WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Broward County elementary school now has a sixth confirmed case of measles.
The highly contagious virus can spread through coughing and sneezing and has doctors on high alert.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the first MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine at 12 to 15 months old, and the second between 4 and 6 years old.
The vaccine is required for kindergarten and is about 98% effective at preventing measles. But not all kids are getting the vaccine.
"I think it's really important for the safety of them, for us, for everyone," mom Nathalia Lomas said.
Lomas makes sure her kids get their shots on time.
"He's on the schedule and he has his vaccines and everything. So we are in the good line," Lomas said.
Lomas said it's upsetting to hear about a measles outbreak at Manatee Bay Elementary School in Weston. Broward County Public Schools confirms at least six cases of the virus at the campus.
Superintendent Dr. Peter Licata said 33 of the school's 1,000 students don't have the MMR vaccine.
"If your child isn't up to date, you are leaving them out there to potentially get measles," said Dr. Shannon Fox-Levine of Palm Beach Pediatrics.
Fox-Levine said measles is highly contagious and could be traveling to other communities.
"It appears to be like an upper respiratory infection initially. Cough and congestion and runny nose, tearing red eyes, and then a rash develops. Typically has fever as well," Fox-Levine said.
The latest numbers from the Florida Department of Health show that for the 2021/22 school year, about 92% of Broward County public school kindergartners had complete immunization records, 4% had temporary medical exemptions, 1% percent had permanent medical exemptions, and 3.2% had religious exemptions.
The number was a little lower in Palm Beach County public schools with 89.5% completed immunizations, nearly 7% with temporary medical exemptions, 4% with permanent medical exemptions, and 3% with religious exemptions.
"If you have been missing either one of both of those doses, now is a great time to consider getting them to protect your child," Fox-Levine said.
Fox-Levine added that while many families fell behind on vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors have worked to get them caught up.
"I am shocked at how many vaccines they expect children to have, especially newborns," grandmother Celia Sweet said.
Sweet said that while she can be skeptical of the shots, she's glad her grandsons are vaccinated with the outbreak just to our south.
As for whether those who fell behind on their vaccines during COVID could be contributing to this outbreak, Fox-Levine said "it's always possible that these are families that were for one reason or another not coming in for their routine well visits where they would be vaccinated, and not necessarily that they were refusing, but they just hadn't had the opportunity to get the vaccine. However, we've been through the pandemic now for a number of years and I feel like most of us were trying to catch up the kids who had not been in."
Fox-Levine added that her practice does not offer vaccine exemptions unless there is a medical condition that does not allow a child to get a live vaccine.
"There are a number of medical conditions — such as a child who is immunocompromised from a medical condition — that cannot get the MMR vaccine. So that's always a consideration," Fox-Levine said.
