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The family of an unvaccinated boy who contracted a life-threatening tetanus in 2017 had to pay close to a million dollars in hospitalization costs, The Oregonian reported Tuesday.
The newspaper, citing federal health officials, reported that the boy had spent 57 days in the hospital, costing nearly $ 1 million to his family. The family also had to pay the airfare and 17 days of detention of the boy in a rehabilitation center.
The family has always refused after the boy's stay at the hospital to get him vaccinated, according to the newspaper. The boy reportedly contracted tetanus on the family farm after cutting his forehead and, a few days later, he could not open his mouth.
Dr. Carl Eriksson, who works at the OHSU hospital in Oregon, told the newspaper that the boy's tetanus was serious from the start, adding that "it's life-threatening."
"It's always hard to watch a child suffer," Eriksson told the newspaper. "It's harder when we know they're suffering from something that's preventable, and we're obviously doing everything in our power to try to avoid these situations."
Eriksson added that he and other people in the hospital had tried to convince the boy's parents to vaccinate their child 100%, but they chose not to do so.
Erikkson also described the incident as "revealing to many people".
"It reminds us that vaccine-preventable diseases are terrible, life-threatening diseases that we are not used to seeing. So, when a case like this occurs, it definitely opens the eyes to a lot of people, "Eriksson told the newspaper.
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