Arizona’s falling vaccination rates could lead to serious health issues in the future
A health care worker prepares a vial of COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site in New York City last summer. Arizona’s vaccination rates, which have been declining for years, dropped sharply during the pandemic and haven’t rebounded since. Photo by Chine Nouvelle / SIPA / Shutterstock
Cronkite News
Vaccination rates among schoolchildren in Arizona have steadily declined since 2012, but the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the drop across the state.
The trend is unlikely to reverse any time soon, which could result in serious health consequences for Arizonans in the future, experts fear.
Since 2020, routine preventative health care visits and vaccinations for kids have fallen 30% to 50% in Arizona, said Dr. Sean Elliott, who specializes in pediatric infectious diseases and is an emeritus professor of pediatrics at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. The drop occurred because doctor’s offices were shut down by pandemic precautions.
“There were no in-person health visits,” Elliott said. “Children were not coming to the pediatricians office for their routine care and vaccinations.”
But even as pandemic restrictions have been lifted, he said, parents still aren’t bringing their children to the doctor.
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