El Paso clinics seeing rush for vaccinations

After the 6th reported case of measles in El Paso, people aren’t taking any chances when it comes to their families health.

The non-profit Immunize El Paso says they have had well above their average number of patients for this time of year of the past few weeks for a few reasons.

Daniel Acosta is the director of Immunize El Paso, he says ” We’ve seen an increase in the number of people in El Paso because of the reported cases plus the children are going back to school here fairly soon.”

Acosta pointed out many adults are also worried about being exposed to measles but aren’t sure if they have ever been vaccinated in the first place.

“We’re receiving a lot of phone calls people want information on whether they are protected or if we do have access to their medical history or immunization records,” Acosta Says.

Despite the increase in patients, Acosta says the average wait time at their clinic is still about 30 minutes, and they are running longer than normal hours.

The City of El Paso Department of Public Health has also been seeing a high demand for the MMR vaccine.

They have been running 13 hour days since July 9th at their three immunization clinics.

“These recent cases of the measles make it all the more important for children to be vaccinated before they return to class,” said Robert Resendes, Public Health Director. “We have been lucky in that this situation began before school started, but what we don’t want is for parents to find out at registration that their child won’t be able to start classes with the rest of their peers because they are missing vaccines.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 90 percent of people who are not vaccinated, who are exposed to the virus will become infected.

Measles is spread through coughing and sneezing and the disease usually begins with fever, cough, runny nose, and red eyes.

These symptoms are followed by a rash that spreads from the head down to the hands and feet. Measles can live in an airspace where an infected person was, for up to two hours.

The CDC says 97 percent of people vaccinated will not be harmed by measles if they have had both rounds of the MMR vaccine.