Connecticut pediatricians urging children and adults to get vaccinated amid measles outbreak

HARTFORD, Conn. (WFSB) - A measles outbreak continues to worsen.

There have been almost 400 cases in 18 states.

At least one child has died.

Here in Connecticut, pediatricians are urging children and adults to get vaccinated.

About a dozen pediatricians came to Hartford today to emphasize how vaccines are not only effective, but safe.

They are concerned about the recent measles outbreak.

The United States is seeing more measles cases in just three months than we did last year.

Connecticut, compared to other states, does have high vaccination rates.

However, doctors say there has been a lot of misinformation, especially on social media.

The current US Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has spoken out against vaccines.

When Dr. Emily Hogeland was a pediatrician in another state, she treated a young boy who had contracted tetanus.

He had not been vaccinated.

“He became progressively rigid and paralyzed and ultimately needed a tracheostomy, or artificial windpipe, and a ventilator, or breathing machine, in order to breath after his diaphragm, or breathing muscle, became paralyzed. This would have been completely preventable with routine childhood vaccines such as DTAP,” she said.

The DTAP vaccine helps prevent tetanus, as well as polio and whopping cough.

According to the CDC, these vaccines, including the MMR vaccine which protects against measles, have prevented more than 500 million illnesses and more than a million deaths during 1994 and 2023.

The CDC also says when children are vaccinated on time, they also protect others.

The doctors who are speaking out today say if parents have any questions, the best thing to do is have a conversation with your child’s pediatrician.

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