The parents of a young girl who died after contracting measles in West Texas last month talk about their position on the MMR vaccine.
The child was six years old and died on February 26th after being hospitalized in Lubbock, as reported by the Texas Department of Health.
The agency said it was “the first death from measles in an ongoing outbreak in the South Plains and the Panhandle region.” The child added that he has not been vaccinated.
On March 15, the children's parents spoke to the Child Health Defense about their experiences of an interview that aired on “Good Morning, CHD.”
The family lives in Seminole, Texas, Gaines County. The majority of measles occurs in this county due to the current outbreak.
When a girl named Kaylee first got sick, her parents said they thought the illness was measles because it was “circling around” in the community.
Two days after the girl developed the rash, her mother took her to the doctor. She provided cough medication and recommended fever-reducing medications.
Kaley's measles began to disappear, but she began to develop complications, including fever, her parents told the child's health defense.
“And one morning she noticed that she was saying she was very tired and I realized that her breathing wasn't normal,” the girl's mother said.
“That's when we decided to take her to the emergency room.”
In addition to measles, Kayley was found to have pneumonia in her left lung.
She was admitted to the ICU and was on a ventilator.
“I remember that she was very thirsty before I wanted to put her on a ventilator,” the mother said in an interview.
“Her mouth was all sticky and I wanted to give her water, but they didn't let me.”
The child then passed away.
The couple's four children developed measles after their sister's death, but all recovered after receiving respiratory treatment, their parents said.
Even after her daughter's death, her parents are not supporters of measles, mumps, or rubella (MMR vaccine).
“We'll never take MMR [vaccine]Kaley's mother said.
“Measles wasn't that bad. They got through it pretty quickly.”
The couple said they have not yet received their daughter's death certificate, and that they may have died of pneumonia rather than measles.
The girl's father added that measles “will help build people's immune systems in the long run.
“I wanted this to wake people up because God wasn't wrong,” he told Children's Health Defense.
“He certainly awakens us, to start a better life and get closer to him.”
Things you need to know about the MMR vaccine
The Texas DSHS reports that the majority of measles cases are school-age children who have barely been vaccinated.
Measles is a highly contagious virus for people who have never been infected or vaccinated before, and can be transmitted up to 90%.
The MMR vaccine is one of the most common childhood vaccinations and has been a school-going requirement since its development in the 1970s.
“The standard recommendation from health authorities like the CDC is a two-dose series of MMR vaccines,” Dr. Nicole Saphier, a health contributor at Fox News, previously told Fox News Digital.
“For most people, these two doses provide lifetime immunity. They are about 97% effective against measles.”
Each person's situation is different and after a thorough conversation with a trusted medical team, Saffie added.
Dr. Marc Siegel, professor of clinical medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and senior medical analyst at Fox News, highlighted the importance of measles vaccination.
For those traveling to areas where measles outbreaks are occurring, Siegel recommended seeing a doctor for a measles “titer test” and obtaining a booster if he was not showing immunity.
(The Fiter test measures an individual's immune level against the virus.)
MMR is a live viral vaccine that cannot be administered to pregnant women or immunocompromised people, doctors noted.
As of March 20, a total of 378 confirmed cases of measles had been reported in 18 U.S. states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
