Health board not worried about measles in Wayne
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on February 12, 2015 1:46 PM
The recent multi-state measles outbreak is not a major concern to officials at the Wayne County Health Department, where the vaccination is available to those who may need it.
"It's state law that all children get the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella vaccination) before they go to school," said Josa Raynor-Vaughn, communicable disease program manager.
The law has proven to be a safeguard against a similar outbreak, she said.
With the exception of any parents who opt out and are later sent scrambling to have their child vaccinated, the Health Department has not noticed an uptick in requests to have children inoculated.
"We have had a few adults, probably about 10 people that have come and gotten it just so they could be safe," she said this morning.
According to the Centers for Disease Controland Prevention the recent outbreak was linked to Disneyland, the California amusement park. Many cases in 2014 were associated with cases brought in from the Philippines. The majority of those who got measles were unvaccinated.
The situation became a topic of discussion at Wednesday's Board of Health meeting.
"Here in North Carolina, from what I have seen, we're more stringent than some places," Board Chairman Bob Cagle said. "I don't think it's a problem with people coming into the country. It's a problem with people not being vaccinated because of fear of the vaccinations."
"There's no question immunization works," board member Tommy Gibson said. "We have eradicated polio, mumps and measles."
Cagle said the board should be concerned with educating the public on disease control.
"It's something we should look at as we put our strategic plan together, how we as a Health Department can better serve our people," he said.
There have been prevalent fears about vaccinations causing other issues, such as autism, Health Director Davin Madden said, pointing out that by contrast little has been said about what happens when children are not vaccinated and come down with measles.
Even though there is a law in place for children to be vaccinated, Madden said it has sometimes lacked "teeth" where public health agencies are concerned.
"We owe it to the population of Wayne County to try to educate as well as we can about the benefits of vaccinations," Cagle said.
There are several efforts already in place to assist in that regard, the health director said.
In addition to staff at the Health Department, there are health service nurses who serve day cares, and Wayne County Public Schools has school nurses working with students.
The department is also getting the word out through public service announcements in local media and through other agencies and partnerships in the community, Mrs. Raynor-Vaughn said
"I think there's evidence of that," board member Dr. Kim Larson said. "We haven't had any outbreaks."
"(North Carolina) is third in the nation for immunization rates, and 96 percent of the children in North Carolina -- from 12 to 35 months of age -- have been immunized against measles," Mrs. Raynor-Vaughn said.