I’m a Texas Pediatrician and Giving My Baby Her Measles Shot Early (Exclusive) – ryan

A pediatrician in Houston, Helen Jiang is offering the MMR vaccine to her patients starting at 6 months old and will vaccinate her infant early amid the ongoing fatal outbreak of measles in the state. “We’re all worried about the same thing,” she tells PEOPLE.

“I’ve never even heard of a measles outbreak remotely close to Texas, and this is the first time where it’s actually at home,” says her family pediatrician, Dr. Alexis Monique Javier at the Memorial Hermann Medical Group. “My patients are coming in and confirming that  whatever runny nose that they have, they’re just making sure it’s not measles,” she says, sharing that there is “a heightened sense of fear now that the word measles is out and about.”

Dr. Jiang shares why she will vaccinate her youngest early — and what she hopes people realize about the disease — with PEOPLE’s Cara Lynn Shultz.

When I entered my pediatric residency and started seeing patients, I was surprised how many people were against vaccines. My assumption — even in medical school —  was that these are routine vaccinations. We have to get them. The kids don’t love it when we do, but it’s just a necessity.

Once I started actually working in the medical field, it was surprising when I had parents say, ‘Nope.’ They heard that the MMR vaccine causes autism and they were stuck to their beliefs — even though scientific papers had debunked that link.

My daughter Maya is 7, and my son Bodhi is 5, so they’ve had both rounds of the MMR vaccine. But my daughter Lola is 5 months old. When the outbreak started in Texas, I wasn’t too concerned about my oldest kids, but I had a baby who was completely non-immunized.  Pretty early on, I was concerned and thinking about what I could do. If she shows any signs of being sick, I make sure there’s no accompanying rash. I do check her more often.

I’m going to be vaccinating my daughter at 6 months. The CDC recommends it for children at 12 months but makes exceptions for outbreaks. I’ll feel much better. I’ll feel relieved. I know that it’s only the first shot and the second one is kind of the booster for it to bring up the percentage of protection, but there is definitely going to be a relief that we at least have something. My practice will also start vaccinating at 6 months for parents who want it.

When I heard that a Texas child had died of measles, I felt pretty sad. That’s the most plain way of describing it — but I think that’s probably the most accurate — as with most people I know who work with kids, because we know it’s preventable. In 2025, we shouldn’t be seeing children die from measles or any other vaccine-preventable illness. I wondered how bad it could get, and also had a little bit of fear.

Then I saw the interview with the parents. I want to have hope that people stay aware and educated, but if this child’s death doesn’t really change anyone’s mind, especially if the parents’, then this might not be going in the right direction.

Where this anti-vax sentiment is going, it does feel a bit — I don’t want to say hopeless, because that’s a very strong term — but it does feel like we are in this cycle of misinformation and it’s carried from person to person to person, and it spreads like wildfire, and it’s really hard to contain.

In that sense, I do feel like we are all at risk. If it’s not measles this time, it’s something else next time.

Multiple large-scale studies have found that vaccines are safe. There is no scientific link between vaccines and autismaccording to the Centers for Disease Control.