Lucas James relies on others to be vaccinated because, for now, he can\u2019t be.<\/p>\n
A leukemia patient and stem cell transplant recipient, Lucas, 16, of Hempfield receives intravenous antibody treatments to help him rebuild his immune system.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Doctors) said he may never be able to be vaccinated again if his body doesn\u2019t stop needing these transfusions,\u201d said his mother, Megan James.<\/p>\n
Lucas is among the growing number of school-age children who, for one reason or another, are not being vaccinated against preventable diseases. Some, like Lucas, may be unvaccinated for medical reasons. Others might be because of religious beliefs.<\/p>\n
The trend is causing concern among medical professionals \u2014 and affecting the population\u2019s herd immunity.<\/p>\n
In Pennsylvania, students in kindergarten are required to have four doses of the vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis; four doses of the polio vaccine; two doses of measles, mumps, rubella (MMR); three doses of hepatitis B; and two doses of the varicella (chickenpox) vaccine.<\/p>\n
Students also can provide evidence of immunity, such as proof they\u2019ve already had and recovered from a disease such as chickenpox.<\/p>\n
Without the vaccinations, students must apply for an exemption. Increasingly, more parents or guardians are doing just that. Students in Pennsylvania also can be declared exempt from vaccines for religious or philosophical reasons.<\/p>\n
Almost 1,800 students in Allegheny County submitted medical, religious or philosophical vaccination exemptions in 2024, compared with about 1,300 in 2020, a 38% increase, according to figures from the state health department.<\/p>\n
Westmoreland County saw an even bigger jump \u2014 about 130% \u2014 with 926 students filing for exemptions in 2024, compared with just under 400 in 2020.<\/p>\n
There are numerous reasons a child is unable to be vaccinated, including that they have weakened immune systems, are on chemotherapy or had an allergic reaction to a vaccine, said Dr. Joseph Aracri, system chair of pediatrics with Allegheny Health Network Pediatric Institute.<\/p>\n
Someone like Lucas relies on herd immunity to remain illness-free. Herd immunity is when a disease has little chance of spreading within a population because people are resistant to it, either from having the disease and recovering or, more commonly, because they have been vaccinated against it.<\/p>\n
Once a nonissue for many diseases, herd immunity is coming back into question for some diseases, according to the state Department of Health.<\/p>\n
Data shows school-age children in several Western Pennsylvania counties below herd immunity levels for some diseases, including measles, mumps and rubella. Allegheny, Westmoreland, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana and Beaver counties report vaccination rates for kindergarten-age children for the MMR vaccine are below the 95% threshold for herd immunity, according to 2024 data from the Pennsylvania Department of Health<\/a>.<\/p>\n That can be concerning for someone like Lucas.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019d be very vulnerable if he were exposed to someone with a virus,\u201d his mother said. \u201cIt would be very likely that he would catch something.<\/p>\n \u201cThings like the measles are really scary for us.\u201d<\/p>\n A sophomore at Hempfield Area Senior High School, Lucas was diagnosed with leukemia in January 2022. After two years of treatments, doctors thought the cancer had gone into remission, but it returned in January 2024, just days after he had finished a course of chemotherapy.<\/p>\n In June 2024, Lucas underwent a blood-making bone marrow stem cell transplant. The procedure left his immune system vulnerable.<\/p>\n While Lucas attends school in-person, he wears a mask to protect himself. Megan James said that if Hempfield\u2019s vaccination rates drop, Lucas would need to be pulled out of school again.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very frustrating,\u201d James said. \u201cHe\u2019s been through enough. We shouldn\u2019t have to isolate him because of misinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n Neither federal nor state health agencies track how many students are fully up to schedule for all vaccines; they instead track the student population by individual vaccines.<\/p>\n Lucas\u2019 doctors are keeping an eye on outbreaks and will notify her if it becomes dangerous, James said.<\/p>\n \u201cThings that most kids can fight off, his body wouldn\u2019t be able to fight back,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s scary times.\u201d<\/p>\n Growing hesitancy<\/p>\n Vaccine hesitancy has become a growing trend thanks, in part, to the covid-19 pandemic and skepticism surrounding the covid vaccine, Aracri said.<\/p>\n People can easily fall victim to misinformation about vaccines on social media, said Barbara Nightingale, deputy director for clinical services with the Allegheny County Health Department.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are not surprised by the decline (in vaccination rates), since vaccine hesitancy has been growing across the U.S. and globally for the past decade,\u201d Nightingale said. \u201cBecause vaccine misinformation feeds off fear, it can spread easily, particularly as more residents receive health information from social media.\u201d<\/p>\n She recommends residents speak with their health care provider if they have any concerns about the effects or safety of vaccinations.<\/p>\n Aracri said this is the second time in his career he has seen a trending decrease in vaccination rates. The first time was in the late 1990s when a paper by an English anti-vaccine activist and former surgeon falsely claimed a link between the MMR vaccine and bowel disease and autism, he said.<\/p>\n Now Aracri is seeing what he calls hesitancy from parents rather than resistance in regard to vaccinating their children.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that this time around what we\u2019re seeing is just more questions and more of an understanding,\u201d Aracri said.<\/p>\n The covid pandemic was a major culprit and particularly damaging from a vaccine acceptance standpoint, he said.<\/p>\n \u201c(People were) being forced to get a covid shot, and the covid shot was supposed to bring an end to the pandemic,\u201d Aracri said. \u201cAnd we found out that, while it really didn\u2019t \u2014 it protected those of our most vulnerable \u2014 but it didn\u2019t necessarily prevent the spread or end the covid pandemic anytime sooner. So whenever you give a child a shot and they still end up getting covid, that makes you doubt the other things.\u201d<\/p>\n This, combined with political unrest, has created uncertainty, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople have access to all kinds of unedited information that\u2019s out there,\u201d Aracri said. \u201cOur job is to be able to, first, be aware of all misinformation, disinformation or whatever you want to call it, and be able to have that conversation and discuss with the patient the benefits of being vaccinated as opposed to the risks.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of the problem: No vaccine is 100% effective for 100% of the population.<\/p>\n Different vaccines have different levels of effectiveness, Aracri said. The MMR vaccine is about 98% effective, he said, while other vaccines such as the flu shot \u2014 a seasonal vaccine \u2014 can be anywhere from 40% to 75% effective each year because the flu virus constantly mutates. He emphasized the importance for providers to counsel patients and parents when they have questions.<\/p>\n In-school concerns<\/p>\n Darcy Lutz has been a nurse at Shaler Area High School for the past six years. She said her job involves two main responsibilities regarding student vaccinations: making sure the school, parents and students are in compliance with Pennsylvania school health laws and providing accurate information about vaccines.<\/p>\n Lutz called the dropping vaccination rates concerning. Although, she said, the district\u2019s percentages haven\u2019t dropped from last school year, education about vaccines is more important than ever.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not here to fight with people about their strongly held beliefs,\u201d Lutz said. \u201cIf people have questions, we\u2019re always here to talk and educate.\u201d<\/p>\n Shaler Area has a 97% MMR vaccination rate, but because the disease is so contagious, an outbreak could occur if that were to fall as little as 2%, Lutz said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe most vulnerable populations really rely on herd immunity,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen we see those rates dip, it really is dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n In her nine years as a school nurse, Lutz said, she has encountered various reasons children go unvaccinated. The biggest factor is access to health care, she said. Some families have no insurance or don\u2019t have reliable transportation to get to a doctor. There\u2019s also a rising immigrant and refugee population in the district, and some of those families are still working to catch up with the required vaccine schedule, she said.<\/p>\n The district has brought Allegheny County\u2019s mobile health clinic to its schools to give families direct access to health care.<\/p>\n She also cited two other reasons for parents deciding not to vaccinate their children: misinformation and feeling as though their freedoms are being threatened when they\u2019re told it\u2019s required by law to get vaccinated.<\/p>\n Disease resurgence <\/p>\n Aracri pointed to a recent outbreak of the measles in Texas as an example of how a disease can reemerge.<\/p>\n He said a large population was unvaccinated, falling below herd immunity levels, and it caused an outbreak. It grew to be the largest measles outbreak in the U.S. in more than 30 years, with about 760 confirmed cases in Texas by August. The outbreak resulted in 99 hospitalizations and the deaths of two unvaccinated school-age children.<\/p>\n Nightingale said residents should know that many people are vaccinated against diseases that once were common and caused serious illness or death. For example, the polio vaccine, developed by Jonas Salk at the University of Pittsburgh and widely distributed during the 1950s, has brought down cases of polio worldwide by more than 99%, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cAll vaccines play an important role in saving lives, reducing disease and creating a healthy community,\u201d Nightingale said. \u201cThis role is increasingly important when school-age children are involved, as their immune system is not completely developed.\u201d<\/p>\n Nightingale said that if rates continue to drop, communities are at a higher risk of a resurgence of diseases.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is especially important for residents to remember that, like any medical intervention, vaccines carry some risks,\u201d she said, \u201cbut for most people the risk of the disease is far greater.\u201d<\/p>\n Haley Daugherty is a TribLive reporter covering local politics, feature stories and Allegheny County news. A native of Pittsburgh, she lived in Alabama for six years. She joined the Trib in 2022 after graduating from Chatham University. She can be reached at hdaugherty@triblive.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Categories:
\nHealth | Instagram | Local | Regional | Top Stories | Valley News Dispatch | Westmoreland<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lucas James relies on others to be vaccinated because, for now, he can\u2019t be. A leukemia patient and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160806,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-160805","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}