Immunization rates drop dangerously as parents avoid well-child checkups

As parents around the country cancel well-child checkups to avoid coronavirus exposure, public health experts fear they are inadvertently sowing the seeds of another health crisis. Immunizations are dropping at a dangerous rate, putting millions of children at risk for measles, whooping cough and other life-threatening illnesses.

“The last thing we want as the collateral damage of COVID-19 are outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, which we will almost certainly see if there continues to be a drop in vaccine uptake,” said Dr. Sean T. O’Leary, a member of the American Academy of Pedicines atrics’ committee on infectious diseases.

In the past few years, early childhood immunization rates have been slipping in some hot spots around the country. While current nationwide vaccine figures are not available, anecdotal evidence and subsets of data are alarming.

PCC, a pediatric electronic health records company, gathered vaccine information from 1,000 independent pediatricians nationwide. Using the week of Feb. 16 as a pre-coronavirus baseline, PCC found that during the week of April 5, the administration of measles, mumps and rubella shots dropped by 50 percent; diphtheria and whooping cough shots by 42 percent; and HPV vac

by 73 percent.

The Massachusetts health department said its doses were down 68 percent in the first two weeks of April, compared with the previous year. Minnesota reported that its doses of measles, mumps and rubella vaccine dropped by 71 percent toward the end of March.

In Washington state, dozens of practices and clinics have had to reduce hours or even temporarily close. The state already had its biggest measles outbreak in nearly 30 years last year.

“We know our vaccine rates were already tenuous, so any additional hit to that is a great worry,” said Dr. Elizabeth Meade, president of the state’s chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The problem is global. National immunization programs in more than two dozen countries have been suspended, which could also leave more than 100 million children vulnerable, a consortium of international organizations, including UNICEF and the World Health Organization, recently reported.

Although many doctors note that vaccine-preventable diseases can be more deadly to children than COVID-19 seems to be, parents are understandably focused on the threat at hand. Over the past six weeks, the loud, consistent public message has been to keep children at home and to take them to the doctor only if necessary.