Chicago-area doctors are ratcheting up pressure on local families that opt not to vaccinate their children, following measles outbreaks here and across the country.
In coming weeks, at least three local health systems – NorthShore University HealthSystem, Advocate Aurora Health and Lurie Children’s Hospital – plan to send letters to parents of children who aren’t vaccinated against the measles, saying their children may be at risk of catching the disease and can still get immunized..
The unusual move is a reflection of the urgency public health officials are feeling as they cope with outbreaks of the disease. Once thought eradicated in the United States, measles has been reappearing in recent years as some parents have resisted having their children vaccinated.
Less than two weeks ago, Cook County had its first reported case of measles, and more recently, outbreaks have occurred on the East Coast and in California. The cases have been blamed largely on low rates of vaccination in certain communities, and on Tuesday New York Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency and required vaccinations in certain neighborhoods of Brooklyn.
So far this year, seven measles cases have been reported in Illinois, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health, putting it on pace to surpass the highest recent total of 17 in 2015.
Nationally, about 465 cases of measles have been reported this year – the second highest number of cases in the U.S. since measles was declared eliminated in 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Symptoms of measles include a high fever, runny nose, red eyes, cough and a rash that starts on the face and neck. The disease is highly contagious among people who aren’t vaccinated, and it kills about two to three children out of every 1,000 who get the disease.
“This is really the highest level of concern we’ve had about measles outbreaks in the last 20 years or so,” said Dr. Matthew Davis, Lurie’s vice chairman of the department of pediatrics, on why the hospital decided to step up its efforts to reach unvaccinated children this year. “Outbreaks of diseases like measles remind us we depend on vaccination to keep serious and sometimes fatal illnesses in check across our community.”
Lurie is sending the letters to families of its primary care patients 16 months and older who haven’t had a first dose of the vaccine and 7 years old and older who haven’t received a second dose. Typically, children receive vaccinations for the measles between 12 and 15 months of age and then again between the ages of 4 and 6.
Advocate and NorthShore are also sending the letters to families with children under age 18 who haven’t had both doses. The systems, which partner to provide pediatric care, will allow parents who had vaccinations scheduled for future appointments to get them earlier, said Dr. Frank Belmonte, chief medical officer at Advocate Children’s Hospital.
“There’s still a lot of speculation about vaccines out there and, of course, we try to dispel those myths all the time when we talk to families,” Belmonte said. “I think we also know life is busy and if some people are waiting to get into their next visit, we’ll get them in earlier to get the vaccine.”
Despite the recent outbreaks, Belmonte said that Advocate had seen fewer people refusing vaccines in recent years. Though Advocate will still treat kids who don’t receive vaccinations, it put a policy in place several years ago to notify families of new patients that the system is committed to vaccinating children and families who don’t want their kids vaccinated might want to seek care elsewhere.
Lurie also will continue to care for kids whose parents refuse vaccinations, but the system strongly encourages parents to immunize their kids, Davis said.
He said some parents refuse vaccines because they’re concerned about short-term side effects, such as pain from the injection or a fever. Others worry about long-term effects, such as autism, though it’s been shown that vaccines do not cause autism. Still others assume their kids aren’t at risk of catching certain diseases because they’ve become so rare.
The recent outbreak, however, shows that diseases can come back if not enough people are vaccinated.
“When we fail to vaccinate children, the illnesses will become more common again, and we’re seeing that in the case of measles today,” Davis said.
Twitter @lschencker
