The Berrien County Health Department is urging all parents to make sure their kids have their required vaccines as a new school year approaches. Medical Director Rex Cabaltica tells us state law requires kids have certain vaccinations to enroll in school but not all get them. At the end of the last school year, 92.4% of Berrien County students either had all their vaccines or vaccine waivers. Cabaltica says the target health officials want to hit is 95%.
“At 95% vaccination, you’ve got pretty high confidence that you can pretty much control any sort of viral outbreak like measles,” Cabaltica said.
The 92.4% figure also includes those who had waivers, meaning the county’s actual vaccination rate is likely lower. Cabaltica says he once lived in China and saw the effects of children being unvaccinated. He told us about one family in which two children died of measles.
“And the three remaining kids, all three of them had measles. So, they had two kids die from measles, which is completely preventable. But they didn’t have the vaccine. So, that’s a luxury that I think we take for granted.”
Cabaltica says vaccination rates are down since COVID, partly because parents stopped taking their kids to the doctor as often, and partly because misinformation has caused more vaccine mistrust, in general. He urges parents to talk with their child’s doctor and notes the health department also offers help getting vaccines. All you have to do is call.
