Vaccines and the Allergic Teen

Vaccinations or the lack of vaccinations seems to be the topic of conversation this past month. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of measles cases reported has reached to 121 people in over 17 states; and this is just one and a half months into the year 2015.

It also seems as if everyone wants to express their own opinion on this subject. It is for this reason that I have held off mentioning it in this blog. Until now, that is. Last week I read a letter from Dr. Tim Jacks called “To the Parent of the Unvaccinated Child Who Exposed My Family to Measels” This article pretty much sums up how I feel about those who chose to not have their kids vaccinated.  I will try to express my feelings without sounding too “preachy” or “self-absorbed” especially since that is not my nature.

In this letter, Dr. Jacks talks about his five year old daughter who is currently undergoing treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which is a blood cancer. Because of this illness, his daughter, Maggie cannot receive the MMR vaccine and was in a Phoenix hospital receiving treatment when she and her brother were exposed to another patient who developed measles. Infants, children with cancer and children with egg allergies cannot receive the MMR vaccine.

You can feel the frustration and anger in his tone and his words. He goes on the say, “I have a number of strong feelings surging through my body right now. Towards my family, I am feeling extra protective like a papa bear. Towards you, unvaccinating parent, I feel anger and frustration at your choices.” This is not so much the frustration of a doctor who does not understand the reasons why someone would choose not to vaccinate their child; this seems to be a deeper anger only a parent can get when their child is being wronged or worse, in danger of harm. 

This is the same frustration and anger that I starting feeling last October when my Allergic Teen became sick. What we thought might be a cold with the usual asthma problems; coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath quickly turned into something entirely different. This time the shortness of breath turned into uncontrollable coughs and then a quick sucking in of air because she was unable to breath. For someone who is already having trouble breathing, this can be very frightening.

It took three doctor’s visits for her to be diagnosed with Whooping Cough, another disease that is prevented by vaccination. The first two doctors did not even mention the possibility of Whooping Cough because her records mentioned that she was already vaccinated for it so they thought it was highly unlikely for her to get it. Finally, the third doctor, her allergist, knew her symptoms were consistent with Whooping Cough.

In the three weeks she was sick with Whooping Cough she was using her nebulizer three times a day, taking antibiotics and on various strengths of Prednisone, a steroid, for over a month. She was so sick that they were thinking of admitting her to the hospital. Sometimes the coughing was so bad that she would throw up the dinner she had finally been able to eat after days of not eating much. Many times, she would have a coughing fit and then run to the bathroom to spit up the phlegm that had resided in her stomach. Take my word on this, the large amounts of phlegm were truly frightening. Even months later, the bouts of coughing still occur but not as often. I can tell you that this really scared me and each time I hear her cough I worry whether she is getting sick again.

To those parents who chose not to have their children vaccinated, I understand your need to protect your children from what you feel may be harmful to them. The problem is that by doing this you are putting many other children, like Maggie and others who cannot get the vaccine, all in jeopardy. For these kids, who immune systems are already compromised, this decision can be very harmful, even deadly.

For now, we will continue to hope that the MMR vaccine our allergic teen has received will be enough to prevent her from getting measles. So for those parents’ who have not vaccinated their children, please reconsider your decision for the sake of the other children out there who do not have a choice!