As school nears, doctors worry about Minnesota's undervaccinated kids

The school year starts next week for many Minnesota families and physicians are concerned about children being undervaccinated.

Right now, there’s a global outbreak of measles, with 34 cases reported in Minnesota; there have been more than 500 cases of whooping cough so far this year. Minnesota is also experiencing a summertime COVID-19 surge, with cases on the rise following Fourth of July celebrations.

As it attracts about 2 million people in its 12-day run, the State Fair is next on doctors’ radar.

“We always look for a little surge in our friends called viruses after the Great Minnesota Get-Together because we are in close contact, and there’s just a lot being shared,” Dr. Abe Jacob, a pediatrician with M Health Fairview told MPR News.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, vaccine hesitancy has gone up and vaccination rates for young kids have dropped. According to the Minnesota Department of Health, 73.4 percent of 6-year-olds and 40.5 percent of 13-year-olds were up-to-date on all recommended vaccines.

For the 2019-20 school year, 92.6 percent of kindergartners had their MMR, or measles, mumps and rubella, vaccine. That rate dipped to 87.1 percent for 2023-24.

Before the measles vaccine became available in 1963, some 3 to 4 million Americans were infected annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2000, measles was considered eliminated, but case numbers have started to creep back up.

“Diseases like measles have made a comeback because of low immunization rates. We thought we had these diseases beat years ago,“ Minnesota Medical Association President Dr. Laurel Ries said in a statement earlier this month.

Nearly all of the 34 Minnesota cases this year were in unvaccinated children, Jacob said.

“When you see one child with measles, you really never want to see it again,” Jacob added. “They have high fevers, they’re often hospitalized, a horrible rash, they’re really sick. And I think I would never want it for my own kids. I certainly wouldn’t want it for the patients that I care for.”

Jacob said it’s not too late to get kids their shots before school starts.

The FDA approved an updated mRNA COVID-19 vaccine last week, designed to better target variants in circulation. While it doesn’t always prevent disease, the vaccine helps reduce the severity of illness and the risk of long-COVID and avoid hospitalization and death.

“I think, especially with kids and being in those school environments and classrooms and the risk of bringing it home and spreading it then to more vulnerable adults, it’s definitely worth getting the COVID booster,” Jacob said.

Further, the Biden administration is again offering households four free COVID tests, which will be available at the end of September.