‘Could have prevented that illness;’ Health leaders urging parents to get kids vaccinated

With back-to-school season coming up, state health leaders are urging parents to get their kids vaccinated.

As reported on News Center 7 at 5:00 p.m., preventable viruses like measles and whooping cough have been on the rise in Ohio.

“We continue to see tragic cases of so many of these vaccine-preventable illnesses popping up right here in Ohio,” Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, the Director of the Ohio Department of Health, said.

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State health leaders are concerned about kids getting sick this school year with potentially deadly diseases.

“The reality is that that means that a child is going to become very ill, a child is going to suffer, a child is going to end up with a lifetime disability, or, sadly, in some instances, a child is going to die. And we could have prevented that illness,” Dr. Vanderhoff said.

Dr. Vanderhoff says that preventing kids from getting sick is what drives their plea to parents to get their kids vaccinated. But health leaders know vaccine skepticism has grown over the years.

“Well, the pandemic clearly played a big role,” Dr. Paul Offit, a nationally recognized Immunologist and Vaccine expert said.

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Ohio saw a clear drop in the Kindergarten Vaccination rate before and after COVID-19.

During the 2019 -2020 school year the vaccination rate was nearly 90% but last school year it was down to just over 86%.

Dr. Offit says he believes that is partly due to Covid-19 vaccine mandates.

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“I think people saw that as the government being too heavy-handed, and they really pushed back,” Dr. Offit said.

As someone who sees how devastating these preventable diseases can be, Offit tries to tell vaccine-hesitant parents first-hand stories.

“I just feel so sad that they now are putting their child at unnecessary risk. It’s just really hard, because you see them when you work in a hospital, you see what that risk looks like,” Dr. Offit said.

The goal of the State Health Department is to make sure kids stay out of the hospital and in the classroom this school year.