With vaccine skepticism at a high, public trust in health care instructions is also hit in turn. However, many in the health care community want concerned families to slow down and consider the local connection to the practice.
Registered nurse Jody Spangenberg works with the state Department of Health. She says she’s excited to give vaccines to families, but she understands that some parents may have pause. Specifically, the MMR shot as South Dakota begins to tangle with a new outbreak of measles.
Ultimately, she said the medical community must connect with their clients in a meaningful way.
“It’s okay, we love that you ask questions," Spangenberg said. "We know you truly want what’s best for your family, we welcome that. Your doctors and nurses that are giving these vaccines – you see them at Walmart, you see them at the baseball game - building that rapport the more you go in. I think it’s getting to know your providers. That is one of the benefits that we have in most of our South Dakota communities.”
A question Spangenberg encourages skeptical families to ask is “does your children have that vaccine?” In the case of the MMR shot for measles, she says she is happy to have given her kids the shot and would do it again.
It’s a sentiment echoed by Monument Health pediatrician Paula Marsland, who said potentially deadly measles cases break her heart when vaccines are widely accepted as trustworthy.
“In countries where there are low vaccination rates we see these cases, we see those kids who get very sick," Marsland said. "Measles is miserable. Then we have the long-term effects, and I would never want any family to experience that if I could do something to prevent it. The top things (families) cite is that the vaccine has changed, which it hasn’t. We’re using that same vaccine we’ve used for 50 years. There are some variations, you may have heard of an MMR-V, or an individual measles vaccine.”
Vaccine clinics are scheduled for across the state. Information on those clinics can be found here.