California State Epidemiologist Dr. Erica Pan on back-to-school vaccinations and monkeypox emergency declaration
Dr. Erica Pan, California’s state epidemiologist, spoke with KCRA 3’s Maricela De La Cruz on Wednesday about what parents should know about COVID-19 precautions ahead of the new school year and why the state has declared a state of emergency over rising monkeypox cases.
Pan said it’s important for children to stay up to date on vaccinations, not just for COVID-19.
“We've seen a lot of kids get behind on their other vaccines or routine vaccinations,” she said. “So we really want to make sure kids get back up to date on those. There’s a lot more circulating vaccine-preventable diseases around the world now, and we really want to protect our kids and our families and communities.
She cited a case of polio in New York City and measles outbreaks around the world as examples of why it is important to be current on vaccinations. In California, a measles outbreak in 2015 was largely driven by people who did not get vaccinated, she said.
Asked about advice for parents, Pan noted that there are still high levels of COVID-19 transmission in California and that vaccines are safe and effective.
People should also be using well-fitted masks indoors and get tested and stay home if they have symptoms.
Indoor air quality is also important and people should pay attention to what their school is doing about ventilation, she said.
“All of these things are going to help with not only COVID-19, other respiratory diseases, but also air quality in general,” Pan said. “If we do see any poor air quality this fall from wildfires or other things, all of those elements are really important at the school level, too.”
Pan also talked about the state’s recent state of emergency declaration in response to the monkeypox outbreak.
| VIDEO BELOW | Dr. Erica Pan explains what monkeypox state of emergency declaration means in California
That action will “make it easier to administer vaccines in the communities that are hardest hit,” she said.
“We in the Department of Public Health actually activated our public health coordination response in our emergency response in late May, as we first started seeing cases,” she said. “So a lot of the state of emergency is allowing for certain EMTs and paramedics to be able to administer vaccines.”
But she said there is not enough vaccine that is available and explained why California can’t just buy its own.
“Right now, the vaccine has really only been available through what we call the Strategic National Stockpile,” she said. “So the federal government, it's not like a widely available vaccine. It’s allocated from the federal government. They have a formula that they use and they send that to the state. And then we, in turn, allocate that to areas where we are seeing the most cases and our highest risk populations.”
California’s monkeypox dashboard maintained by the state shows that white people have made up 48.3% of cases so far, followed by Hispanics and Latinos at 38.7%.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hispanic and Latinos led the case counts and deaths across the nation.
Asked what the state was doing for outreach to Hispanics and Latinos, Pan said that the state was “working very closely with local health departments, trusted messengers and community-based organizations that work with individuals that are at highest risk.”
She said that health officials “do need to make sure we prioritize communities of color and those that really have the most difficulties with access.”