Believe it or not, hundreds of kids get caught up in quarantines for vaccine-preventable diseases in the United States each year.
Wait, what?
Caught up in quarantines for vaccine-preventable diseases?
Then why do we have vaccines?
How to Avoid a Quarantine During an Outbreak at Your School
As you have probably already guessed, these aren’t usually vaccinated kids that are getting sick or quarantined in these outbreaks of measles, meningococcemia, and chicken pox, etc.
That’s right, they are unvaccinated.
Typically intentionally unvaccinated, although they are sometimes too young to be vaccinated or may have a medical exemption.
And that brings up to a few very easy ways to avoid getting quarantined during an outbreak:
- make sure you are always up-to-date on all of your vaccines
- if you think that you have natural immunity (already had the disease) or were vaccinated, but don’t have your immunization records, then getting a titer test might keep you out of quarantine if you can prove that you are immune
- get vaccinated, if possible, at the first sign of the outbreak, which might help you avoid quarantine in the case of measles and chicken pox
“Persons who continue to be exempted from or who refuse measles vaccination should be excluded from the school, child care, or other institutions until 21 days after rash onset in the last case of measles.”
Manual for the Surveillance of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases
That’s right, especially in the case of measles, you can often avoid being quarantined if you simply get vaccinated.
Why are quarantines important?
Can’t you just isolate yourself if you get sick?
The problem with that strategy is that you are often contagious before you develop symptoms. That’s especially true of measles, when you likely won’t even realize that you have measles until you get the measles rash, after having a high fever for three to five days. That’s why people with measles are often seen at clinics and emergency rooms multiple times, exposing many people, before they are finally diagnosed. It is the classic signs of a rash with continued fever that helps to make the diagnosis.
Without quarantines of unvaccinated people, especially those who are known exposures to other cases, today’s outbreaks would be even bigger and harder to control.
If you don’t want to take the risk of being quarantined and missing weeks or months of school or work, then don’t take the risk of being unvaccinated. Tragically, that’s not the only risk you take when you skip or delay your vaccines. In addition to getting sick, you also risk getting others sick, including those who didn’t have a choice about getting vaccinated yet.
What to Know About Avoiding Quarantines During an Outbreak
The easiest way to avoid getting caught up in a quarantine for a vaccine-preventable disease is to simply make sure your kids are up-to-date on all of their vaccines.
More on Avoiding Quarantines During an Outbreak
- CDC – Catch-up Immunization Schedule
- If You Choose Not to Vaccinate Your Child, Understand the Risks and Responsibilities
- Why quarantine for measles is critical…and quarantine for Ebola was not
- CDC – Transmission of Measles
- CDC – Prevention of Measles, Rubella, Congenital Rubella Syndrome, and Mumps, 2013: Summary Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)
- CDC – Prevention of Measles, Rubella, Congenital Rubella Syndrome, and Mumps, 2013: Summary Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)
- CDC – Recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for Use of a Third Dose of Mumps Virus-Containing Vaccine in Persons at Increased Risk for Mumps During an Outbreak (ACIP)
- Manual for the Surveillance of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases
- Measles Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) for Non-Symptomatic Susceptible Contacts
- Immune Globulin for Measles Postexposure Prophylaxis
- Healthcare Facility Infection Control Recommendations for Suspect Measles Patients
- Measles Clinician Alert Poster
- Instructions for People Exposed to Measles Who Are Not Immune
- When It’s Not a Choice: Measles and Leukemia
- The Top 5 Ways to Prevent Measles
- Disneyland Measles Outbreak Hubbub
- Outbreak! On the front lines of a measles epidemic
- The Disneyland measles outbreak continues apace, and a woman refuses quarantine
- CDC – Postexposure Prophylaxis, Isolation, and Quarantine To Control an Import-Associated Measles Outbreak — Iowa, 2004
- CDC – Updated Recommendations for Isolation of Persons with Mumps
- Pertussis Closes Waldorf-Based Private School in Virginia
- The incubation period of a viral infection
- Disease Infection and Contagiousness Chart