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Board backs county effort to expand measles vaccination tracking and outreach amid national outbreak
Summary
Supervisors approved a motion directing the public health and health services agencies to boost measles vaccination tracking, coordinate with schools and community health workers, and serve as a referral site for post‑exposure treatment as cases rise nationally.
Los Angeles County supervisors on Tuesday approved a motion directing the Department of Public Health and County health services to strengthen measles vaccination tracking, outreach to schools and day cares, and community education amid a national resurgence.
Supervisor Hilda Solis introduced the motion, telling the board that the United States was experiencing one of its largest measles outbreaks in recent years and urging county action to increase vaccine uptake and improve record keeping.
"Measles is one of the most highly infectious diseases that we have," Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, told the board during a briefing. Dr. Ferrer described the logistics of managing a single confirmed case — identifying and locating contacts, verifying vaccination status, and offering prophylaxis or quarantine where indicated — and said the county had identified nearly 700 people to contact in a recent case response. She added that this year the county had recorded four confirmed cases and that contact tracing for each case can involve hundreds of potential exposures.
The board’s motion directs the Department of Health Services, in coordination with Public Health, to improve vaccination record reporting to the California Immunization Registry, develop system‑level reports of adult measles vaccination status, and serve as a referral site for administering post‑exposure treatment. The motion also asks Public Health, LA County Office of Education, DHS and the Department of Mental Health to engage day care centers and schools on back‑to‑school vaccination efforts, work with community health workers and trusted messengers to counter misinformation, and provide multilingual social media materials to partners.
Supervisor Solis and speakers at the meeting cited concerns about growing vaccine misinformation and recent federal actions that the board said threatened public confidence in vaccinations. The motion passed by unanimous roll call vote. No immediate new county funding for the programs was specified; departments were asked to coordinate and report on how to implement the recommended activities.
