(Listen to the full interview with Senator Bill Cassidy here)
“There's the outbreak in West Texas, which went a little further west into New Mexico,” said Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy Thursday on the Newell Normand show.
His message: The measles are coming, so you should strongly consider getting vaccinated.
Sen. Cassidy explained, “There are reports of a measles outbreak in San Antonio. So you can imagine it’s moving eastward on the I-10. Apparently, there's a big rodeo in Houston coming up in which kids from across the state go. You can imagine that there might be somebody there brewing measles that might expose others. It’s getting to Houston; it’s getting to Lake Charles; it’s getting to Baton Rouge, to the North Shore, and to New Orleans. So I just want people to be protected. Make sure your child is vaccinated.”
With plenty of controversy around vaccines, Cassidy explained why he, as a physician who used to do immunization work, recommends measles vaccinations: “First, it is highly contagious. One person who has measles can infect 12 to 18 other people. It’s the classic thing to get a rash, which can be incredibly uncomfortable, but it can also put people in the hospital and kill them. Unfortunately, there has been one death in Texas now.”
The senator also explained why measles is a particular concern among children and pregnant women.
“There are other, rare complications,” said Cassidy. “For example, it can actually cause a type of inflammation of the lining of the brain. Once the child has measles, they can have this inflammation can become apparent 7 to 10 years later. And that can be terrible. Then, if a woman is pregnant and she's exposed to the measles, both she and her unborn child can be affected. The child may be stillborn. Or have decreased growth in the womb or again, other type complications.”
Something that differentiates the measles vaccine from many others is its long history of success in the United States.
Senator Cassidy explained the history, saying, “I was born in '57. After ‘57 is when the vaccine became available. If you were born prior to ‘57, you frankly didn't need to get the vaccine because they assumed you were exposed. But subsequent to that, people got vaccinated, and the amount of measles…went down precipitously. And and by and large never saw a case of it. And then, around the teens of this century, we began to see more and more cases again.
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