Local public-health officials at the centre of a measles outbreak are expanding first-dose vaccination eligibility to help protect infants from the highly infectious disease.
Southwestern Public Health – which serves Oxford and Elgin counties and St. Thomas – is booking first-dose measles vaccination appointments for infants between the ages of six and 11 months old. That started Monday and will last throughout March, officials said in a statement.
The appointments are only available for infants who live in Southwestern Public Health’s territory.
The early dose is recommended during a measles outbreak to protect babies before they become eligible for their routine measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination when they turn one, Southwestern Public Health officials said.
“A single dose of measles vaccine offers 85 to 95 per cent protection against the illness for infants,” vaccine preventable diseases manager Jaime Fletcher said in the statement. “With the outbreak we are experiencing, this clinic offers local parents an option to protect their child quickly.
“During an outbreak, this earlier dose is strongly advised to help protect infants as they are generally the most impacted by measles complications, such as lung and brain infections, hospitalizations, and death.”
Two doses of measles vaccination will still be required as part of Ontario’s routine immunization schedule, Southwestern Public Health officials said, noting one dose is given at age one and a second at four years old.
Last week, a school-aged child in Texas died of measles. It was the first death in the United States from the respiratory disease since 2015.
Southwestern Public Health’s expanded vaccination eligibility comes amid what public health officials say is the largest outbreak of measles in 30 years. Dr. Sarah Wilson of Public Health Ontario previously said the last sizeable outbreak in Ontario was 58 in 2008.
The number of measles cases confirmed by Southwestern Public Health since October was 110 as of Monday, up from 97 cases three days prior.
Measles symptoms include a red rash, fever, cough, runny nose, upper respiratory-type symptoms, red eyes and fatigue. Serious complications such as pneumonia, encephalitis and blindness are possible. People most at risk of measles complications include pregnant women, young children and the immunocompromised.
