Austin is facing concerns over a measles outbreak in West Texas as vaccination rates for incoming kindergarteners at Austin ISD fall below pre-pandemic levels. Public health experts advocate for a 95% vaccination rate to ensure herd immunity. Currently, only 83.67% of kindergarteners are vaccinated, down from 96% in 2020. AISD's executive director mentioned Covid-19's disruption as a reason for the decline, although a slight recovery to about 88% has been noted this year. Vaccination is mandatory for students, with exemptions allowed for personal beliefs.
"Public health experts say around 95 percent of the population needs to be vaccinated against measles to ensure 'herd immunity' and prevent outbreaks of the highly contagious disease, which can lead to serious complications."
"There was a lot of upheaval, and I do believe that we've been on a kind of a catch-up program since then," Bejarano said, regarding the impact of Covid-19 on vaccination rates.
Collection
[
|
...
]