Community Immunity Prevents the Spread of Disease

When the San Juan County Health Department received reports of two local cases of chickenpox, public health officials reached out to provide vaccines and information to schools and local health care providers.  As a result nearly all the unimmunized children that were exposed to the chickenpox cases have been successfully vaccinated, and received additional protection against the virus and a potential outbreak was stopped.

These vaccinations will protect children from the relatively rare pneumonia and brain infections that can occur as a complication of chickenpox infection. Widespread vaccinations also help protect those who cannot be immunized by producing “Community Immunity.”

“Community Immunity is achieved when enough people in a community are immunized to shield those who are not able to be vaccinated from exposure,” said  San Juan County Personal Health Services Manager, Ellen Wilcox. “We’re fortunate that the families who were exposed to the recent chickenpox cases understood the risks to their own children and chose to vaccinate their children. In doing so, they’re protecting people far beyond their own families.”

Wilcox pointed out that some members of the community are at high risk of infection and cannot be vaccinated. For chickenpox, pregnant women, some people with cancer or receiving cancer treatment, people with weakened immune systems and children too young to be vaccinated often cannot be immunized and risk severe illness if they are exposed to the virus. To reach Community Immunity 80-95% of individuals in the community need to be immunized  to minimize the chance than an unprotected (unimmunized) person will come into contact with a contagious individual.

For more information about chicken pox and other vaccinations, please contact your health care provider or San Juan County Health & Community Services at 370-4474, or visit https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/.