San Antonio is on the verge of falling below the favorable vaccine rate for measles prevention. In order for communities to accurately prevent the spread of measles, at least 90 percent or higher of the population must be immunized against the disease.
Anna Dragsbaek is president of The Immunization Partnership, a Texas-based group, and said according to the CDC, Bexar County is right at the threshold.
“Bexar County is right at 90 percent," Dragsbaek said. "Now that should protect the people in Bexar County but the problem comes when you get pockets of communities that are not immunized.”
That pockets of un-immunized areas concept is what has caused the recent measles outbreak in Fort Worth.
“They had a reasonable good immunization rate over all, but they had a pocket of this faith based community that had a much lower immunization rate and that could lead to outbreaks like the one we saw in Tarrant County," Dragsbaek said.
San Antonio has high rate of pertussis, or whooping cough, Dragsvaek that can be traced back to low immunization.
“San Antonio has about 77 percent of its population adequately immunized about pertussis, but to protect the community as a whole you need rates between 92 and 94 percent.”
The CDC recommends that pregnant moms receive a new vaccination with each pregnancy in the 3rd trimester for the developing fetus.
