The country has become intimately aware of the importance of vaccines with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. But when it comes to measles and mumps, La Plata County parents are still hesitant to vaccinate their children.
In 2019, Colorado ranked dead last in the nation: Only 87.4% of kindergarten-aged children received their state-required measles, mumps and rubella vaccines. Front Range schools considered enforcing state law to prevent an outbreak, according to news reports. As La Plata County prepares to return to school, its youngest kids still lag behind on immunizations.
“It’s critical to keep kids’ vaccinations up to date,” said Liane Jollon, executive director of San Juan Basin Public Health. “Not doing so puts our state at risk for outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, unnecessarily complicating Colorado’s COVID-19 response.”
After the state’s vaccination rates ranked lowest in the country, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment set a new goal for 2019-20: At least 90% of Colorado kindergartners would receive the full MMR vaccination series.
In July, CDPHE announced the state did even better. About 91.1% of kindergarten-aged students were fully immunized against measles, mumps and rubella in 2019-20.
In La Plata County, however, only 88% of kindergartners received the full MMR vaccination over the same time period, SJBPH said.
MMR vaccination rates need to be between 93% and 95% in order to build community immunity, also known as herd immunity, SJBPH said, citing the World Health Organization.
When children get vaccinated, they help build that widespread immunity. They protect an entire population, including people who can’t be vaccinated because of age, a compromised immune system or underlying illness, SJBPH said.
The health department holds flu clinics, conducts informational outreach sessions and uses radio, social media and other tools to encourage people to vaccinate.
Some kindergarten classes in La Plata County fall far below the community immunity standard. Only 45.5% of kindergartners at Hope Community Christian Academy in Ignacio were fully immunized against MMR in 2019-20, according to CDPHE. Durango School District 9-R’s Shared School had a 76.5% rate of full immunization. Children can be exempted from vaccinations based on personal or religious beliefs.
Three of 10 elementary schools in the county – Needham and Park in Durango and Ignacio elementary – have a full immunization rate of 93% or more.
SJBPH and other health professionals have warned that the county’s already low childhood vaccination rates could drop even further as parents put off doctor visits during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Routine well-child visits are being postponed and some parents are avoiding going to the doctor for fear of contracting the coronavirus,” Jollon said, based on local, state and national reports.
But local health care providers have implemented appropriate office cleaning and personal protective equipment procedures to make it safe for babies and children to get vaccines. The risk of contracting the novel coronavirus while at a vaccination appointment is very low, Jollon said.
“We encourage all families to continue their well-child appointments and receive the recommended vaccinations,” she said.
For example, one Durango clinic, Pediatric Partners of the Southwest, has set up a well-clinic where only non-COVID-related patients are seen, said Amanda Harrison, a registered nurse at the clinic.
This year, with the coronavirus pandemic still raging, keeping up with vaccinations is very important, she said.
“The last thing a child needs is to have another illness that could put them at high risk for complications if they were to contract COVID,” Harrison said.
Harrison still hears hesitation from community members based on a few common concerns about vaccinations.
“The MMR issue is a bigger issue than COVID,” Harrison said.
Some parents believe safety is a concern or cite a now-debunked research study that linked the MMR vaccine to autism, Harrison said.
“That research was incorrect. (The researcher) is actually in jail and lost his medical license. But the damage was done,” she said.
Others want their children to gain natural immunity from the virus, not a vaccine. While such exposure would build immunity, it would also expose children to complications or more serious cases of disease, Harrison said.
Still other parents say diseases like measles aren’t prevalent anymore or as serious as health professionals say. To that, Harrison said viral spread isn’t as prevalent because people get vaccinated.
For example, in the 1950s, nearly all children got measles by the time they were 15 years old, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Each year, about 400 to 500 people died, 48,000 were hospitalized and 1,000 suffered brain swelling caused by measles, among reported cases.
Then, a vaccine was created in the 1960s.
By 1981, the number of reported measles cases had decreased by 80% using a vaccine created in the 1960s. By 2000, measles was declared eliminated, meaning transmission was extremely low, not that the virus didn’t exist.
But the virus still spreads, especially when vaccines aren’t available or vaccination rates stagnate. In 2018, more than 140,000 people died from measles globally, mostly children younger than 5. The U.S. saw its highest case numbers in 25 years and several European countries lost their elimination status, according to the WHO.
“It’s super, super important to get them vaccinated before starting school,” Harrison said. “As they enter school and they’re around a bunch of new kids ... we want them to have that full immunity, so we can protect them.”
If someone would like to get vaccinated but cannot afford it, SJBPH is part of a federal Vaccines for Children program. Children, ages 0 to 18, qualify for financial assistance under certain conditions. The VFC program can be reached at 335-2015.
smullane@durangoherald.com
