School -based health centers could be essential to increase vaccination rates for children who do not have access, say experts

Vaccination rates for children have fallen below critical disease prevention thresholds in more than 8,000 schools in the United States, and vaccination hesitation is not the only reason, according to a Texas A&M University School of Public Health health policy.

Simon Haeder, Ph.D., and other researchers note that a lack of access to health servicesIncluding vaccines, is also the source of this trend.

“Epidemics of measles and other preventable diseases that we see today are partly the result of a drop in vaccination rates in children,” said Haeder. “Too often, the problem is the lack of access to health care in general, especially for racial and ethnic minorities, low -income families And people living in rural areas. “”

An example is a national Study from 2022 This revealed that Hispanic and black children had considerably lower rates of preventive care visits to non -Hispanic white children, Haeder said. Similar differences have also been found on the basis of socioeconomic status.

Now in the First assessment of this typeHaeder analyzed public opinion About an infantile vaccination option already used: the 2,500 health centers in schools which serve more than 6.3 million K-12 students across the country. The study is published in the journal Global medical and health policy.

Most of these centers provide nursing care in advanced practice, doctors or assistants of approved behavioral health providers, as well as mental and reproductive health care experts. Some also offer dental and visual care.

“School centers are very effective in Increase in vaccination ratesBut so far, we did not know what the public thought of this service or if wider concerns about vaccinations in general have assigned public support to this service, “said Haeder.” With this information, we could explore this option as a way to reduce obstacles to children to health care. “”

For the study, Haeder asked a representative sample at the national level of 4,196 people through the United States for their opinions on each of the seven vaccines commonly offered in health centers in schools: diphtheria, tetanus and whooping (DTAP); polio; varicella; measles, mumps and rubella (MMR); hepatitis; Human papillomavirus (HPV); and COVID-19.

Respondents were questioned about their political ideologyTrust school directors, attitudes towards vaccines and if they thought that vaccines can cause autism. In addition, they specified whether they lived in an urban, suburban or rural area and provided information on their levels of education.

“The study found substantial support for the supply of seven vaccines in school-based health centers, ranging from a minimum of 73.6% for COVID-19 to a maximum of 84.2% for MMR-a point which is worth highlighted given the levels of disagreement on health problems in the United States,” said Haeder.

Several factors have systematically influenced the support of all vaccines, including political ideology, partisanry, confidence in directors, various current measures of hesitation in vaccination and if a person lives in a rural area. Cumulatively, common vaccination measures have had substantial effects on public attitudes towards immunization.

Haeder said that research on how decisions are taken regarding the vaccination services for health centers at school or not would be useful for the development of policies.

“In the meantime, however, it seems that vaccination services in schools health centers are largely popular and can be particularly important to increase vaccination rate Among the poorly served populations, “he said.