Chicago Hospital Sending Letters to Parents of Unvaccinated Children

Daisy4RN · Apr 11, 2019

Sounds like a good idea to me. The parents might need more than a "reminder" but this is a good start. Saw something on the news about some (misinformed!) parents having measles parties to purposefully expose their kids, i have no idea what they could be thinking. I know prior to vaccines parents sometimes did this for chicken pox when the kids were young hoping the kids would have a less severe illness. I also heard that there was a lot of misinformation in the NYC neighborhoods that they are trying to correct along with the mandated measles vaccines. The outbreaks are just getting scary crazy!!

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Apr 11, 2019

New York City on Tuesday declared a health emergency following the measles outbreak in the Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn., requiring vaccinations to stop spread of measles --- 285 confirmed cases, with 5 persons in intensive care. Mayor asked for parents to STOP practice of "measles parties" where parents send unvaccinated children to play with infected child so area will get over Measles more quickly; quite common parental practice when I grew up in 60's. Karen

From NY Times:

April 9, 2019

New York Declares Measles Emergency, Requiring Vaccinations in Parts of Brooklyn

Quote
...For months, New York City officials have been fighting a measles outbreak in ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn, knowing that the solution — the measles vaccine — was not reaching its target audience.
They tried education and outreach, working with rabbis and distributing thousands of fliers to encourage parents to vaccinate their children. They also tried harsher measures, like a ban on unvaccinated students from going to school.
But with measles cases still on the rise and an anti-vaccination movement spreading, city health officials on Tuesday took a more drastic step to stem one of the largest measles outbreaks in decades.
Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency that would require unvaccinated individuals living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to receive the measles vaccine. The mayor said the city would issue violations and possibly fines of $1,000 for those who did not comply....