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Local physician urges higher vaccination rates, warns of risks to immunocompromised students
Summary
A physician and parent told the board that Ashland’s vaccination rates are low relative to neighboring districts and urged families to follow immunization guidance to protect immunocompromised children.
During public comment at the June 12 meeting, Dr. Rebecca Dyson, a physician and parent, urged the community to increase vaccination rates after telling the board the district’s immunization coverage is lower than neighboring districts.
Dyson said the district’s vaccination rate is about 80% at the high school and “significantly lower” at the choice schools, compared with higher rates in nearby districts such as Medford. She stressed that individuals who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons — citing her own child, who recently underwent a bone marrow transplant and remains immunocompromised — are vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles. “In order to have meaningful immunity, we need to be near a 95 percent immunization rate,” she said.
Dyson urged families not to treat vaccination as a political decision and to consult evidence on vaccine safety and disease risk. The board did not take action on vaccinations at the meeting; Dyson’s remarks were recorded as public comment and added to the meeting record.
Why it matters: Lower immunization rates increase the risk of outbreaks of measles and other communicable diseases and can present life-threatening risks to people who cannot be vaccinated.
Next steps: The board did not propose an immediate policy response at the meeting; the comment was entered into the public record for board and staff consideration.
