The measles have been brought into the Amish community, brought back from a Lancaster horse auction. The Amish do not vaccinate.
I know that Mattie is afraid. She called me to say that her oldest son had been exposed. We discussed it. They take quarantining very seriously. Since they had a family member exposed they were all homebound.
Tim and I predate the vaccine, but we both had measles as children. We are immune. We can also not carry it. We made a deal that the answer would always be yes. If they wound up with measles, they could count on us if they needed anything. We would run it to them.
14 days has passed and no one in the family got the measles, but it is still going around. Pennsylvania had its first measles deaths in 35 years, both cases in Lancaster.
Last night, my phone rang. Levi had questions about my opinion on the vaccine. I was a little surprised. He listened. An 'English' had told Mattie's sister that the vaccine had made her son 'slow, like Down's syndrome'. I pointed out that the first dose of vaccine is given to babies, and that developmental delays may not have been recognized. "That's true," Mattie said. I said 'Everyone has to decide for themselves, but I will always follow the science."
Long story short, we ferried everyone to the health department today. The nurse there was very patient, the paperwork completed, and 10 Amish were vaccinated.
When we got them back home a buggy pulled in. They visited at the wagon and when they came back, Levi said they told him that they heard of a man who got the vaccine and he got measles, and got them so bad he is in the hospital.
He looked afraid.
It will be okay. I am sure that the man got the measlesfrom a person, not the shot, I am sure of it. They will get their boosters in 4 weeks. I think it will be a powerful example in their community to see an entire family vaccinated, un-braindamaged, not worried about catching the measles.
Maybe people will say, 'I heard about this family that got the vaccine...'
I am about to become very busy here.
This is my raised bed of romas and San Marzanos.
I will close with a few words of wisdom:
I’m proud of your friends for getting the vaccine. My parents lived through the worry that one of their family would get polio, so when any vaccine was offered in the schools, those permission slips were signed quickly. We lined up in the school gym in alphabetical order, and I was always the first in line, didn’t have time to get nervous. I think I’m more stoic because of that experience.
ReplyDeleteBonnie in Minneapolis
Awesome, helping the Amish with those vaccines Debby. They said on the local news tonight, 426 active measles cases in our state of Pa right now. I'm at a loss for words.
ReplyDelete