14 April 11 • 2019
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nless you’
ve been living under 
a log, you know a measles out-
break has hit Oakland County, 
and the number of infected continues to 
rise; now at 39. Those stricken with the 
virus range in age from 8 months to 63. 
Many of those who’
ve got the mea-
sles have been Oakland County adults 
who thought they were vaccinated as 
children but, because they hadn’
t had 
booster shots, didn’
t have the necessary 
antibodies in their blood to protect 
themselves from the virus. 
Health authorities also blame 
the outbreak, in part, on the low-
er-than-needed vaccination rates in the 
area. Officials say communities need to 
have around 95 percent of the popula-
tion vaccinated against measles to stop 
its spread or create what’
s commonly 
called “herd immunity.” Michigan is 
currently right at the cusp of that num-
ber, partly because some parents choose 
not to vaccinate their children for phil-

osophical reasons. 
In 2017, just 92.4 percent of school-
children in Wayne County were fully 
vaccinated. In Macomb County, that 
number was 91.7 percent, and in 
Oakland County just 90.3 percent, 
according to a report from MLive that 
compiled searchable data from 2017. 
Local Jewish day schools have high 
rates of kindergarteners entering school 
vaccinated. According to the 2017 
numbers, all kindergarteners at Farber 
(Southfield) and Hillel (Farmington 
Hills) day schools were immunized. 
At Yeshiva Beth Yehudah in Oak Park, 
only 1 out of 45 kindergarteners went to 
school without being vaccinated. 
At Darchei Torah in Southfield, the 
numbers were a bit more concerning. 
In 2017, out of the school’
s 27 admitted 
kindergarteners, three unvaccinated 
children attended school with waivers. 
And, according to 2014 data, among 73 
Darchei Torah kindergarten, sixth grade 

and transfer students, 25 percent, or 18 
students, received waivers. 

WAIVERS EXPLAINED
The Michigan Department of Health 
and Human Services (MDHHS) 
requires schoolchildren to be immu-
nized for 14 contagious diseases. 
MDHHS requires that all schoolchil-
dren receive two doses of the MMR 
vaccine after 12 months of age unless 
the parent files for a philosophical or 
religious waiver. As of 2014, Michigan 
was also one of 19 states that allow 
vaccination waivers for “philosophical” 
reasons, in addition to medical and reli-

gious exemptions. 
Any Michigan parent or guardian 
who wants to claim a nonmedical waiv-
er needs to receive education regarding 
the benefits of vaccination and the risks 
of disease from a county health depart-
ment before obtaining the certified 
nonmedical waiver. 
MDHHS documentation also states 
that during disease outbreaks, incom-
pletely vaccinated students may be 
excluded from school.
Private schools do not have to accept 
waivers of any kind. Read more about 
waivers at www.michigan.gov/
immunize.

A

s the number of measles cases 
climbed to 41 (at press time), 
including one each in Wayne and 
Washtenaw counties, concerned Metro 
Detroiters born after 1957 are learning a 
new vocabulary word: titer. 
In medical terms, titer (pronounced 

tīdər) is defined as the concentration of 
an antibody as determined by finding 
the highest dilution at which it is still 
able to cause agglutination of the anti-
gen. In plain-speak, it means whether 
one’
s immune system has enough anti-
bodies to fight certain diseases. 

The Oakland County Health 
Department (OCHD) advises that adults 
born in 1957 or later should receive at 
least one dose of MMR vaccine unless 
they have other acceptable evidence of 
immunity. A second dose of MMR vac-
cine is needed for adults who may have 
been exposed to a measles case or those 
who are students in colleges/universities, 
work in health care or plan to travel 
internationally. Check with your health 
care provider to see if you need to be 
vaccinated.
A quick check of a West Bloomfield 
doctor’
s office drew an estimate of close 
to 30 people daily getting titers checked 
with a simple blood test before knowing 
whether they needed a booster shot. 
However, Lindsay Stern Cox, 35, of 
Farmington Hills skipped the test and 
received a booster shot from her inter-
nist. She is glad her mother got her titers 
checked and is immune, and that her 
3-year-old son got an early second dose 
of the MMR vaccine. 
“My pediatrician was very matter of 
fact and said to just bring him in,
” Cox 
said. “My internist said a booster shot 
for me couldn’
t hurt even if I was already 

immune.
”
Britt Dresser of Royal Oak was shop-
ping at the Target on Southfield Road 
with her very young infant on March 
20, a spot listed by health authorities 
as a point of exposure. Her 3-year-old 
attends preschool at Temple Emanu-El 
in Oak Park. Fearing her young children 
had been exposed, she took them to her 
pediatrician’
s office in Birmingham last 
week, where her toddler got his second 
immunization for MMR a year earlier 
than planned. 
Dresser said many mothers in her 
circle of friends are also getting advice 
from their pediatricians to push ahead 
their vaccination schedules and to keep 
infants who have not been immunized 
home and out of public spaces for 21 
days counting from the first date of 
exposure if they are still too young to 
receive immunizations. 
In normal situations, the American 
Academy of Pediatrics, the Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention, and the 
American Academy of Family Physicians 
all recommend children receive the mea-
sles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vac-
cine at age 12-15 months, and again 

jews d
in 
the

STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

41 Cases and
Counting ...

Pediatricians push ahead 
vaccination schedules;
Gen-Xers get tested for immunity.

Protecting the “Herd”

Oakland County vaccination exemption
waivers are higher than average.

STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

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