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We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.<\/strong> <\/p>\nBack to Healio<\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\nKey takeaways:<\/h2>\n\nOnly 53.6% of children in central Ohio had received their first MMR vaccine on time.<\/li>\n This percentage did not increase after a measles outbreak occurred in the region.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nBOSTON \u2014 Measles vaccination coverage remained well below herd immunity rates nearly 2 years after a large measles outbreak in central Ohio, according to data presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cOutbreak response can contain transmission in the short term, but improving vaccination coverage often requires sustained long-term work,\u201d Rosemary A. Martoma, MD, MBChB, <\/b>a fellow in general academic pediatrics and the computational health informatics program at Boston Children\u2019s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, told Healio. \u201cReal-time surveillance, strong primary care follow-up, accessible vaccination services and continued community engagement are all important.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Image: Adobe Stock<\/i>.<\/i>
Martoma and colleagues analyzed local MMR vaccination coverage during a measles outbreak in central Ohio in 2022. The repeated cross-sectional surveillance study included 133,476 children who had a well-child visit at primary care clinics within the Nationwide Children\u2019s system. They identified how many children were vaccinated against measles at the beginning of the outbreak in October 2022 and followed up 12 and 20 months after the outbreak started to see if vaccination rates changed. They also looked vaccination data for a subgroup of children Somali descent, who made up 71.1% of the 90 total cases, according to previous research published by Martoma and colleagues.<\/p>\n
During the 2022-2023 school year, Ohio\u2019s statewide MMR vaccination rate was 89.3%, according to the CDC. However, Martoma and colleagues discovered that timely vaccination in central Ohio was much lower.<\/p>\n
In October 2022, only 53.6% of children had received their first MMR dose on time, and only 57.9% had received their second dose on time, according to the researchers. By age 7, 77.3% of children in the study had received at least one dose.<\/p>\n
After 20 months, Martoma and colleagues saw very little change in these percentages. Timely first dose coverage did not change at allimely second dose coverage increased to 60.2and any dose by age 7 years increased to 77.9%.<\/p>\n
Timely first dose coverage was even lower among children of Somali descent, and actually fell from 35.7% at outbreak onset to 33.5% after 20 months, data show.<\/p>\n
An MMR vaccination rate of 95% is widely considered necessary to prevent measles outbreaks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe broader lesson is that population averages can hide important differences across groups,\u201d Martoma said. \u201cThis body of work highlights that measles prevention is both a clinical and data challenge. Strong surveillance infrastructure can help detect immunity gaps earlier and support faster, more targeted responses before outbreaks grow.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more information:<\/h2>\n Rosemary A. Martoma, MD, MBChB, <\/b>can be reached at rosemary.martoma@childrens.harvard.edu. <\/p>\n\n
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Perspective<\/h2>\n Back to Top
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While measles outbreaks may lead to short-term increases in vaccination coverage, many of the underlying reasons for vaccine hesitancy remain in communities following an outbreak. Sustained multi-component efforts are needed to continue to build vaccine confidence within communities to prevent future outbreaks from occurring. Families and caregivers should talk to their child\u2019s primary care provider about any vaccine questions or concerns.<\/default:p><\/p>\n\n
Matthew Washam, MD, PhD<\/strong><\/p>\n\nDirector of Epidemiology<\/li>\n Nationwide Children\u2019s Hospital<\/li>\n Columbus, Ohio<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n
Disclosures: <\/strong> Washam reports no relevant financial disclosures.
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Sources\/Disclosures<\/h3>\n Source: <\/h2>\n Martoma RA. Surveillance of Measles Vaccination Coverage After a Postelimination Outbreak: A Repeated
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