Two Against Measles

It was a summer Sunday afternoon--no time for kids to be in school. But the high school cafeterias in Virginia's Fairfax County were crammed with yelling youngsters aged one to twelve. Any one of them might have screamed at the prospect of a single injection, but the young Virginians were all about to be jabbed twice. Out of every five, one was to be stuck with a third needle to draw a blood sample in the largest single measles immunization program yet organized in the U.S.

One Time, Two Shots. The original measles vaccine developed by Harvard Virologist John F. Enders (TIME cover, Nov. 17, 1961) and co-workers is highly effective. But used alone, the attenuated (weakened but still live) virus causes fever in 80% of vaccinees, and a rash in 50%--reactions too much like natural measles to be acceptable to many parents. The killed-virus vaccine does not have these side effects, but neither, says Enders, does it confer long-lasting immunity.

Virologists, pediatricians and public health officials have worked out a compromise. They give the live vaccine, and at the same time they give an injection of human gamma globulin, the blood fraction that contains antibodies against measles as well as against other diseases. The "GG" has staved off fever in all but about 20% of children already double-vaccinated and has eliminated the rash in all but 3%. Most important, the GG does not keep the children from developing enough of their own antibodies to give them lasting protection against natural measles.

The county health department and the local medical society nominated socially conscious Fairfax County, largely populated by commuters from adjacent Washington, as a test area to see if the public would accept onetime, two-shot vaccinations. Newspapers and radio stations publicized the free shots. Despite the kids' vocal protests, last week's answer was encouraging: 3,865 children showed up.

For the Brave, the Arm. After stating that their children had never had measles, parents pushed, pulled or carried the kids into the cafeteria-clinics. For the brave ones, two rolled-up sleeves sufficed for a shot of vaccine in one arm and GG in the other. Kids who went into tantrums had to be held while their pants were rolled down and they got a needle in each buttock. The one child in five who gave a blood sample will be bled again in about a month, for comparison of before-and-after antibody levels. All parents got a form on which to report whether their children develop a fever or rash.

If the Virginia experiment is as successful as expected, the cries of needle-shy pre-teen kids should soon be heard across the U.S. No measles vaccine has yet won Government approval, but nine manufacturers are working on it.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.