MN Lags Behind Nation In Childhood Vax Rate: CDC Study

MINNESOTA — Vaccination rates for measles and other vaccine-preventable childhood illnesses — required for kindergarten entrance in Minnesota — dropped to the lowest levels nationally in more than a decade in the 2021-22 school year, according to a study published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nine states and the District of Columbia — including Minnesota — saw measles protection among incoming kindergarten students of less than 90 percent in 2021-22, according to the report.

For Minnesota in the 2021-22 school year, based on a survey of 98.7 percent of the state’s kindergarteners:

• 89 percent were current on MMR vaccinations;
• 89 percent were current on DTaP vaccinations;
• 89.3 percent were current on polio vaccinations;
• 88.7 percent were current on varicella vaccinations;
• At least 3.7 percent received exemptions

It’s a worrisome trend for health officials, who said that with that many unprotected children, clusters of outbreaks can occur, especially in areas with low vaccination rates. That last happened with the 2019 resurgence of measles in 31 states. In all, 1,274 cases were confirmed, the greatest number of measles cases reported in the United States since 1992. Most were in communities with clusters of unvaccinated people, according to the CDC.

There were 13 cases of measles in eight jurisdictions in 2020; 49 cases in five jurisdictions in 2021; and 118 cases in six jurisdictions in 2022.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted both vaccinations and school administrators and nurses’ ability to track which students aren’t up-to-date on their shots. But decreased confidence in pediatric vaccines is also a likely contributor to the lower rates of protection, Dr. Georgina Peacock, the director of the CDC’s immunization division, told reporters Thursday.

“I think it’s a combination of all those things,” Peacock said.

Despite “a nearly complete return to in-person learning after COVID-19 pandemic-associated disruptions, immunization programs continued to report COVID-19–related impacts on vaccination assessment and coverage,” the report said.

“As schools return to in-person learning, high vaccination coverage is critical to continue protecting children and communities from vaccine-preventable diseases,” the researchers wrote in the study.

A survey last month from the Kaiser Family Foundation found nearly a third of U.S. parents oppose school vaccine requirements, saying the decision over childhood vaccinations should rest with them, even if it puts their children at risk of catching a serious illness. That’s up from an October 2019 Pew Research Center poll, when fewer than 20 percent felt that way, Kaiser noted.

“The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic and debates over vaccine requirements and mandates appear to have had an impact on public attitudes towards MMR vaccine requirements for public schools,” Kaiser said.

Dr. Jason Newland, a pediatric infectious disease doctor at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and vice chair for community health at Washington University, told The Associated Press other physicians have told him parents are picking and choosing which vaccines their children should receive.

“It’s crazy,” Newland told the AP. “There’s so much work to be done.”

But even before the pandemic, vaccinations were a bitterly polarizing issue pitting public health officials and others in the medical professionals against so-called “anti-vaxxers,” who often cite religious freedom, personal objections and government overreach in their decisions to delay vaccinations or not immunize their children at all.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.