February 05, 2015
City News Service
Los Angeles County’s interim health officer urged residents this week to ensure they are vaccinated for measles, and assured parents that vaccinating their children is safe.
“Unfortunately the myths about the association between vaccination and autism persists,” Dr. Jeffrey Gunzenhauser said. “It’s very important for people to know that there have been many scientific studies since that have completely shown that there is no association between autism and vaccinations.”
As of Tuesday February 3, California had 93 confirmed cases of measles, including 28 in Orange County and 21 in Los Angeles County but none on any Los Angeles Unified School District campus, state and local health officials said.
“To end this outbreak we need to do more and we need help,” Gunzenhauser said. “I encourage everyone to review their vaccination status and if needed to get the vaccine now. Those of you who are in positions to make decisions about vaccine for others, review the scientific evidence, be informed about the outbreak and make a decision that's based on evidence.”
Gunzenhauser told the county Board of Supervisors Tuesday that there is “some hope that we will get ahead of the outbreak in the near future,” citing a smaller number of cases arising from the outbreak’s second and third waves.
But he cautioned that there was “still work to be done” and said it could take weeks or months to be certain that the outbreak was in retreat. Gunzenhauser said the key to slowing the spread of infection is to shorten the time between when a patient gets a rash and when health officials are notified and can impose quarantines and offer immunizations, he said. Of L.A. County’s 21 confirmed cases of measles, 17 are linked to the outbreak that began at Disneyland in December, Gunzenhauser said. Nonetheless, the outbreak has had no noticeable effect on Disneyland or other Disney theme parks, according to Walt Disney Chairman & CEO Bob Iger.
“We really have not been able to discern any impact at all from that,” he said Tuesday in an interview on CNBC. “In fact, if you were to look at Disneyland, the quarter that we’re currently in, we’re up from where we were last year in both attendance and in bookings or in reservations...” Meanwhile in Sacramento, a pair of state senators, including Sen. Ben Allen, D-Redondo Beach, said they plan to introduce legislation that would eliminate the ability of parents to receive a “personal belief” exemption from immunizing their children.
“The high number of unvaccinated students is jeopardizing public health not only in schools but in the broader community,” Allen said. “We need to take steps to keep our schools safe and our students healthy.”
Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, who is also a pediatrician, said the idea of people not immunizing their children has concerned him “for a long time.”
“I’ve personally witnessed the suffering caused by these preventable diseases and I am very grateful to the many parents that are now speaking up and letting us know that our current laws don’t protect their kids,” Pan said.
Pan authored a law in 2012 requiring parents to speak to a health care practitioner before obtaining a vaccination exemption. According to Pan, the number of parents seeking exemptions dropped by 20 percent when the law took effect.