As children go back to school for the fall, local and state health officials are sounding the alarm about dropping vaccination rates in western Massachusetts. And they say the federal government’s messaging is only making their job harder.
Western Massachusetts has among the lowest vaccination rates in the state. According to the Department of Public Health, more than 10 percent of kindergartners in Franklin county are entering school without the recommended series of vaccines. Berkshire county is close behind at 9 percent, followed by Hampden county at 6 percent.
So while the state as a whole has a vaccination rate upwards of 95 percent, Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner Robbie Goldstein said that should not be much of a comfort.
“If you just look at the statewide numbers, you would think there's no problem for us to solve,” he said, “when in fact there is a problem for us to solve.”
'Astronomical' gaps
In fact, recent data shows some individual schools in western Mass are well below the rate that provides herd immunity for diseases such as measles or even polio.
“It is starting to decline, concerningly so,” said Jack Sullivan, a regional epidemiologist for Franklin county.
Sullivan recently sent a letter to local officials saying low child vaccination rates are a “serious issue that should be addressed,” adding there are “astronomical” gaps in some Greenfield schools.
He said the Covid pandemic set off vaccine hesitancy among many parents. But he also blames the current national rhetoric, including U.S. Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy’s strong opposition to vaccines.
“There's now a rationalization for people to take a second look at (not getting the vaccine) that may have been on the line about it before,” he said. “It's having an effect.”
Although the state’s published vaccine numbers don’t yet reflect Trump administration’s policies, Sullivan said vaccine hesitancy has been steadily growing for years. So he urges health providers to tread sensitively – to share evidence that the recommended vaccines are safe and effective.
“Our point isn't just to say, ‘you know, you should be vaccinating your children, and that's that.’ That's an argument that gets you nowhere,” Sullivan said. “We just want to be able to give them as much information as we can and meet them where they are, and hopefully they'll make the best decision for them and their children.”
For instance, he points out that recent measles outbreaks in Texas and New Mexico overwhelmingly affected unvaccinated children.
“If President Trump and Secretary Kennedy won’t protect people’s health — we will.” — Gov. Healy
Massachusetts' public health commissioner Goldstein said there’s been an increase in parents who are seeking non-medical exemptions from vaccine requirements. He’s particularly concerned about Berkshire County, which hosts many visitors from out of state.
“Low levels of vaccination in Berkshire County put the community at risk that someone might come in with measles, with chickenpox, with another communicable disease,” he said, “and the low levels [of vaccination] won’t protect everyone.”
There’s also the matter of federal funding. The Trump Administration wants to cut $19 million earmarked for Massachusetts’ childhood vaccination programs. Goldstein said the state is challenging those cuts in court, and Massachusetts already imposes a levy on insurance companies to pay for pediatric vaccines.
“But I think the future looks grim when it comes to federal funding for vaccine programs,” he said.
Goldstein said he’s also hoping the state does not lose ground in vaccine equity. There was a strong effort during the pandemic to reach communities of color with access to and information about vaccines.
“And we got into those communities, built relationships with community based organizations and trusted messengers,” he said. “Now, we may be losing federal funding, and it may be harder to find the dollars to support all of that. But the infrastructure remains in place, and that infrastructure is so critical to building confidence in vaccines.”
Meanwhile, Goldstein said the state does not plan to sit back and wait. His office is basing its vaccine advice on respected national medical organizations, not the Centers for Disease Control, where all members of the vaccine advisory panel were recently fired by the Trump administration. In addition, several top CDC officials recently quit, citing dangerous and unscientific politicization of the agency, including around vaccines.
“We think it's really important that the department of public health have the ability to use evidence and data and not blindly follow what's happening at the CDC and at the federal government, in particular in this moment,” he said.
Governor Maura Healy has proposed legislation that would give the state DPH more authority when it comes to which vaccines insurance companies have to cover.
Healy also released a statement that said: “If President Trump and Secretary Kennedy won’t protect people’s health — we will.”
