Childhood Vaccines Are Dropping
Here’s why that’s concerning
Childhood vaccination rates keep falling amid the pandemic. As Jesse Smith, a medical student, writes: A successful vaccine against Covid-19 would be one of the most important steps to curbing the pandemic. However, he writes, “eradication is still a rare status, and while many diseases have been slowed by vaccines, some remain dormant waiting for the circumstances when they are allowed to proliferate once again.” The current pandemic has created just that situation, he adds:
In May 2020, the CDC released a report detailing a marked reduction in childhood vaccinations linked primarily to Covid-19. In March 2020, vaccination rates for diseases like measles fell by nearly half, sounding alarms bells within a public health community already overburdened by the Covid-19 outbreak. The CDC noted a decrease of roughly 250,000 vaccines ordered during that time period.
The worry is that a lack of vaccinations could impact herd immunity for other diseases.
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