Measles Outbreak Forces Daycare Closure, Proving Again Vaccination Isn’t Just A ‘Personal Choice’

no-measles-vaccineA measles outbreak forced a Santa Monica, CA, daycare center to close and 14 infants and toddlers are in quarantine because idiots continue to insist that being anti-science only affects them. KABC News in Los Angeles reports that an infant at Samohi Infant Toddler Center tested positive for measles on Saturday. The infant was, of course, too young to be vaccinated, as are most of the other children at the daycare center. A letter was sent out informing parents of the diagnosis, and the center’s director then spent the weekend calling families to make them aware of the closure:

“Our center director called all 24 families with babies and toddlers in that program. She called them all this weekend to let them know what was going on,” said Gail Pinsker, a spokesperson for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.

The infant room at the daycare center has been closed until further notice, and the toddler room was closed through Thursday.

Fourteen babies were placed under quarantine for 21 days.

According to the same report, this news comes on the heels of a Santa Monica High School basketball coach’s measles diagnosis last week. Luckily all 70 of his students were immunized and aren’t showing symptoms. Currently 92 people in California have contracted the measles and that number continues to grow.

I have to ask, when entire daycare centers are being forced to close and infants are being quarantined for almost a month, can you really carry on with your argument that vaccinations are a personal choice that only affect you and your children? 24 families have kids in that daycare center. That is 24 families who have to potentially miss work, skip outings with friends and family, completely rearrange their entire lives for 21 days – oh, and their infants might have the measles. If any of those 92 sick people in California have children in daycare, we’re going to see similar closures elsewhere. Can you imagine if that Santa Monica basketball coach had a few unvaccinated students? They would’ve had to shut down a high school.

Vaccination is not a personal choice. I’ve never believed it is, but I feel even more strongly about it now. I believe when you live in a society with other people, you make a social contract with those people to not be an asshole. Not vaccinating your kids because you watched a YouTube video or read a book about “toxins” is an asshole move. It’s also incredibly selfish, and I can’t think of anything to drive that point home more than people being forced to alter everything in their world for 21 days because you might have exposed their infant to a deadly virus.

We’ve had a few confirmed cases of the measles where I live in Nebraska and neither of my kids are safe. My 6-month-old is not old enough to be vaccinated, and my three-year-old has only had one dose of the vaccine because they administer the second dose at four years of age. I’m paranoid with even a few local cases. I can’t imagine if there were nearly 100 cases, or being quarantined with my babies just watching and waiting to see if they get sick and how bad it will be. I feel for the parents at this daycare center and their children. I can only hope the madness happening right now leads more people to side with science and vaccinate their children.

(Image via Shutterstock)

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