Alaska state law requires children to get vaccinated against multiple serious diseases to attend school, but it’s about more than keeping students and their classmates healthy, said the chief medical officer for SEARHC.
“You’re protecting your community,” said Juneau-based Dr. Cate Buley, a family medicine practitioner with 21 years of experience at SEARHC.
Vaccinations are an effective tool to prevent disease throughout the community, she said. “What we really worry about is our babies and our elders.”
With the start of the school year just a week away, students are coming into the Wrangell Medical Center for checkups and vaccinations, and sports physicals too, which are required by the Wrangell School District for middle and high schoolers who play sports.
Immunizations are especially important as kids return to the classroom and spend more time indoors, Buley said.
Of particular worry to SEARHC, and state Department of Health officials, is a significant spike in whooping cough across Alaska. As of July, more cases of the bacterial infection have been reported to the state this year than in the previous five years combined.
State officials said 131 cases of the highly contagious respiratory disease have been reported so far this year, while only 26 were reported during all of 2023. There were more than 70 cases in July alone.
Symptoms are often similar to a cold but can worsen to severe coughing spells. Whooping cough, also called pertussis, can cause uncontrollable coughing, making it hard to breathe. It’s most dangerous for babies and the elderly, Buley said.
The disease runs in cycles, with the last spike similar to this year’s numbers in 2016.
The count of whooping cough cases nationwide dropped significantly during and following the pandemic, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the case count is spiking this year, back to pre-pandemic levels, the CDC said.
The best way to prevent whooping cough is through vaccination, the state health department said. It’s among the diseases on the state’s list of immunizations required for attendance at a public school, along with measles, mumps, diphtheria, tetanus and others.
“It’s one of the best preventative health tools,” Buley said.
After sliding back during the pandemic, the overall vaccination rate for the common series of childhood immunizations is trending back up, according to state Department of Health sStatistics. Alaska, however, ranks near the bottom in immunization rates nationwide.
State law allows vaccination exemptions for students if a licensed medical profession certifies that the immunizations “would be injurious to the health” of the child.
Vaccination against COVID is not on the state’s required list.
Anyone wanting more information or an appointment can call the Wrangell Medical Center at 907-874-7000. SEARHC operates the center, along with health care services in 18 other Southeast Alaska communities.
Buley said SEARHC will hold flu and COVID vaccinations clinics this fall, offering protection from the latest variants of the diseases.
For parents who want to track their children’s immunization records, or their own records, the state now offers a personal app. It’s called Docket, and it works on a computer or smartphone. It’s a nationwide health platform now in use in seven states.
Every health care provider in Alaska should be entering immunization records into the app, Buley said, so that people can easily verify whether they are up to date and what they may need to get current.
The app can be downloaded for free at https://docket.care.
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