Let’s talk about vaccines. No, we won’t discuss the virus that shall not be named. Instead, let’s talk about vaccines that have been approved by the U.S. Federal Drug Administration for a long time.

These vaccines have been proven safe, adopted worldwide and helped eradicate such terrible diseases as smallpox and almost polio. These vaccines have become a routine part of early childhood care to such an extent we’ve greatly reduced such previous rites of passage as chicken pox. 

Despite the scientific gains, these vaccines have never been very popular in Colorado.

Colorado ranks near the bottom nationally in childhood vaccination rates. In 2017, 87.2 percent of Colorado children were vaccinated against measles, the third-lowest rate in the country.  This isn’t solely an access problem. Colorado children living in poverty actually had a higher rate of measles vaccination that year at 89 percent.

 I’ve heard physicians compare measles outbreaks to lighting a match in a forest full of dry tinder. Forget masks. The measles virus can linger in the air for two hours after a person has left the room. Fully 90 percent of unimmunized children who come into contact with the measles virus contract the disease.

According to the World Health Organization, there were more than 140,000 measles deaths globally in 2018, mostly among children under the age of 5. Unfortunately, outbreaks are on the rise. In 2019, the U.S. saw the most measles cases in more than 10 years. The trend is likely to continue unless we do something about it.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a delay in routine and preventive health care. That delay was felt most acutely with children as parents sought to protect their kids from the unknown. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates the total vaccines administered have decreased by as much as 22 million doses since March 2020 due to missed routine appointments that align with childhood vaccination schedules. States like Colorado with low vaccination rates to begin with are at the highest risk of outbreaks. Not only are outbreaks scary from a health standpoint, but they also cost us a whole lot of money. We have experienced this firsthand with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Monument Health is in the business of health care cost containment and championing preventive care on the Western Slope.  For very little cost, we have the opportunity to combat these diseases that could increase health care spending by billions of dollars. According to the Colorado Children’s Immunization Coalition, each birth cohort vaccinated in the U.S. per the CDC schedules saves 33,000 lives, prevents 14 million cases of disease and saves $9.9 billion in direct health care costs associated with vaccine-preventable diseases.  

The best part is vaccinations are free. With passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), vaccines are fully covered by health insurance and readily available for free. This includes the uninsured via the Vaccines for Children program. The associated well child visit to your primary care doctor is also free under the ACA.  

Don’t get distracted by the raging COVID-19 vaccine debate. Let’s get our kids back in to their pediatricians and hop back on the CDC recommended early childhood vaccine schedule. We have enough to worry about right now without adding measles outbreaks to the mix.