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DENVER – Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed a decree on Thursday to increase state immunization rates, which are
among the worst
in the country for children.
Polis unveiled the decree at the Children's Hospital of Colorado alongside hospital and immunization advocates and representative Kyle Mullica, D-Northglenn, and Senator Kevin Priola, R-Henderson, who were two of the key sponsors of
HB19-1312
, a bill to improve vaccination rates in Colorado that was not passed by the Senate before the end of the legislative session.
The decree aims to give Coloradans a "third way", as Polis said at a press conference announcing the order, to increase vaccination rates aside from the fact that the government force people to get vaccinated or just let the rates go down.
During the last school year, the MMR coverage rate in kindergarten was 87.4%, which is below the community's immunity threshold of 92-94% to protect against measles. The coverage rate also decreased by 1.3% compared to the previous school year. Of the 12.6% of kindergarten children not vaccinated with the MMR vaccine, only 4.5% requested an exemption.
And
a report
published in February by the Children's Hospital of Colorado, revealed that 9,424 children aged 0 to 19 years were hospitalized or admitted to the Colorado Emergency Department in 2017 for the treatment of vaccine-preventable diseases, for total cost of $ 55.5 million.
However, all but 278 of these visits were for influenza and influenza accounted for $ 42.7 million of the total cost that year.
But Polis pointed out that immunization rates have decreased in kindergarten children for all diseases for which most are vaccinated, with the exception of the DTaP vaccine. And a nationwide measles outbreak continues to develop after it was thought that the disease would have been eradicated in the early 2000s.
The order directs the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment to take immediate action on a wide range of awareness and vaccination related measures.
It instructs the CDPHE to study the root causes of low vaccination rates in various parts of the state, to find new strategies to improve rates and to educate people about vaccines. It also aims to streamline the form process to make it easier for parents and to better educate parents who are reluctant to vaccinate their children.
Polis and other supporters have explained that part of this will explain why parents are reluctant to vaccinate their children and develop specific plans for specific areas of the state because there are different barriers to vaccination for people from different regions. from Colorado, they said.
They will also study the impact of local vaccination campaigns, school clinics and mobile services on local vaccination rates and raise awareness about annual rates and options for emancipated adolescents over 15 years of age.
The CDPHE will also be responsible for developing and implementing a public health education program to help clinics increase their immunization efforts through "the use of proven, well-established and effective strategies".
The order also calls on the Colorado Department of Health and Health Policy to develop a policy that encourages Medicaid primary care providers to increase access to vaccines in under-served areas through the program. Vaccines for Children and Study, with CDPHE, two-generation approach for vaccination of people using Medicaid.
The department will submit progress reports to the governor from June 18, 2020 and every six months thereafter, in accordance with the ordinance.
Polis and other supporters said that increasing the state's vaccination rate would also go hand in hand with his administration's goal of saving money for health care, for which he created an office .
"Let's be clear: vaccines are one of the most important advances in public health," said Polis, telling the story of a former congressman who, he says, will be one of the latest polio patients.
Mullica and Priola, who saw their almost final bill, but failed to do so at the end of this year's session, praised the decree but made it a first step in the process. Both said they would continue to work on a legislative solution next year.
Priola said that he considered the order as "a chapter in the history of public health protection", but admitted that it was "not" the last chapter, but a commitment to continue to educate and streamline processes. "
Mullica, a nurse in the emergency room, said the drop in vaccination rates called a "puddle of gasoline waiting for a match".
"It's a step in the right direction," he said about the order. "It's a step in the direction we want to continue to build a safe community."
During the session, Polis had some objections to Bill 1312 during the session, pushing the requirement to file waiver forms in person.
And while saying that he was immunizing his children, he acknowledged that some groups, such as Christian scientists, opposed general medical science.
"No one should be forced to do anything with his body," he said. "I am pro-choice."
He added that he also valued the freedom of religion enjoyed by Americans, while encouraging him to appeal to science to get the best information possible, which is something that Tony Cappello, Ph.D. D., Director of the Division of Disease Control and Environmental Epidemiology of the CDPHE. echoes.
"We also know that one of the obstacles we see is misinformation. It's not just a problem in Colorado, but in all of the United States. We need to provide parents with factual information so that they can make informed and informed decisions, "said Cappello. "It means eliminating erroneous information about vaccinations and having correct information available to parents so that they can get them easily when they need them and immediately so that they can make those decisions. informed. This executive order attacks such obstacles. "
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