Latest news with #MaineCenterforDiseaseControlandPrevention
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Maine parents, health care workers again criticize bills to roll back vaccine requirements in schools
Apr. 7—AUGUSTA — In a Monday hearing on two bills to roll back school vaccine requirements in Maine, public health officials and medical professionals urged lawmakers to keep the state's vaccination laws, while parents who have chosen not to vaccinate their children argued the requirements prevent their families from accessing education. The first bill, LD 174, is sponsored by Rep. Gary Drinkwater, R-Milford, and would restore religious vaccine exemptions. The second, LD 727, is sponsored by Rep. Tracy Quint, R-Hodgdon, and would repeal vaccine requirements for a child to attend school in Maine. The Education and Cultural Affairs Committee combined the bills into a single hearing Monday, drawing a smaller crowd than similar bills in years past. Maine eliminated philosophical and religious exemptions for school vaccinations in 2021 following a voter referendum on the law that received 73% support. That change shifted Maine from the state with one of the lowest childhood vaccination rates to one of the highest in just two years. In 2024, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the state had reached "herd immunity," meaning at least 95% of the population had been immunized. Before those exemptions were banned, Maine had one of the highest kindergarten vaccine opt-out rates in the country. During the 2017-18 school year, 5% of Maine kindergarteners did not have childhood vaccines for religious reasons, compared to a 1.8% national average. But the sponsors of the two bills heard Monday argued that Maine's rapidly improved vaccination rate is misleading because the law change prompted many families to opt out of traditional school and children began being homeschooled instead of getting immunized. And, they said, barring religious exemptions infringes on religious freedom and prevents certain students from receiving a public education. During the hearing, public health experts and many parents defended the state's vaccination progress and pointed to growing concerns about outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases elsewhere in the country. But many parents argued that a ban on religious exemptions has unfairly kept their children out of school and extracurricular activities like sports. Ana Frazier of Solon said she homeschools her son because he is not vaccinated and argued that, as a taxpayer, she should still be able to send her child to public school. "It feels like coercion, and it's heartbreaking to see my child and many others face this segregation and isolation from their peers. Every child deserves the right to participate in school activities regardless of their vaccination status," she said. Dawn Murray, a parent of five daughters, said her decision not to vaccinate her children has kept them from public education, sports, music and field trips. "We live in a society that demands that we accept beliefs and practices that we do not share," Murray testified. "Yet what we are experiencing now with the current vaccination law is not true freedom nor universal acceptance." Dr. Puthiery Va, the director of the Maine CDC, said the bills would threaten the health of students and put Maine at risk of an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease. Va pointed to Texas, where a second child recently died from measles, and which she said has one of the most lenient school immunization policies. Other medical professionals, like pediatrician Dr. Joe Anderson from the Maine chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said the Texas outbreak should be a warning to Maine. "We don't have to imagine what happens when these protections are weakened. We're seeing it happen in real time. Texas is currently battling a massive measles outbreak with nearly 500 reported cases," Anderson said, adding that Maine is one of only four states that has increased its measles vaccination rate since the pandemic, which he said can make a big difference if the highly contagious disease reaches the state. The committee also heard from long-time school nurses like Rebecca Bell, from Casco Bay High School in Portland. "Removing vaccine requirements is dangerous to children, educators, health care workers and families of those unvaccinated, especially the elderly and those who are immunocompromised," Bell testified. In their questions to speakers, some lawmakers implied that immigrants and refugees in Maine are not being held to the same vaccination standards, and also suggested that border crossings in Texas are responsible for the measles outbreak, something that public health officials there have said there is no evidence for. Doctors and school nurses who testified pushed back on that position, saying immigrants and refugees are bound by the same vaccine requirements as all Mainers; anybody newly enrolling in a Maine school who doesn't have the required vaccines, including both immigrants and students who move from a different state, has a 90-day grace period to get up-to-date on immunizations. Copy the Story Link We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others. We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion. You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs. Show less
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Maine parents, health care workers again dispute bills to roll back vaccine requirements in schools
Apr. 7—AUGUSTA — In a Monday hearing on two bills to roll back school vaccine requirements in Maine, public health officials and medical professionals urged lawmakers to keep the state's vaccination laws, while parents who have chosen not to vaccinate their children argued the requirements prevent their families from accessing education. The first bill, LD 174, is sponsored by Rep. Gary Drinkwater, R-Milford, and would restore religious vaccine exemptions. The second, LD 727, is sponsored by Rep. Tracy Quint, R-Hodgdon, and would repeal vaccine requirements for a child to attend school in Maine. The Education and Cultural Affairs Committee combined the bills into a single hearing Monday, drawing a smaller crowd than similar bills in years past. Maine eliminated philosophical and religious exemptions for school vaccinations in 2021 following a voter referendum on the law that received 73% support. That change shifted Maine from the state with one of the lowest childhood vaccination rates to one of the highest in just two years. In 2024, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the state had reached "herd immunity," meaning at least 95% of the population had been immunized. Before those exemptions were banned, Maine had one of the highest kindergarten vaccine opt-out rates in the country. During the 2017-18 school year, 5% of Maine kindergarteners did not have childhood vaccines for religious reasons, compared to a 1.8% national average. But the sponsors of the two bills heard Monday argued that Maine's rapidly improved vaccination rate is misleading because the law change prompted many families to opt out of traditional school and children began being homeschooled instead of getting immunized. And, they said, barring religious exemptions infringes on religious freedom and prevents certain students from receiving a public education. During the hearing, public health experts and many parents defended the state's vaccination progress and pointed to growing concerns about outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases elsewhere in the country. But many parents argued that a ban on religious exemptions has unfairly kept their children out of school and extracurricular activities like sports. Ana Frazier of Solon said she homeschools her son because he is not vaccinated and argued that, as a taxpayer, she should still be able to send her child to public school. "It feels like coercion, and it's heartbreaking to see my child and many others face this segregation and isolation from their peers. Every child deserves the right to participate in school activities regardless of their vaccination status," she said. Dawn Murray, a parent of five daughters, said her decision not to vaccinate her children has kept them from public education, sports, music and field trips. "We live in a society that demands that we accept beliefs and practices that we do not share," Murray testified. "Yet what we are experiencing now with the current vaccination law is not true freedom nor universal acceptance." Dr. Puthiery Va, the director of the Maine CDC, said the bills would threaten the health of students and put Maine at risk of an outbreak of a vaccine-preventable disease. Va pointed to Texas, where a second child recently died from measles, and which she said has one of the most lenient school immunization policies. Other medical professionals, like pediatrician Dr. Joe Anderson from the Maine chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said the Texas outbreak should be a warning to Maine. "We don't have to imagine what happens when these protections are weakened. We're seeing it happen in real time. Texas is currently battling a massive measles outbreak with nearly 500 reported cases," Anderson said, adding that Maine is one of only four states that has increased its measles vaccination rate since the pandemic, which he said can make a big difference if the highly contagious disease reaches the state. The committee also heard from long-time school nurses like Rebecca Bell, from Casco Bay High School in Portland. "Removing vaccine requirements is dangerous to children, educators, health care workers and families of those unvaccinated, especially the elderly and those who are immunocompromised," Bell testified. In their questions to speakers, some lawmakers implied that immigrants and refugees in Maine are not being held to the same vaccination standards, and also suggested that border crossings in Texas are responsible for the measles outbreak, something that public health officials there have said there is no evidence for. Doctors and school nurses who testified pushed back on that position, saying immigrants and refugees are bound by the same vaccine requirements as all Mainers; anybody newly enrolling in a Maine school who doesn't have the required vaccines, including both immigrants and students who move from a different state, has a 90-day grace period to get up-to-date on immunizations. Copy the Story Link We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others. We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion. You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs. Show less
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Health experts urge caution as Maine lawmakers revisit vaccine exemptions
Dr. Puthiery Va, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, cited the ongoing measles outbreak in Texas — now affecting 22 states — as a clear warning against rolling back the state's vaccine requirements. (Photo: Eesha Pendharkar/ Maine Morning Star) Amid a growing measles outbreak in other parts of the country, Maine legislators heard testimony on Monday from parents, educators, and medical professionals on a proposal to repeal the state's vaccine requirements. The hearing reflected a sharp divide: some Republican lawmakers and parents called for reinstating religious exemptions, while health care professionals urged the state to maintain strict immunization rules to protect public health, especially in light of the anti-vaccine rhetoric of the federal government. 'It's frightening to see that the purveyors of these falsehoods are now in positions of authority in Washington,' said Dr. Sydney Sewall, a longtime pediatrician in Hallowell, said in an apparent reference to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 'Their misleading statements, which generally amplify the risks of vaccines and downplay the dangers of these diseases, have given strength to the anti-vaccine movement.' Two bills — LD 727 by Rep. Tracy Quint (R-Hodgdon) and LD 174 by Rep. Gary Drinkwater (R-Milford) — would reinstate nonmedical exemptions for school-required vaccines, six years after that provision was repealed. Supporters of the legislation raised concerns about vaccine ingredients and enforcement, particularly regarding immigrant students. Opponents, including doctors, school nurses, and public health officials, pushed back with scientific evidence and public health data showing that Maine's stricter vaccine policy has worked. Since the 2019 law ending religious and philosophical exemptions, the state's vaccination rate has risen from about 94 to 97%—enough to surpass the 95% herd immunity threshold. Public health advocates also pointed to Mainers' support for the law in a 2021 referendum, when voters rejected an attempt to reinstate nonmedical exemptions. Dr. Puthiery Va, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, cited the ongoing measles outbreak in Texas — now affecting 22 states — as a clear warning. 'The elimination of these requirements not only threatens the health of students, but also increases the likelihood of school and community outbreaks, disrupting education, creating an unnecessary burden on our health care system and financial burden,' Va said. Experts also cited the measles outbreak, which has resulted in two deaths, as an urgent reason to double down on vaccination requirements. 'While the science supporting vaccines hasn't changed — we still consider them to be safe and effective — the danger facing unprotected children seems to have escalated,' Sewall said. Drinkwater argued that Maine's law is 'not neutral,' and that religious exemptions to vaccines were protected by federal civil rights. A handful of parents and students who chose to leave public schools because of the vaccine requirements supported both bills, citing the sacrifice that unvaccinated children had to make to miss out on school and learning, as well as isolation from their peers due to being unable to participate in school sports and other activities. 'When they passed the law and I no longer had teachers around to help me, it became a struggle with my math skills,' said 14-year-old Caliope Murray-Trefts, who had to leave school when the vaccine requirements took effect. 'When I think about school now, I think how unfair it is … that I can't do any of that.' Some lawmakers and speakers, including Rep. Barbara Bagshaw (R-Windham), a member of the Education Committee, claimed there is a double standard for immigrant students. 'If our children have to be vaccinated, there's not the same standard for people coming from other countries that don't have the same requirements,' Bagshaw said. 'We're not enforcing that they take the same vaccinations.' But school nurses working in diverse districts — including Portland and South Portland — disputed those claims in public testimony and interviews with the Maine Morning Star. They explained that schools follow the same immunization process for all students, regardless of immigration status or where they moved from: schools review vaccination records and work with local public health networks to get students up to date, following Maine's 90-day compliance window. 'There is absolutely no difference' between immunization requirements for immigrant students and students who move from other U.S. states, said Becky Bell, a registered nurse with Portland Public Schools. Immigration status, she told the committee, 'has no bearing on whether they get immunized.' In fact, most immigrant students who move to Maine are already fully vaccinated, according to South Portland school nurse Mary Robbins and guidance clerk Natalie Dunn, who monitor immunization records in the district. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Tick activity surges in Maine with arrival of warmer weather
Mar. 22—Deer tick activity surged this week as warmer weather stirred the Lyme-disease carrying arachnids out of their dormant winter state to begin searching for hosts. Griffin Dill, integrated pest management specialist for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension's tick lab, said submissions of ticks to the lab went from a trickle over the winter to a dozen or more each day this week. "The season is here," Dill said. "In the last couple years this is what we've been seeing, that in mid- to late-March we start to see that increase in activity and sample submissions." The tick lab accepts submissions of ticks to test to see what types of ticks are being found, and also for research purposes. Dill said most likely the ticks that are active currently are deer ticks, the ticks that transmit Lyme disease, anaplasmosis and babesiosis. "What we are seeing right now are adult deer ticks that overwintered and didn't find a host in the fall," Dill said. "Dog ticks won't really start being active for another month and a half." As the deer tick broadens its range — likely in response to climate change — Lyme disease has become more prevalent, with Maine experiencing a record high of 3,218 cases in 2024, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. So far in 2025, Maine has logged 291 cases of Lyme, but the bulk of Lyme cases occur later in the spring, and then throughout the summer and fall. Lyme disease symptoms include a characteristic bulls-eye rash (although some people who contract Lyme do not get the rash), fever, headache, fatigue, joint pain, muscle aches and swollen lymph nodes. If caught early, Lyme disease, a bacterial infection, can be treated with a course of antibiotics. Dill said the 2024-25 winter likely did not knock tick populations back. Snow acts as an insulator to help keep the ticks alive. "We certainly had some stretches of cold weather, in the single digits and teens, but we had that snow cover along with the cold temperatures," Dill said. "You need sustained periods of time with very cold temperatures with little or no snow cover, and we just didn't see that. We are not anticipating this winter had any negative impact on tick populations." Shorter winters are also helping to boost tick populations, Dill said. Lindsay Hammes, spokesperson for the Maine CDC, said in a written statement that "seeing increased tick activity at this time of year isn't much of a surprise." "Ticks can be active any time the temperatures are above freezing, and so with this warmer, wetter weather, ticks are likely out and they're hungry," Hammes said. "If you are out gardening, cleaning up the yard, walking the dog or going on a hike, remember to take precautions against tick bites." Precautions include using EPA-approved tick repellent, wearing light-colored long sleeves and pants when in tick habitat, and tucking your pants into your socks. Tick habitat includes not just wooded areas, but ticks also can be in your yard, such as in firewood and under leaves. If you are in a high tick area, when you arrive home, check for ticks on your body and clothes, check pets, shower and put clothes in the drier on high heat for at least 15 minutes. Copy the Story Link
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Weekly influenza cases nearly double in Maine over last 3 weeks
Feb. 19—Influenza continues to spread rapidly in Maine, with more than 2,000 confirmed cases last week, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said. Maine recorded 2,028 cases of influenza for the week ending Feb. 15, the highest so far in the 2024-25 flu season, and about double the number of weekly cases Maine reported three weeks earlier. Flu season runs from October to May, and while the peak of the season can vary, February is often a month when Maine will experience the most new infections. For the previous week, ending Feb. 8, the Maine CDC reported 1,916 cases. Hospitalizations for influenza have also climbed, with 145 last week, and 711 total hospitalizations for the season. Most of the state is considered to be in the "moderate" to "high" category for influenza cases, with Piscataquis and Washington counties in the "very high" category. About 90% of influenza activity is the influenza A strain, and the remaining 10% is influenza B. There have not been any recorded human cases of bird flu in Maine and no reported domesticated animal cases in 2025. However, Maine has had some cases of bird flu reported in wild animals, and state officials have warned people with chickens, ducks or other domesticated birds to take precautions. Federal data lags state data by one week, but according to the most recent U.S. CDC data, Maine and much of the nation is considered to have "very high" levels of flu, with the only exceptions being some states in the Midwest and West, including Utah, Nevada and Arizona. The flu is circulating at the same time as other respiratory illnesses. Maine is reporting "high" levels of COVID-19 in wastewater, down from "very high" in late January. RSV and norovirus were also reportedly circulating at high levels in Maine this winter, although there is not a robust data tracking of those viruses. The best way to prevent influenza is to get a flu shot, and it is not too late to get vaccinated. Many places offer flu shots, including primary care offices, pharmacies and other health care settings. Public health experts say to take other measures to prevent illness and the spread of flu, such as frequent hand washing, staying home when sick and avoiding crowded, indoor gatherings. Influenza symptoms include fever and chills, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, headache, fatigue and a runny nose. Copy the Story Link
