Fewer and fewer children statewide are being immunized against preventable diseases, such as polio or measles, according to the Ohio Department of Health.
Between the 2023-2024 academic year and the 2024-2025 one, department of health data shows vaccination rates again slid among Ohio kindergarteners. The percentage of students entering school with all their recommended shots fell from 86.2% to 85.4%. Just prior to the pandemic, that figure hovered at nearly 90%.
Rates vary slightly by vaccine, according to the data. The diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP) shot fell half a percentage point from last year to now, while polio as well as measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) shots each fell a percentage point.
That data came just after the country recorded two measles deaths already this year, the first in a decade. Three outbreaks, including those in Texas and New Mexico, account for the vast majority of current measles cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Although the Buckeye state hasn’t yet had any cases this year, central Ohio recorded about 80 cases during an outbreak in 2022.
“Measles virus not only is very contagious, the most contagious respiratory virus, but in young children it can cause complications really of every organ system,” Nationwide Children’s Dr. Matthew Rasham said. “I saw children hospitalized due to measles virus with severe pneumonia, with severe complications requiring hospitalization for IV fluids.”
Ohio Department of Health Director Bruce Vanderhoff said Tuesday the data paints an “alarming” picture.
Vanderhoff blamed some of it on vaccine skepticism, including what he called “spurious” claims linking the MMR jab to autism.
“Those claims have been debunked and there is no evidence of the connection,” Vanderhoff said.
Major vaccine benefits, Vanderhoff said, outweigh minor risks. And although Vitamin A assists in treating serious measles cases, something Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is pointing to publicly, Vanderhoff cautioned parents against considering it preventative.
“Nothing else is going to provide us with near the profound levels of protection that vaccines can provide,” he said.
The CDC recommends children get two doses of the MMR vaccine, at 12-15 months and 4-6 years.
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