More Arizona parents are opting their kids out of vaccines, public health officials say
PHOENIX - Some Arizona kids are already back in school, while others are a few weeks away from the first day. At the same time, public health officials are sounding the alarm about the number of parents choosing to skip vaccines.
According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), thousands of Arizona parents are opting out.
"Arizona has the third-highest number of exemptions from the school vaccine requirements in the entire country," said Arizona Public Health Association Executive Director Will Humble.
At more than 7% for the 2022 - 2023 school year, only Idaho and Oregon are beating Arizona. The Arizona Public Health Association is blaming three factors: vaccine hesitancy, anti-vaxxers, and lack of access, especially in Yavapai and Mohave Counties, where rates are the lowest in the state.
"There are very real, tangible risks -- not just for measles, which is a potentially lethal disease, but there’s also a very big risk that if it's in your classroom," said Humble. "Your kid is going to be home for a month."
Dr. Bradley Golner of Phoenix Pediatrics knows those risks so well: he won’t even see children without their vaccines.
"So, when I have a child who has survived their heart transplant but got exposed by a kid who came in here with chicken pox, measles or whopping cough and they died from that, not on my watch," said Dr. Golner.
Data shows that post-pandemic, vaccine hesitancy among parents ticked up. While Arizona public schools tend to have higher vaccination rates, it’s the private, home and charter schools where parents are opting to keep their kids exempt from the shot schedule.
Side effects from vaccines are considered extremely rare, but doctors understand how those ideas can scare parents. Their recommendations for parents is to talk to their pedatrician about spreading out the shot schedule, especially at the 15 month mark.
Immunization resources from Maricopa County