As Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s Senate confirmation hearings begin, some local physicians worry the anti-vaccine activist may promote unfounded fears about vaccine safety. And the medical industry professionals warn eroding vaccination rates could fuel disease outbreaks.
Massachusetts has some of the highest childhood vaccination rates in the country, but across the state doctors and public health experts said they're concerned about growing vaccine skepticism and the potential for disease outbreaks.
The diseases of biggest concern, experts said, are measles, polio and pertussis, or whooping cough. The vast majority of Massachusetts children receive vaccinations to protect them from these illnesses, which can cause lifelong health problems— even death. The shots are required to attend school, although families can request exemptions on religious and other grounds.
A viral and sometimes deadly illness, measles has no known treatment. The virus spreads through the air when an infected personChristina Hermos, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Children's Medical Center at UMass Memorial Medical Center, said she hasn't seen any cases in the state this year, but a measles outbreak here would signal that vaccination rates are low enough for the disease to spread.
He also said counties with lower vaccination rates, especially in the western part of the state, and Cape Cod and the Islands, could weaken herd immunity. State officials are planning a vaccine education program this spring to try to prevent disease outbreaks. Doctors said health care workers should be educated about the symptoms of diseases like polio, which they may not recognize. And they said if vaccination rates drop, some adults may need boosters."A lot of people in the United States that are in their 40s to their 90s are not very well protected anymore against polio because they have not had a booster since they were a kid," said Dr. David Hamer, professor of global health and medicine at Boston University.
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