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Health minister ignores Burnaby mom, rules out mandatory vaccinations

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix won’t be making measles vaccinations mandatory anytime soon – despite pleas from Burnaby mom Stefania Seccia.
adrian dix
Health Minister Adrian Dix said mandatory registration of vaccination status when children start school is under “active consideration,” but he made no commitment as to when or how such a measure might be implemented. Photograph By DARRYL DYCK, THE CANADIAN PRESS

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix won’t be making measles vaccinations mandatory anytime soon – despite pleas from Burnaby mom Stefania Seccia.

On Monday, I wrote about Stefania and her baby Max, who has been quarantined all week after being exposed to the measles virus during a brief stay at BC Children’s Hospital. You can read the full column here.

Max - who turned one years old on Tuesday and couldn’t celebrate it because he was under quarantine – is at high risk of not only getting the measles, but also contracting more serious conditions such as encephalitis.

All because a Vancouver family didn’t get their own children vaccinated.

Stefania has done a series of media interviews asking the BC NDP government to make vaccinations mandatory – at least for school-aged children.

A petition has been signed by more than 30,000 people in the wake of measles outbreaks in Vancouver and Washington state is asking for the same thing.

But Dix is saying no.

baby max measles
Burnaby baby Max just turned one, but couldn't celebrate with his family because he was under quarantine. INSTAGRAM

Instead, mandatory registration of vaccination status when children start school is under “active consideration,” Dix said, but has made no commitment as to when or how such a measure might be implemented.

“No jurisdiction [in Canada] has what’s called a forced system,” Dix said. “But I think we can do more.”

Gee, that’s mighty big of him. I'm really curious about the hesitancy here. 

Nine measles cases have been confirmed in Vancouver so far this year, and Washington state has declared a state of emergency due to a measles outbreak unfolding there.

Measles is a highly contagious airborne viral infection that spreads by coughing and sneezing. People are contagious for about five days before symptoms develop and then it presents like a flu before it develops into a rash. It is preventable with a measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine given in two doses.

It’s time to crack down and get tougher rules in place to protect children like Max, who was scheduled to get his MMR vaccine today (Thursday) after turning one.

  • With files from Cindy E. Harnett / Times Colonist