During the long months of COVID-19 restriction, work and school patterns were upended, routine healthcare visits were delayed and many children fell behind on recommended immunizations.
Those desperate early days of the pandemic have passed, but another threat is now emerging — too many children, especially those who are uninsured or underinsured, have not caught up on missed vaccinations and are falling further behind, giving preventable diseases the chance for a dangerous comeback.
In July, the New York State Department of Health reported the first case of polio in the United States in almost a decade. Weeks later, health officials found polio virus in wastewater samples, prompting a warning that hundreds of people may be infected.