On a day when the Broward superintendent paid a visit to thank the staff and reassure parents, the number of confirmed cases of measles at Manatee Bay Elementary School rose to six.
Students and teachers returned to school after the long holiday weekend, perhaps with some trepidation. Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Peter Licata said 200 kids and six teachers were absent Tuesday, which he said was a little above normal. And he said the school is not dangerous.
“It’s safe, it’s safe if your child is vaccinated, so they’re here, they’re learning, they’re enjoying pizza and corn dogs inside,” Licata said.
Most parents took a look at the situation and decided to send their kids back to school.
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“It’s definitely a concern,” said Dr. Nisis Rodriguez about the measles outbreak as she picked up her two children, both of whom are immunized. “I really don’t think there’s a reason anyone should be going to school at this day and age without immunization, there’s definitely no need for that.”
“I mean it’s kind of alarming, you know our kids are vaccinated so we’re not as concerned, just the number of cases that have spread kinda gives a little PTSD of the whole COVID thing, that’s part of it,” said Tony Truong as he dropped his child off this morning.
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.
