Again, shortly.
Recording in progress.
Well, good afternoon and thank you for joining us. You should have received our news release DHS releases 2025 statewide vaccination rate data and childhood rates continue to decline. There's also a link to the release in the chat and it is available on the DHS website.
Joining us today to answer your questions is Dr Stephanie show are the Wisconsin immunization program manager. And before we take your questions a reminder to stay on mute until your call on will take questions to start and if there's time will come back around for additional questions.
And our first question today belongs to help her when from Wisconsin public radio.
Thank you. I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about why we see some vaccines have higher coverage rates than others when we look at the childhood vaccine data.
I'm seeing you know shots like happy and polio there in the 80% whereas you know others are not as high and so is it as it when the shot is coming in the series is it.
You know that the particular disease like do we have an understanding of why some rates are higher than others.
Yeah, so what we are measuring and this is an annual assessment of vaccines that are received by 24 months of age.
We noted each vaccine has a set number of doses that are recommended in a particular cadence and we measure that. And so some of the vaccines were only measuring one dose or within that period.
And others it may be a series and it certainly takes more time and effort to get a higher number of doses and so you that may be accounting for some of the variants in terms of rates between the different antigens.
There certainly may be some other factors that that focus in on that in particular the hepatitis A given its series and what it's given if children get off schedule, even just a bit.
It is a little difficult to actually get the two doses that are recommended by that 24 month of age. And so that one why that one in particular is a little bit lower and we continue to look at that.
We do look at, you know, these antigens and vaccines separately as well as part of the series. What we know is when we put all of these series together and we measure them from one year to the next we have that comparison.
And for this year, you know, while nearly seven out of every 10 children had the recommended vaccines in this series by 24 months of age, we know that three out of kids did not.
And that's been a decline of almost 2% compared to the previous year.
Another question help.
I mean, 2% points seems, you know, it seems rather small right and so I wonder if you want to kind of put in context why that is alarming.
Yeah, to put it in your right and when we talk about percentages it's hard to wrap your head around what that actually means when we look at this particular cohort so this is just the group of kids that are turning 24 months of age.
So it means about 1200 children are receiving these recommended vaccines by this age point compared to last year.
That means we've got fewer kids protected. We've got, you know, larger gaps in our community immunity.
And so, you know, behind these number we're talking about numbers today but behind these numbers are really it's children, it's families, it's our community.
This is a good opportunity to really take the temperature and see how are we doing as a state and within smaller communities.
How are the protection bearing out and raising alarms or raising concerns when those aren't going in the right direction.
Thank you, Hope. Now to Alex Mo from West business.com Alex.
Thank you for taking my question here.
So in these latest figures the rate for the MMR vaccine among these two year olds was 79.8%.
So the share of these kids getting protected from the measles is now below 80% for the first time.
And at least a dozen years based on the DHS webpage that goes back to 2013 I believe.
Can you tell me the last time this rate has been below 80% looking back further and if there's any particular significance to.
Dropping below 80% for the first time in years or maybe even decades.
Yeah, and I don't have the exact number sort of further back for that we certainly can get it for you but you know measles is a very infectious disease and really requires a very high level of immunity in a community such that it won't spread.
It's a port of 95% 80% is a pretty low bar and it still is not quite where we need to be.
And so it is something that we are concerned with as we continue to see that drop.
You know the measles decrease was about a 1.6% decrease compared to the previous year.
That's headed in the wrong direction we need more children protected, not fewer and as I said that we really need to be closer up around 95% of a community protected so that we don't have an outbreak if measles is introduced into a community.
And another one.
Yeah, thank you. You know looking at the overall decline this is the largest one we've seen in the overall recommended vaccination rate for children adolescents in about five years it looks like you know 2021 to 2024 was.
Holy relatively steady a very small decrease relative to just the most recent one from the prior year. Can you, you know, talk about any factors might be driving this larger dip.
And I think the changes are due to a number of different factors.
You know it may be accessibility to vaccines we know that getting kids in to the doctors on time it can be hard with busy schedules and trying to rally kids and getting them from school into places or childcare.
We understand that there's a lot of misinformation and disinformation out there that maybe people are questioning vaccines and or they may be delaying or spreading vaccines out.
A whole host of reasons why we make that may contribute to why we are seeing lower rates.
So that's really an important point to note. One of the programs that we have it's the vaccines for children program really helps to try and address some of these concerns.
So this is an entitlement program whereby children who are uninsured or underinsured or on Medicaid or Alaska Native American Indian can access vaccines without charge.
The cost of the vaccine and the administration cost can be waived or is is zero.
And this is a program that's been in existence for 30 plus years and a way to really ensure that no child should go without vaccines due to cost and insurance all covers vaccine.
So this really helps ensure that we've got coverage across all parts of our community.
That network can be found on our website. If you go to the website you can find where there are VFC providers near you. Many of them include local and tribal health departments as well as private healthcare providers are all part of this network.
So that's one thing that we're trying to do to get the information out about this particular program because we know one of the big concerns these days is cost. And this is a program whereby parents don't have to worry about cost to keep their children protected.
Thank you. Our next questions belong to Eric Gunn from Wisconsin Examiner. Eric.
Thank you very much for conducting this discussion over the years as I've talked to people in public health I get to basic different groups of people who don't get vaccinated. One is, and you've kind of alluded to both of those one is active.
Physician misinformation disinformation all the way to maybe hesitancy kind of all part of that. The other is access and awareness just even knowing that this is a thing.
People who live in impoverished communities, people who may be, you know, working three part time jobs and just beside themselves. So it's really kind of an access issue.
I hear any sense of, of how much of this gap is because of the access issue and how much of it is because of the hesitancy to hostility issue.
Yeah, you know, I don't have that data, certainly for Wisconsin to sort of break it down and I think you're right. It's sort of both of those pieces.
We continue to work on that access piece. We are looking to enroll more pharmacies into the VFC program. We have a few and we're continuing to work because they often can provide perhaps a more accessible way of getting vaccinated.
They may have different hours or maybe in, you know, parts of community where we don't have other vaccines for children and providers. So we are continuing to work to help increase the access, increase awareness around this particular program.
So, you know, talking about it today with you all and hoping that you'll be able to direct people if they have questions about how to access vaccines for their children. We don't want any children to go without vaccines because they didn't, they weren't aware of this program.
Although many providers, as I said, we've got over 720 providers are part of this network.
And hopefully the provider that they're already seeing is part of this and they're able to access vaccines.
So it's a really good question. We do know that if you sort of look at where is the trust. So going towards that hesitancy piece that there was a recent study coming out from, I think, the Annenberg school that showed about 86% of individuals had a fair degree of confidence
in their primary health care providers to provide them information on public health matters, including, and that would include vaccines. And so we continue to, you know, recognize that parents have questions.
And that's appropriate and okay, but we want to make sure that they're getting those questions answered and by going to their primary health care provider, someone that they trust with their child's health with these questions so that they can feel reassured
that providing vaccines is really the most safe and effective way of preventing some of these really nasty diseases. So working to really ensure that the information that they receive is evidence based.
It's coming from someone they trust, and they're doing their part to make sure that their child and their community is healthy.
Another question, Eric.
In addition to bringing more attention to the vaccine for all, or the vaccine for children program the vaccine that you've been talking about.
Are there other specific plans or initiatives that DHS is either considering or are beginning to undertake to try to reverse this trend.
Yeah, you know, we know we can't do it alone. We have what is called the rice program or routine immunizations through the community engagement.
And these are small grants that we give out to community based organizations and local tribal health departments who apply.
And these are really geared towards being the trusted messenger and talking about vaccines and vaccine safety, and why they are important in their communities so it's individuals within a community talking to their community.
So really supporting that local voice of trusted messengers so that's one thing if you look on our website.
For the rice providers, you can see that we've got, I think, 25 in this current year we've been funding community organizations in this way for a couple of years and really find that they have a good reach and a good way of connecting with people.
So that's one way that we do it.
And I mentioned we do work with local and tribal health departments. They are also community partners who are known within their communities. So really making that messaging be more local is such a key part of that.
And then I think, you know, just working with other partners in many different spaces and providing routine messaging out to local health.
Health care providers about the latest information about recommendations so that they have what they need to really talk with patients and parents about the common questions that they may be getting.
Thank you. Now to Lucas Kim from WKW TV in Madison Lucas.
Hey, just one question for me, you know, you've had a decrease in vaccination rates. Is there any hope in the future that these rates end up going back up.
And I will say, you know, it wasn't all negative. We did see in adolescence, we saw some increases in meningococcal vaccine coverage, both completion for 17 and 18 year olds, and for one dose of meningococcal be also increased.
So we are seeing some increases, you know, at least in the adolescent age group and adults, they remain steady or slightly increased.
And so we are seeing some increases in certain areas. I am hopeful that we will continue to see as many partners are working that we will see a change.
And I think, unfortunately, some of the news that we are hearing these days about measles outbreak, it's given people a better picture of what these diseases actually can do.
We've gone for so long without really hearing about measles because it was well controlled. We had high vaccination rates, and it wasn't getting into pockets of community that were so under vaccinated.
And so we've changed in the last couple of years. And I think people perhaps will have a new appreciation as we look at the national statistics. I think we're up to 1200 cases nationally in 2026.
And, you know, we're just at the beginning of March. This is starting to have some real impacts on communities as we watch places like South Carolina and see that they're having many exposures and individuals are being hospitalized.
And recently it's putting more of a face and how, how terrible these diseases are and the risks that they bring with, and recognizing that we wanted to protect our children against these.
Thank you. Now to Maddie Heim from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Maddie.
Hi, thank you. Most of mine have gotten answered. So I just wanted to clarify earlier to Hope's question about what that 2% means.
Just clarifying. Did you say it's about 1200 fewer children this year who have received their in 2025 who received their recommended vaccines by 24 months compared to 2024. Correct.
Thank you. Thank you. That's it for me.
Thank you, Maddie. Now to Sean Kirkby from Wisconsin health news Sean.
Once again, Sean Kirkby from Wisconsin health news.
Okay, moving on to Tegan King from the Wisconsin State Journal Tegan.
Again, Tegan King from the Wisconsin State Journal.
Well, we have a little bit of time left to go back around for additional questions. We'll begin at the top with Hope Kerwin hope another question.
All right, I am all set. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Alex Mo with business calm Alex.
None more for me either. Thank you.
Eric Gunn Wisconsin examiner.
You're mentioning of the improvement in the meningitis vaccine and adolescents.
To what extent do you associate that with the fact that the DHS was able to finally bring a rule into into into being into action regarding the meningitis vaccine, which I believe was about a little less than two years ago now.
Yeah, you're right. I mean, at the last two years, we have seen an increase in meningococcal rates rise in that adolescent group. And we do attribute that at least in large part to that change in school law. So it had been fairly steady up until then.
We are seeing, you know, increases that typically with with vaccination rates, you know, they go up very incrementally and we've seen some a little bit larger jumps and really do attribute that to increased awareness about the meningitis vaccines.
And that there's more families, you know, asking about them more doctors talking with families and to ensure that kids are protected and getting those. So I think that is indeed shows that school immunization requirements can and do help ensure that, you know, our kids are protected.
One thing I Jennifer, one thing I do want to just highlight is that we are coming up to spring break and just a reminder to families that it's so important to make sure that you're up to date, particularly for MMR.
If you are traveling, the majority of measles cases that are outbreaks that are starting are due to individuals who have been traveling where measles is occurring and then bringing them back into the state and finding that there's and that's nationwide.
We're trying to make sure that as people start preparing to travel that they take a minute, go to the Wisconsin immunization registry or the electronic medical record through their health care provider and check and make sure that everybody is covered with the measles
or rubella, there are some instances where some children less than one year of age if they're traveling internationally to where measles is circulating that they may receive a dose early on.
It's just for like nine to 12 months of age, I believe.
But it is important to connect with your provider and make sure that you are up to date before traveling because we want everyone to have a good time, but not bring anything back like measles to Wisconsin.
Thank you for that. And I know Lucas and Maddie said they didn't have additional questions, but I want to give you another chance in case something occurred to you Lucas.
I'm all set. Thank you.
Yeah, I did have one more come up actually. And this is a little bit related to what Eric was asking, but I'm curious with those rice grants over the years that they've been administered.
Have you, has the adjust seen anything really innovative out of those that, you know, could be a new way to help encourage more folks to get vaccinated.
Yeah, I think, you know, they're all doing such different work and the look, there is a little description on the website of what they're doing.
I think they are being very innovative in where they are going and showing up for their communities and every community looks different and maybe has events or locations that are particular and helpful.
They are showing up where people are. I think that's one of the common themes, but those look so different across the state and we're always impressed at where they end up providing information and having conversations.
There by no means static and they are moving around and getting into whether it's festivals and fairs.
They're meeting people where they're at. So that's one of the commonalities and there's probably just too many to name, but I would encourage you to look at our website and see those what all the work that they've been doing.
They tend to cover. They may be located in one county, but they may have a footprint that several counties, you know, around them.
And so they're, they're fairly active in doing that, but the key piece is really that one to one connection and effort.
Thank you. Last call for Sean Kirkby from Wisconsin health news Sean.
Finally, Tegan King from the Wisconsin State Journal Tegan.
Hearing none, we will conclude today's media availability are thanks to Dr shower and all of you for participating.
Additional questions can be sent to DHS media and you can find more information as well on our website. Thank you and have a great afternoon.
Thank you.