KinderCare Mandates Staff Vaccinations After 5 Infants Catch Measles in Illinois
Five infants were diagnosed with measles at an Illinois daycare this week.
— -- A national daycare center chain has announced that all employees working in its infant rooms must be vaccinated against the measles by Monday.
KinderCare, which has 1,900 centers nationwide, made the move one day after five infants at a Chicago-area KinderCare were diagnosed with the measles. The first dose of the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella, is not administered until a child is a year old, and KinderCare said in a statement that it hopes to protect its children who are too young to be vaccinated by also limiting access to infant rooms.
"While is not a requirement for children who attend our centers to be vaccinated, we highly encourage parents to speak with their family doctor about immunizations for their children, and we work closely with each family to be sure our immunization records are up-to-date," the company said in a statement. “However, we understand that some children are unable to be vaccinated – for medical reasons and or for religious reasons – and we do not exclude those children from our centers.”
The current measles outbreak includes at least 102 reported cases in 14 states,