Virginia health expert says student vaccine uptake needs improvement

ROANOKE, Va. – A troubling trend when it comes to back-to-school health, local experts said child vaccination rates are lower than what they should be in Virginia.

The most recent numbers show that 89% of kindergarteners were returning back to school with all of their immunizations, but health experts say that’s not enough.

“We are still trying to catch up from an estimated 10 million vaccine doses that were missed by teens during the first year of the pandemic,” Christie Wills Roanoke City and Alleghany Health Districts Communications Officer said.

Back to school is always a busy time for many, and there’s one thing you should be sure not to miss.

“Many routine vaccinations including Meningitis, HPV, Hepatitis A were all delayed because of missed annual doctors’ appointments during the pandemic,” Wills said. “This is a concern because missing vaccines could lead to an outbreak of dangerous illnesses in Virginia.”

Wills said that these shots help prevent our kids from getting over 16 deadly diseases.

“We are very concerned there have been outbreaks in recent years of diseases that we thought were largely left behind thanks to routine immunizations, so we want to make sure that we have those before they happen,” Wills said.

She said luckily, the overall outlook is good, they have seen uptake numbers starting to creep back up, and while they won’t have this year’s numbers until September, she’s hearing that more and more people are rolling up their sleeves.

The Department of Health plans to hold immunization clinics Friday, Saturday, and Monday. Saturday’s will be at William Fleming High. For more information on how to make an appointment, contact the health department.