Fewer Oregon children are getting flu vaccines
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The rate of children getting flu vaccines in Oregon declined over the past year, but not nearly as much as in the rest of the country.
Why it matters: Flu shots can help prevent kids from getting sick, but they appear to be getting swept up in a broader wave of vaccine skepticism that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The CDC reported 200 pediatric flu-related deaths nationally in the 2023-24 season — a record high for a non-pandemic flu year.
Driving the news: Nationally, childhood flu vaccine coverage is down 7.1 percentage points as of Nov. 30 compared to the same time last year.
- 36.6% of kids aged six months to 17 years nationwide have their flu shots for the 2024-25 season so far, compared to 43.7% at this point last season.
- 53.8% of kids got their flu shot by the end of the 2023-24 season, the CDC says. That's down from 62.4% in 2019-20.
Zoom in: In Oregon this year, the rate as of Nov. 30 is 40.9 percent, a drop of 1.4 percentage points from last year.
- That's a much smaller decline than any of our neighbors — California dropped by 10.2, Washington by 15.9, and Idaho saw the biggest dropoff in the nation with a decline of 18.8 percentage points.
Between the lines: The share of young Oregonians who are exempt from vaccines is also up in Oregon.
- It's more than double that of the nationwide average and higher than it's been in more than a decade, per a report from the CDC.
- An outbreak of measles sickened 31 people in Oregon earlier this year, all of them unvaccinated, per the Oregon Health Authority.
What's next: Public health experts worry President-elect Trump's pick for health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., could further erode confidence in vaccines.