January 11, 2022
Colorado kids are getting back on track with their routine vaccinations, but lower rates over the last two years could still give diseases like measles an opening.
In the first month of the pandemic, from mid-March 2020 to mid-April 2020, new vaccinations dropped about 38% compared to the same period in 2019, according to data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Kids started to catch up in the following months, but from mid-March 2021 to late October 2021, shots were still down 7% compared to 2019.
“Staying up-to-date on routine vaccinations is critical especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The last thing we want is an outbreak of any kind, especially when it’s easily preventable,” Heather Roth, the state health department’s immunization branch chief, said in a news release.
Vaccination rates have dropped across the country and worldwide, giving viruses more potential hosts and chances to spread, said Dr. Sean O’Leary, an infectious disease pediatrician at Children’s Hospital Colorado. While diseases like measles no longer circulate in the United States under normal circumstances, they’re more common in other parts of the world, and unvaccinated travelers could bring them back, he said.
Read more at The Denver Post.