Doctors sound alarm over declining vaccination rates for children before back-to-school

The debate over back to school vaccinations

As children get ready for back to school, medical professionals don?t want social media to influence your decision to vaccinate your child.

(FOX 2) - In this TikTok era, many don’t just use social media to learn about trending topics but also for guidance on pertinent topics like healthcare issues.

But doctors say when it comes to information about immunizations, TikTok is just chatter, not science.

Big picture view:

As children get ready for back to school, medical professionals don’t want social media to influence your decision to vaccinate your child.

"There’s been a lot of chatter and noise on social media, if you will, about vaccines," said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian. "You may think there’s something different that there's new evidence about vaccines that shows harm or cause for concern. The truth is there isn’t."

What they're saying:

However, healthcare officials continue to get push back. While one mom tells FOX 2 she will not get her child vaccinated, stating a poor personal experience in her past.  

Medical professionals say a decline in vaccination rates started during the pandemic.

"What we saw a decline in vaccinations in little kids. So, 19–35 months. We saw those numbers going from 75% to 70%, and for kindergartners, we saw the numbers go from 95% to 90% across the state," said one expert.

But as many students get ready for back to school, medical professionals aren’t just ringing a bell—they’re sounding an alarm.

Dig deeper:

Doctors make it clear that when more people get vaccinated, it helps create herd immunity, which makes it difficult for diseases to spread. So as you make that back-to-school list, medical professionals and many parents say make sure getting immunized is part of your to-do list.