ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥

Supervisors unanimously approved having the county health department develop a plan to deploy mobile vaccination units to county schools that have vaccination rates for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) below 95%, the accepted level for herd immunity.

“I have been a practicing hospital physician for nearly two decades. I have never seen or treated a case of measles, and that’s because of widespread, universal vaccination,� Supervisor Matt Heinz said as he urged colleagues on the board Tuesday to be more aggressive in vaccination efforts.

“We went through a pandemic with COVID ... I watched it kill dozens of people right in front of me and right in front of the nurses I worked with,� Heinz said. “COVID is laughable compared to measles. Measles is a terrifying, potential viral epidemic, and it is incredibly, incredibly contagious, far more contagious than COVID.�

Herd immunity is the “indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection, according to the World Health Organization. For example, WHO says, herd immunity against measles requires about 95% of a population to be vaccinated.

About 93% of kindergarteners enrolled in Pima County schools had both of their required measles vaccine doses entering the 2023-2024 school year, the most recent data available from the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Department of Health Services.

Pima’s neighboring counties Maricopa, Pinal and ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ had two-dose MMR vaccination rates under 90% for enrolled kindergartners. Graham County had an MMR vaccination rate of 91%. Both Santa Cruz and Yuma counties had rates above 95%, department data showed for the same period.

“The reason why that is so important is, for many children, kindergarten is the first time they are now living in a congregate setting, and so it’s important that immunization occur at that time,� Dr. Theresa Cullen, director of the Pima County Health Department, told the county board Tuesday.

“As we entered the (2023-2024) school year, and we know this is similar now, at that point 53% of the schools had 95% immunity,� she said.

The “vast majority� of county schools that don’t meet the 95% threshold “tend to be the smaller schools,� such as charter or private schools, Cullen said.

The percentage of vaccinated ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Unified School District students exceeds the 95% threshold, said Joseph Gaw, its head of health services.

The vaccination rate at Catalina Foothills Unified School District was recently calculated at 98.5%, while it was just under 95% at Vail Unified School District, officials said. Sahuarita Unified School District’s vaccination rate was 97%.

In Pima County, 98.2% of kindergarteners are vaccinated, and 96.7% of sixth graders are vaccinated, said Crystal Rambaud, immunization program manager for the county health department.

In general, vaccination rates have fallen since 2016, with a “precipitous� drop coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic, Heinz told supervisors last week.

As of March 20, a total of 378 confirmed measles cases were reported by 18 jurisdictions, including the neighboring state of New Mexico, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 42% of those cases involved people between the ages of 5 and 19 years old, the agency said.

As of Tuesday there were no reported cases of measles in Pima County, Cullen said. The last one reported here was in 2019 from an “unvaccinated returning international traveler,� she said.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ had five reported measles cases last year. There have been no reported measles cases in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ so far this year, Cullen said.

The MMR vaccine has been distributed since 1971. And while vaccines, like two doses of MMR, are required before a child enters kindergarten, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ allows for personal, medical and religious exemptions, which are not challenged, Cullen said.

Cullen explained that immunizations “are dependent upon the family, or the guardian to request that exemption ... it’s really up to the family to decide whether they are comfortable with vaccines or not,� she said. “And exemptions can be granted for all the vaccines that are required, or for a specific one if chosen.�

In Pima County, a little over 95% of public school students, about 93% of charter school students and roughly 90% of private school students are vaccinated, said Rambaud, the county’s immunization program manager.

The biggest barrier to getting more students vaccinated is education, said Gaw, of TUSD.

“There are children that are medically not able to get vaccinated, and there is a process in place for that,� Gaw said, adding: “If you’re basing decisions on poor information, you’re impacting other people with that poor information.�

Gaw advised families get information on vaccinations from health care professionals.

For now, there is no solid plan for what deploying Pima County Health’s resources to schools will look like. Supervisors are to revisit the issue and are expected to vote on a specific plan in about three months.

“Whatever they they plan to do with their mobile units and such, we’re definitely on board with,� Gaw said. “We want to make sure that those who want to be vaccinated, or need to be vaccinated, have that capability.�

Gaw and Rambaud each said protecting Pima County’s students means protecting the community.

“Public schools are probably one of the biggest, most close-knit communities that you’ll find,� Gaw said. “I think the biggest thing that people need to keep in mind is how my actions impact other people around me. I’m making a decision for my own child, but also impacting other people’s children.�