The U.S. is experiencing its largest measles outbreak in 25 years, with over 1,000 cases reported nationwide. Florida saw its first case two months ago.
However, the spread of the disease remains uncertain due to outdated information from the Florida Department of Health, which has not updated its vaccine-preventable disease website since March.
Stephen, a student at Aubrey Rogers High School, has a rare cancer and must visit the school clinic daily for his feeding bag due to his low immune system.
"Because I have a really low immune system, so any little bit of like a smaller flu or cold just harms me," he said.
His mother worries about sending him to school, especially since nearly 25 percent of children aged 4 to 18 in North Naples have a religious exemption for vaccines.
Collier County Public School spokesperson Chad Oliver noted that the percentage of parents opting for exemptions has increased from just under 3% five years ago to 5% post-COVID-19 pandemic.
"The school board lays out the policy so parents know their options, just fill out a form," Oliver said. "That is all you need to do, you don't need to prove anything."
Collier County has one of the lowest child vaccination rates in Florida, with only 88% of school-aged children vaccinated, well below the recommended 96% for community-wide immunity.
Infectious disease specialists like Dr. Marybeth Saunders with Lee Health fear a public health crisis is imminent.
"It's tragic when we developed this whole kind of vaccine hesitancy after COVID," Saunders said. "I think this is a huge setback for our children and the harm that can come to them."
Caitlin Hall, whose 7-year-old daughter has leukemia and cannot be vaccinated, relies on herd immunity to protect her child.
"Addison would get very, very sick if she got the measles, even without having chemo in her system," Hall said. "I don't want to gamble with my child's life."
However, Hall and her doctors cannot get an accurate account of her daughter's protection level due to outdated state data.
"At some point, we're going to be in crisis mode. There is going to be a disaster, and we are going to be backtracking," Saunders said.
Efforts to reach the Florida Department of Health in Collier County and the state department in Tallahassee for comments on vaccines were unsuccessful.
The bottom line is that fewer children are protected from disease in the community, and the state is not providing the information doctors need to track vaccine-preventable diseases.
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