Measles outbreak: unvaccinated infants returning to Santa Monica daycare
Medical assistant Daisi Minor, left, gives a measles-mumps-rubella vaccine to Kristian Richard, 1, being held by his mother, Natasha, at the Medical Arts Pediatric Med Group on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles this month.
Fourteen unvaccinated infants will be allowed to return Monday to a Santa Monica High School child-care center where one child was diagnosed with measles.
Their return to the Samohi Infant/Toddler Center marks the end of a 21-day incubation period imposed on the infants following the diagnosis.
No additional cases were reported at the center during that period, Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District spokesperson Gail Pinsker said.
Pinsker credited the swift response of public health officials and the school district to the case.
Twelve other infants with proof of immunity were allowed to return to the center on Feb. 6. Some of the children who underwent the incumbation were too young to have been immunized.
In a news release at the time, Superintendent Sandra Lyon encouraged families to get the vaccinations.
“All parents should ensure that their kids have the required two doses of MMR to make certain students are protected from measles,” she wrote in the Feb. 4 release.
“If a child has received two doses of MMR, they are protected against this disease and should continue to attend school to avoid missing class instruction and falling behind.”
The school district will continue to follow state law regarding vaccine requirements, it said.
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