Rockland County targeting hesitant communities to get immunizations
POMONA, N.Y. -- August is National Immunization Awareness Month and Rockland County is trying to boost immunization rates in communities that are sometimes hesitant.
The county is flooding communities with pamphlets in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole and Yiddish, trying to send an important message about children getting their shots.
"Vaccines have been one of the greatest public health achievements, but they have been victims of their own success, and sometimes they're now taken for granted," said Dr. Chitra Punjabi of the Department of Health.
Punjabi says because measles and polio seem like threats from a bygone era, yet some don't see the need for immunizations. However, Rockland has seen cases of both diseases, including a full-blown measles outbreak in 2019 and in 2022 the first U.S. case of polio in a decade.
"We want our community members to make sure that they are fully immunized against diseases that can be prevented, and if they have doubts they should reach out to their trusted doctor to discuss this more," Punjabi said.
Rockland County says immunization rates are ticking up, but concerns remain. The percentage of Rockland children fully immunized against polio is about 60% versus a statewide average of 80%.
"I do believe strongly that all parents want their children, want what's best for them. I think there's a lot of noise surrounding what is actually best," said health educator Shoshona Bernstein.
Bernstein works in public affairs focused on health education in the Orthodox community. She says there and in the general population many factors are driving immunization hesitancy.
"Post-COVID, the scenario has only worsened in terms of mistrust of government entities. We always say that it's very easy to instill fear and very difficult to reverse that," Bernstein said.
The goal of National Immunization Awareness Month is to encourage facts over fear.