The Spokane Regional Health District can prevent children who did not receive an MMR vaccine from attending classes for 25 days, during a mumps outbreak.
According to the latest medical records, health experts noticed that mumps spread to 90 new hosts in Spokane County. As a result, health officials are now urging the population to get the MMR vaccine as soon as possible. Moreover, classes in Spokane have been suspended and approximately 350 students are homeschooled for the time being.
Under Spokane law, the c can order teachers, school staff, and students who did not get an MMR vaccine to stay for 25 days, in case of an outbreak. State officials say that parents who fill a vaccine exemption form are fully aware of the consequences. Nevertheless, some have complained about a number of school hours their children are missing on because of this.
A mother who did not want her name released said she feels pretty frustrated as she gets the impression the community sees her unvaccinated child as an outcast.
“My son is not sick, he is very healthy and he should not be excluded”, said the mother.
According to her statement, her 6th-grade son is prohibited from attending classes at Salk Middle School because he did not get an MMR vaccine. Moreover, she fears her son won’t be able to pass the 6th grade as he is forced to stay out of school for so long.
At the same time, however, other parents are willingly pulling their kids out of the classroom, fearing the disease could spread to their loved ones. Alisha Meyer told local reporters she prevented her daughter from attending school because she did not want for her family to get infected with mumps.
Even though her daughter is vaccinated, Alisha Meyer’s daughter is a 7th grader enrolled in the Mead School District, which is also one of the four districts with confirmed cases of mumps. So far, as many as 90 people could have contracted the contagious virus, in spite of receiving an MMR vaccine.
Spokane Health District says that the measure is not intended to stigmatize children who did not receive an MMR vaccine, but to protect them. At the same time, health experts say that getting vaccinated does not full guarantee one is completely immune to mumps. However, it is 9 times less likely to contract the contagious virus after receiving the shot.
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