Ontario child under 5 dies of measles: provincial health agency

A child under five years old has died of measles in Ontario, according to the province’s public health agency, the first such death in more than a decade.

In a report published Thursday, Public Health Ontario said the child was not vaccinated against the highly infectious respiratory virus. It did not indicate when or where the child died, or their age.

The report shows there were no other measles-related deaths recorded in the province between Jan. 1, 2013 and this week.

Measles has been on the rise in both Ontario and elsewhere in Canada as cases increase globally, particularly in Europe, which has seen tens of thousands of infections over the last year.

some_guy,

Thanks anti-vaxxers. This is cool and good. Please go play in traffic.

vaccinationviablowdart, (edited )

There is a lot of focus on whether this child should or even could have been vaccinated against measles. It is impossible to know based on the information. They were due for 0, 1 or 2 doses or MMR vaccine.

At any rate, I would suggest reading it in the other direction: no vaccinated child has died of the measles. Vaccination prevents this disaster. It is likely (but not certain) that many other children were in contact with the same situation which ultimately led to the death of this one. Many of them didn’t die because their parents took responsible steps.

In another comment I posted the vaccine schedule for Ontatio. MMR is scheduled at 12 months of age, same as many other places. Your first dose (of the two children need) is only considered “valid” if given on or after the 1st birthday.

However the vaccine is approved as safe and has short-term efficacy when given as young as 6 months. The immunity just doesn’t “last” as long when given earlier, which is why its scheduled for 12 months where risk is low. In those communities where anti-vax people congregate, diligent parents can consider giving their children an extra dose at 6 months to cut that risky time in half.

eatCasserole,

The tldr says 2013, but the full article calls it “the first such death in the province since 1989, when tracking began.”

HikingVet,

The parents should be charged with manslaughter if the child was old enough to receive the vaccine.

11 years without a death in Ontario. Now these fuckwits who think they know as much as a doctor who studied this shit are going to get more people killed.

Nouveau_Burnswick,

The kid was five

First measles shot (as part of MMRV) is 12 months, the second is ~18 months, but varies by province. You can get a dose as early as six months, but the child will still need to follow the standard timeline after this additional dose.

HikingVet,

A child under five years old has died of measles

This is the first sentence of the article.

So, my comment is accurate.

Nouveau_Burnswick,

Ah, I misread that as a child between 4-5 years.

Second language failures strike again!

eatCasserole,

… It did not indicate when the child died or their specific age.

So we just know they were somewhere between 0 and 5.

nyan,

Even assuming the child was old enough for the first dose (“under five” could mean a newborn), they may have had a valid medical exemption. There isn’t enough detail (in the article, or in the report it references) to say for certain. I admit that the probability is low.

vaccinationviablowdart,

In Ontario, MMR is at 12 months and varicella (chickenpox) is separate at 15 months.

Other provinces, territories and states in Canada/US have variations and some include MMRV instead of MMR followed by Varicella.

MMRV is scheduled routinely at age 4-6.

An overview of the routine childhood schedule can be seen here.

The full ontario schedule can be found here, with the routine childhood schedule being on page 3.

By the way for anyone wondering why bother vaccinate against chickenpox, it’s because chickenpox and shingles are the same thing. If you never get chickenpox you never get shingles. Shingles fucking sucks and causes blindness, untreatable pain and other miseries.

candybrie,

Also chicken pox sucks. If they made a vaccine for hand, foot, and mouth, I’d get my kids vaccinated and that’s mild compared to chicken pox.

n2burns,

I don’t think their unvaccinated status should play into whether charges are laid. I would argue if, as soon as symptoms appeared, the parents sought appropriate medical care, that’s not manslaughter. On the other hand, if the parents delayed care, that’s similar to other child-neglect/manslaughter cases we’ve seen, and they could be charged for their actions.

I don’t like that we have anti-vax people in our society, but I support their right to choose. Their choices do come with some consequences (limits to job prospects, places they can go, etc.) but if we say not vaccinating your child alone is enough to trigger charges, that’s very close to saying that choice is illegal.

Albbi,

Even delaying care doesn’t bring criminal charges, as seen in Alberta.

cbc.ca/…/david-collet-stephan-ezekiel-trial-decis…

n2burns,

I’m probably being pedantic, but they were charged, they just weren’t convicted.

Albbi,

https://media1.tenor.com/m/Qy96D_UncGoAAAAC/benstiller-dodgeball.gif

corsicanguppy,

don’t think their unvaccinated status should play into whether charges are laid.

That’s negligent homicide.

n2burns, 

<span style="color:#323232;">don’t think their unvaccinated status should play into whether charges are laid.
</span>

That’s negligent homicide.

If that was so, not vaccinating an offspring would be child neglect, right? However, that’s not how our laws work.

jjjalljs,

but I support their right to choose

I don’t. I also don’t support people’s right to choose to fire guns at my house, piss on my windows, or any number of other things. We live in a society. There are rules

n2burns,

We live in a society. There are rules

Indeed, but by the rules we have state this isn’t manslaughter, right?

girlfreddy,
@girlfreddy@lemmy.ca avatar

Vaccinate your kids!!!

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