As Vaccine Rates Drop Nationally, They’re Rising In Connecticut

By Joe O’Leary

December 16 @ 10:15 am

Connecticut has seen vaccination rates climb even amid national turbulence related to vaccines and declining childhood immunization rates around the country, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In November, the Kaiser Family foundation found that vaccination rates were falling across the United States. The MMR vaccine, which provides protection against measles, mumps and rubella, has continued to see uptake decline. From 2019-2020 to 2023-2024, the number of states with more than 95% of students vaccinated fell from 20 to 11, while states with school vaccination rates under 90% rose from just three to 14.

On a state-by-state basis, data continued to show declines in childhood vaccinations with the DTaP, polio and varicella vaccines all falling from 95% to 93%. That’s below the commonly accepted threshold for those vaccines, where coverage of 95% helps prevent community transmission of diseases like measles, and represents more than 280,000 children nationwide who remain unprotected.

There’s a likely correlation between that decline in vaccination coverage and the CDC reporting that there had been 16 measles outbreaks, defined as three or more related cases, in the United States in 2024. Comparably, in 2023, there were just four outbreaks.

Complicating matters to improve vaccination rates is growing mistrust of the scientific breakthrough. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Trump administration’s current nominee to lead the federal Department of Health and Human Services, has publicly expressed hesitation about vaccines including the MMR vaccine.

Kennedy has been tied to a measles epidemic in American Samoa in 2019 where more than 80 children died from the disease; Kennedy visited American Samoa and discouraged childhood vaccination.

While vaccination rates are falling elsewhere, in Connecticut, they have risen. The Connecticut Department of Public Health recently published an update that found state kindergarteners’ uptake of the MMR vaccine was at 97.7%, a full four points ahead of the national average. It rose by 0.4% in the last year, and in the process, there was a 3% increase in individual schools with MMR vaccination rates at or above 95%.

This aligns with CDC data, which found Connecticut medical exemptions rose by 0.1% in 2024, while non-medical exemptions fell by 0.4%.

Why is Connecticut in such good standing compared to the rest of the country? It likely involves legislation put in place in 2021, spearheaded by Senate Democrats, to eliminate the nonmedical exemption to vaccinations, where the state was the sixth nationally to end such a policy, according to the Associated Press.

Children with existing nonmedical exemptions were allowed to preserve them, and medical exemptions to vaccinations are still allowed, but removing the exemption came after several years of declining vaccination rates combined with an increase in use of the nonmedical exemption.

A key aspect of the legislation came from the belief that parents opposed to vaccination would claim a nonmedical exemption on religious grounds, even if their religion did not oppose vaccination itself.

Before the ban, the nonmedical exemption’s use rose 25% in one year as overall coverage rates dropped, according to a Hartford Courant editorial published in 2019. Meanwhile, the American Bar Association said in 2022 that research found just the Dutch Reformed Church, Christian Scientists and four faith-healing organizations opposed vaccines theologically, and several of those religions allowed for vaccination on a case-by-case basis.

In 2021, State Sen. Saud Anwar, a South Windsor Democrat who now serves as Senate chair of the Public Health Committee, said that vaccines serve as an important safety net — both for the people who take them and for those who cannot receive them due to medical complications.

“We have seen in recent years, both statewide and nationally, the consequences of reduced vaccination rates; they lead to outbreaks of diseases we have previously controlled,” Anwar said.

The Connecticut Department of Health recommends families ensure their children receive protection against illnesses that can be prevented or protected against by vaccination. Vaccines are available at pharmacies and doctor’s offices statewide.

Biden Pardons Norwalk Resident Convicted of Nonviolent Drug Offense

By Hugh McQuaid

December 14 @ 5:00 am

A Norwalk resident was among 39 Americans to earn a pardon Thursday from President Joe Biden, who sought to provide clemency to people who had rehabilitated their lives following convictions for non-violent crimes including drug offenses.

Biden pardoned Sherranda Janell Harris, 43, of Norwalk as part of what the Associated Press described as the “largest single day-act of clemency in modern history.”

“America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances,” Biden said in a press release. “As President, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses.”

Harris was convicted of a non-violent drug offence when she was 24 years old, according to a statement from the White House. Since that conviction, she has maintained employment, has been an engaged parent, and has taken care of fellow church parishioners. The White House described Harris as “a role model for young women in her community.”

The president’s pardon of a Norwalk resident prompted a statement from Connecticut Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk. Duff said Biden’s actions reflected compassion and a commitment to justice.

“Too many Americans had their lives permanently disrupted by draconian drug policies in the 1990s and early 2000s,” Duff said. “These policies disproportionately affected communities of color, creating barriers to education, housing, and employment for generations. Although I do not personally know Ms. Harris, it’s heartening to see a fellow Norwalk resident receive an opportunity for a fresh start.”

In his statement, the president said that the 39 people he pardoned had shown commitment to making their communities stronger and safer. Meanwhile, Biden said he issued the 1,499 commutations to individuals who were serving long prison sentences, often for crimes that would receive more lenient punishments by today’s standards.

Biden said Americans could expect additional announcements before he left office early next month.

“I will take more steps in the weeks ahead,” the president said. “My Administration will continue reviewing clemency petitions to advance equal justice under the law, promote public safety, support rehabilitation and reentry, and provide meaningful second chances.”

State Officials Worry About Budgetary Impacts of Trump’s ‘Concepts of a Plan’

By Hugh McQuaid

December 13 @ 4:00 pm

State budget officials said Monday they were bracing for the possibility that Connecticut’s fiscal stability could be disrupted by reductions in federal health care funding from the incoming Trump administration.

During his first term in office, President-elect Donald Trump unsuccessfully sought to repeal the Affordable Care Act and has been vague about his health care policy intentions since last month’s election.

However, according to KFF, a nonprofit policy organization formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation, recent proposals from legislative Republicans and Project 2025 have included limitations on federal Medicaid spending and the elimination of expanded marketplace subsidies under the ACA.

The potential for a reduction in federal support was on the minds of state officials during a Monday hearing to review a new report on Connecticut’s finances. Sen. Saud Anwar, Senate chair of the legislature’s Public Health Committee, asked the governor’s budget chief if the administration had developed a contingency plan for Medicaid cuts under Trump.

“We’re going to assume that they will honor the current law,” Jeffrey Beckham, secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, answered. “If there are changes at the federal level in terms of what they’re prepared to reimburse us for, that’s obviously something we’ll all have to contend with. I’m not interested in getting less from them, but we’ll see what they say.”

Beckham said the Lamont administration was in the process of crafting a state budget proposal for the next two years and was monitoring the situation in Washington D.C. for indications that federal support may be reduced

“We have resources in Washington,” he told the joint hearing of the Appropriations and Finance Committees. “We have at least one operative and others that we work with. We’re actively trying to get that information. The governor’s made a request that we get as much intel as we can and early warning as we can as to what we might have to contend with.”

Anwar, a practicing medical doctor, stressed that Connecticut policymakers had a “social responsibility” to address community needs in addition to their fiscal responsibility to pass a state budget in the coming year.

As recently as this week, Trump has resisted media efforts to shed light on his health care plans. In a Sunday interview on “Meet the Press,” Trump told NBC’s Kristen Welker that he had “concepts of a plan” for health care.

“We have the biggest health care companies looking at it,” Trump told Welker. “We have doctors who are always looking. Because Obamacare stinks, it’s lousy.”

On Monday, Beckham told state legislators that he expected to have a better idea how the Trump administration’s plans may impact Connecticut’s budget in 2026.

“By the time we get to the ‘26 session, we may have to make — we may have to have some complicated conversations,” Beckham said.