Putnam Health Dept. Encourages Back-to-School Vaccinations
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The Putnam County Health Department is encouraging parents to schedule required vaccines for their children before school begins.
Putnam County Interim Health Commissioner Michael J. Nesheiwat, MD said early childhood vaccination rates fell nearly eight percent in Putnam during the COVID-19 pandemic to about 62 percent in 2021, placing the county below the recommended state benchmark.
“High childhood vaccination rates are critical to maintaining community-level protection against diseases that were commonplace before the advent of vaccines,” Nesheiwat said. “Disruption in well-child visits and a decline in vaccine administration during the COVID-19 pandemic is well documented.”
“A decline in vaccination rates make us more vulnerable to experiencing outbreaks of diseases like measles, as was demonstrated in 2018 to 2019 when the United States experienced the largest measles outbreak since virus elimination was declared in 2000,” Nesheiwat continued. “During that outbreak, which was largely centered in the Hudson Valley, Putnam had higher vaccination rates and was spared the large numbers of measles cases seen in neighboring counties that had pockets of unvaccinated or under vaccinated communities.”
The decrease in Putnam’s childhood vaccination rates was noted in the recent comprehensive community health assessment. This drop steered the Health Department and its community partners to select increasing early childhood vaccination rates as a top priority in the county’s health improvement plan, known as the “CHIP.”
The Health Department has been reaching out to parents and guardians of young children from two to five years of age to take a short, five-minute survey launched in June. Parents and guardians have until Monday, August 21 to provide feedback. The survey can be taken in English or Spanish and is optimized for mobile access. It can be accessed at https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/7316391/child-vac.
Nesheiwat is urging families to call and visit their personal health care providers soon to schedule their children’s immunizations. He added, that “No child will be refused vaccination because of an inability to pay. Through our Vaccines for Children program here at the Health Department, we can provide all the vaccines that make up the early vaccination series.”
The series includes the five vaccinations required for day care, pre-K, and school attendance (diphtheria and tetanus; hepatitis B; polio; measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR); and varicella or chickenpox) plus two additional vaccines required for day care and pre-K.
Vaccines have made illness and death from early childhood diseases like rubella, diphtheria, and polio a rarity today, unlike the early 1900s, when they widely circulated and resulted in numerous fatalities. However, early childhood diseases have not been eradicated in the U.S., and worldwide in countries with lower vaccination rates, childhood diseases remain a serious health threat. Measles, for example, still circulates around the world with more than 100,000 deaths annually.
Rick has more than 40 years’ experience covering local news in Westchester and Putnam counties, running the gamut from politics and crime to sports and human interest. He has been an editor at Examiner Media since 2012. Read more from Rick’s editor-author bio here. Read Rick’s work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/pezzullo_rick-writer/
