got it,” said Shapiro.
After going to three different clinics, Shapiro finally received the measles vaccine. It gave her comfort knowing she could be around her friends’ kids again.
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“Adam is graduating kindergarten soon, and I’m going,” said Shapiro.
She still thinks the CDC should revise its guidelines so that older people are encouraged to get the vaccine.
“Not because we’re special and wonderful, but because it’s an incredibly deadly disease for children,” Shapiro said.
There is a blood test to check for measles immunity. Shapiro said she was never offered the test.
The measles outbreak is now in 22 states, including California, and more than 700 cases have been reported in 2019.
Not long ago, measles was thought to be a problem that was mostly solved. The once-common disease became increasingly rare after a vaccine became available in the 1960s. In 2000, health officials declared the disease eliminated in the U.S., meaning that all new cases stemmed from infected travelers and not from homegrown transmission.
To learn more about the measles outbreak and vaccine, visit the CDC’s website.
