The measles outbreak in South Florida has risen to eight confirmed cases as of Sunday night, according to the Florida Department of Health.
The seventh measles case was confirmed to be in a child under five years old on Saturday and allegedly occurred outside Manatee Bay Elementary School in Weston, where the previous cases had been confirmed.
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On Sunday, the number of confirmed cases rose to eight. The latest case was reportedly in a child between five to nine years old.
Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Peter Licata said 200 kids and six teachers were absent from Manatee Bay Elementary on the Tuesday following President's Day, which he said was a little above normal. However, he assured that the school is not dangerous.
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Licata said Manatee Bay is 92% vaccinated. With a student enrollment of about 1,100, that means roughly 88 students have not had the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella.
“That’s about average, it’s gonna range, windows, two or three percent different ways, when I was a principal you had to keep it at 99, 100%, but that’s changed a little bit,” the superintendent said.
If 92% immunization is average for the school district, pediatric immunologist Dr. Hamadys Ale says it’s not enough.
“The problem that we have seen is when there’s a drop in herd immunity, by not vaccinating all children, and this is something we have seen a trend on, the herd immunity has been declining and that is the window in which the virus can take advantage and infect the ones that are vulnerable,” said Dr. Ale, who works at Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital.
The ones who are vulnerable are kids who are unvaccinated. The MMR vaccine is mandatory to attend public school in Florida, but parents can seek exemptions for religious reasons or because their child is immune-compromised and can’t take the vaccine. Those exemptions have been rising in recent years, allowing diseases that have almost been eradicated to make a comeback.
Meantime, the Florida Department of Health released a letter Tuesday from Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo emphasizing how contagious measles is and how effective the MMR vaccine is in preventing the disease, but Ladapo did not urge parents to immunize their children.
