All vaccine policy is local, and Massachusetts has fallen behind
That's where state and local officials can and must step in. The measles outbreak in Texas, which has claimed at least one child's life, is a perfect example of what can happen when
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But such outcomes could also happen in other communities, including those in Massachusetts, despite the Commonwealth's status as a national leader in medical research and innovation.
While the state Department of Public Health does respond to crises — including the COVID pandemic of 2020 and the Mpox outbreak of 2022 — by declaring public health emergencies and ramping up resources and information about vaccinations and treatment, there are still cracks in the Bay State's public health infrastructure. And those gaps are widening, fueled by a small but vocal anti-vaccination movement that has made it harder for the Legislature to pass even the most common-sense legislation to protect schoolchildren and their families.
'The anti-vax movement may be small in number, but they are very loud in volume,' state Senator Becca Rausch, a Democrat from Needham, told me.
Rausch was speaking of the public hearings held in recent years over legislation aimed at giving school, local, and state officials better tools for keeping communities safe from outbreaks like measles — the once-rare, highly contagious, and sometimes deadly illness that is making an unwanted comeback.
Those included measures like
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Rausch has refiled the bill and hopes that she and other lawmakers hear from a broader, more representative group of Bay Staters who want to keep schools, day-care centers, and communities safe.
Otherwise, 'a minority of voices within that anti-vax movement become the majority in those hearings,' Rausch said.
If you think that dips in vaccination rates can't happen in places like Massachusetts, think again. Though data collection is incomplete — due to a lack of mandatory reporting requirements in the state — the data that state officials have collected are alarming. For example, according to a
That is despite the fact that the measles vaccine is
The fault does not lie with individual schools or districts, particularly given the burdensome process of vetting vaccine exemption claims. It is with the state for its lack of immunization rules that results in the piecemeal process that overburdens educators, who should be focused on curricula.
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There is a tiny minority of Americans who have closely held religious beliefs or medical conditions that keep them from being vaccinated. But those are the people who need heard immunity the most and are put at greatest risk when their neighbors and families of classmates opt to skip out on recommended immunizations.
Federal officials are making it hard for the public to weigh in and demand that vaccines remain safe, available, and affordable. After citing the need for additional public comment, the CDC postponed the annual meeting to select next year's flu vaccine formula. But the website
Don't let state and local officials do the same. Let your Beacon Hill representative know the majority of Bay Staters want to keep their communities safe, and let your local health officials know that accurate and timely reporting of immunization rates is crucial.
Don't let to fringe speak for you. There is too much at stake.
Kimberly Atkins Stohr is a columnist for the Globe. She may be reached at
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