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School health coordinator warns of falling vaccination rates, meningitis uptick and staffing pressures
Summary
Gretchen Robinson, the district's school health coordinator, told the board that declining vaccination coverage, regional meningitis and measles cases and heavy nurse workloads are straining school health services; she asked the board to consider telehealth, emergency-medication policies and staffing support.
Gretchen Robinson, the Wick County school health coordinator, told the board on Feb. 12 that the district is seeing worrying declines in childhood vaccination coverage and a rise in communicable-disease cases that have increased demands on school nursing services.
Robinson said national MMR coverage among kindergartners has fallen to about 92.5 percent, below the 95 percent threshold for herd immunity, and that Virginia has reported more cases in 2026 than in all of 2025. ‘‘We've had regional meningitis outbreaks and increased measles and pneumonia cases,’' she said, adding that the Virginia Department of Health addressed an outbreak…
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