Vaccination is an amazing rate, C.D.C. Study show

In addition to the spread of coronaviruses, some researchers are worried about the proliferation of vaccine-preventable diseases as states across the country ease home orders and as people return to more routine routines.

During the pandemic, Pediatric vaccination coverage has dropped Many parents were reluctant to schedule visits to doctors’ children in the clinic for fear of being infected with the coronavirus, resulting in a well-known illness such as measles and whooping cough. Is lagging behind in vaccination.

Angela Shen, a research scientist at the Philadelphia Children’s Hospital and co-author of the study, said the decline in Michigan is a concern and is likely to represent a trend across the country. States.

“Now you’re not just dealing with Covid,” she said, about the disease caused by the coronavirus, Covid-19. “You are fighting against diseases that can be prevented with common vaccines.”

Over the past two months, the risk of transmitting measles-like illness may have been mitigated because most people were not close to each other according to their home orders. Today, some states are deregulated and allow people to move within their communities, which can lead to flu, especially diseases like measles.

“You tend to appear to have measles outbreaks in communities and jurisdictions in Michigan, and perhaps in other parts of the country,” said Dr. Shen, a retired captain of the U.S. Public Health Service. It was “This week is a big week of opening up and the Public Health Department wants you to come and get a shot.”

This study used data from the Michigan Care Improvement Registry, which tracks vaccinations within the state. We compared the vaccination coverage of children under 5 months on a typical May day from 2016 to 2019 with the same day of the year. It showed that before the pandemic, approximately two-thirds of the children of that age group were vaccinated. This year the rate dropped to 49.7 percent.

The study also shows that children in Michigan who use Medicaid are even less likely to be vaccinated. The largest disparities were found among adolescents under 7 months. Researchers found that only 34.6% of children using Medicaid were up-to-date, compared to 55% of children not using Medicaid.

Dr. Shen said the community could endanger the herd’s immunity that it has built up against diseases like measles. Public health officials estimate that a local immunization rate of 93% to 95% is needed to prevent the spread of measles.

Dr Matthew L. Boulton, a professor of epidemiology and preventive medicine at the University of Michigan who did not participate in the University of Michigan study, said the results were not surprising, even considering the interruption of preventive care over the last few weeks. It was People were unable or unwilling to visit a doctor for regular checkups.

However, it is important that parents and guardians catch up with their children’s vaccinations as soon as possible, he said, because these revocations can spread over time. There are so many unprotected children that an outbreak can occur.

“I think the implications for vaccination in childhood are long-term,” as it takes a considerable amount of time to make up for this.

Dr. Boulton said the problem was global as well. He said he is doing vaccination work and research in China, India and some African countries, and his partners said they were seeing the same phenomenon.

“It’s a really scary idea,” he said. “We have made tremendous progress worldwide, especially in many low-income countries, which literally means years of managing vaccine-preventable diseases in both high- and low-income countries. May even bring us back before. “

In the United States, state health departments and pediatricians use vaccination registries to monitor vaccinations. This information can be used to contact families who are late for vaccination and encourage them to follow up as soon as possible.

A Michigan study also found that doctors could create another room for healthy children and vaccinate them in a car in a parking garage to use strategies that reduce the likelihood of coronavirus transmission. He said. These efforts reduce parents’ fears and increase their chances of catching up with children’s vaccinations.

“There were already challenges to keep the children up to date,” said Dr. Boulton. “This two or three month gap definitely makes it worse.”