San Juan pediatrician talks vaccines, measles precautions

Yahoo

06-06-2025

Vials of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine are displayed on a counter at a Walgreens Pharmacy on January 26, 2015 in Mill Valley, California. (Photo by Illustration)
Earlier this week, a young child in San Juan County with one dose of the measles vaccine contracted the measles on a domestic flight, putting area doctors on watch for more cases.
'I would say we're in a cautious holding pattern,' Dr. Brad Scoggins, a pediatrician based in Farmington, told Source New Mexico. 'We're appropriately concerned, but not panicked.'
Measles, a highly contagious respiratory virus, spreads through contact with airborne droplets from an infected person's coughs and sneezes. Symptoms can take one to three weeks tos develop, and include headache, cough, fever, red eyes and a spotty red rash on the head and face that spreads across the body.
New Mexico health officials report measles exposures in San Juan, Lea county hospitals
Scoggins said the clinic has enacted increased precautions to prevent spread, such as using virtual visits or testing any cases with symptoms of fever and rash outside of the clinic.
The New Mexico Department of Health reported no change in the state's number of cases Friday, but public health officials have recently warned they expect a rise in cases due to summer travel.
Much like cases across the U.S., over 80% of New Mexico's 81 measles infections impacted people who are unvaccinated or of unknown status. However, 13 cases of New Mexico's included patients with at least one dose of the vaccine.
One dose of the measles vaccine offers 93% protection from infection and a second dose offers higher protection, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
When spread increases, measles can sometimes infect vaccinated people, but but with less severity, because the vaccine primes the body's defense system to fight it, Scoggins said.
'In real world terms, that means that the duration of illness is a bit shorter, and the severity is less,' he said. '[Measles, mumps rubella] vaccine is considered a sterilizing vaccine. So once you've had the vaccination, you should theoretically not be able to transmit it — or at least, it's much less likely.'
Scoggins said he empathizes with parents who are concerned about safety and efficacy of vaccines, despite decades of research.
'There's a whole lot of noise out there right now, and it's hard for parents to know, I think, who to listen to,' he said.
Scoggins said he's working to counter misinformation by pointing people to works of history including 'The Great Influenza' on the 1918 flu epidemic and 'Man and Microbes,' a history of plagues.
'It offers a little bit of a historical perspective because we live in a time where we're so protected from these things, but it's only because of what our forebears have instituted,' he said.
Scoggins said that vaccine advice doesn't just apply to his patients, noting his own children have vaccinations, as do all 12 of the pediatricians and nurse practitioners in his office with children.
'All of our kids have had their vaccines on their regular schedule,' he said. 'We don't do anything for other people's kids that we wouldn't do for our own.
Officials from San Juan County Regional Medical Center urged patients to call the NMDOH hotline at 1-833-796-8773, with any questions about testing, vaccines or symptoms.
'The best thing our community can do to protect themselves is to get vaccinated against the measles,' said Laura Werbner, a spokesperson at San Juan County Regional Medical Center. 'Talk to your pediatrician about the measles vaccine for your children. If you are an adult and have not been vaccinated, you can still get the vaccine.'
More information about free vaccine clinics can be found at the state's measles webpage.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX