When talking about the vaccination rates in Dakota County, Interim Public Health Director Gina Pistulka starts with Germ Theory.
Pistulka spoke of Louis Pasteur, the inventor of pasteurization, and his work on vaccines and the hundreds of years of science behind the jab.
This amount of background, even when speaking before the Dakota County Community Services Committee was an effort to “ground people in the basis of science,” said Pistulka.
That sentiment is not isolated. In the years after the COVID-19 Pandemic, vaccine skepticism has grown, especially as conflicting advice comes from state and federal guidelines. The result has been falling vaccination rates across the country.
Dakota County has seen high water marks for cases of Varicella (Chicken Pox), Measles, and Whooping Cough in the past few years, in part due to those falling vaccination rates in the county and beyond.
More than half of Measles cases in Minnesota this year have come from Dakota County, 13 of 20 cases, “primarily in unvaccinated children,” said Pistulka. Last month, three new measles cases were identified in the county with a potential exposure at the Mall of America from a Dakota County resident in June.
Measles cases can come with a slew of complications including potential permanent hearing loss, encephalitis and pneumonia which can also put strain on local hospitals and clinics.
Last year, Minnesota experienced a spike in measles cases, with Dakota County experiencing its second Measles outbreak in the last 15 years, part of a nationwide surge that saw the number of cases rise 500%, according to Pistulka.
That rise follows falling vaccination rates within school aged children. The 2024-2025 school year saw MMR vaccination rates fall to 86.53% for Kindergarteners, the lowest in the last decade, down from 92.57% in the 2019-2020 school year.
These falling vaccine rates are now below rates for herd immunity, which varies between diseases, but is estimated to be around a 90-95% vaccination rate for measles.
MMR vaccines in young children are not the only vaccine that has seen falling rates. The trend is paralleled by declines in meningococcal (for different types of meningitis) and Tdap (for tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis) vaccines in older school-aged children.
Minnesota seventh graders for the 2024-25 school year have an 86.17% and 84.06% vaccination rate for Tdap and meningococcal respectively. While these numbers have recovered slightly from the lows after the pandemic in the 2020-21 school year, they are still below pre-pandemic rates.
These drops in vaccination rates not only can lead to increased deaths but will actually cost more in the long run. Pistulka estimated that nationwide, the Vaccines for Children program prevents 42,000 deaths annually, saving $10.50 for every $1 invested, resulting in $2.2 trillion in taxpayer savings.
Last year the county’s immunization clinics served nearly 1,200 clients administering 4,445 vaccines. This year the county is expected to hit similar numbers.
One survey that has been done in immunization clinics this year is asking participants if they would get their children vaccinated at another location if they hadn’t come to a Dakota County immunization clinic. More than half of respondents said they wouldn’t.
“It underscores the reason why public health provides this service,” said Pistulka.
Another disease on the rise is Varicella, or Chicken Pox. This year Dakota County has confirmed 42 cases, which is the most in the county in the past decade.
That number is almost certainly undercounting the true number of cases in the county, however, because it only represents cases confirmed by the county.
“It’s very likely there are more Chicken Pox cases than we have here,” said Dakota County Deputy Director of Public Health Erin Carder.
This year is the first year Dakota County has taken over contact tracing for Varicella. Dakota County does contact tracing for other diseases, but not for Varicella before 2025.
The process of contact tracing varies depending on the disease, but generally involves not just getting in contact with those who were exposed, but educating them on the disease.
“It’s a number of hours for each call,” said Carder.