Columbus Public Health commissioner monitors vaccine trends

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — As Columbus Public Health (CPH) works to get students the vaccines they need to be in school, its commissioner also has her eye on vaccines at the national level.

CPH's immunization clinic is usually busy around this time of year as families get their kids the vaccines they're required to have to be in school.

“Usually, this time of year it’s exploding with parents and kids who are trying to get vaccinated," said Dr. Mysheika Roberts, Health Commissioner of CPH.

This is the week Columbus City Schools will let families know if children won't be allowed at school because they were not up to date on vaccines, according to Roberts.

“I think this exclusion week we’ve seen less people coming in the building, but I really think that is due to the efforts we made back in August to get those families vaccinated early, get those kids vaccinated early so they were never excluded from school in the first place," Roberts said.

This year, CPH had events on two Saturdays in August where almost 400 kids were vaccinated. CPH also shared the number of vaccines given through their immunization clinic over the entirety of recent years. They administered 19,439 in 2022, not including COVID-19 vaccines, 25,654 in 2023, and 32,355 in 2024.

“The individuals who come into our clinic to get vaccinated, I would say yes, our numbers are back to the pre-pandemic levels, particularly for this time of year, for back to school," Roberts said.

Roberts is also paying attention to a national meeting this week related to vaccines. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) meets on Thursday and Friday.

"They have a pretty full agenda where they’re going to be looking at some vaccines that have been around for a long time, and have been proven to be safe and effective, so all are waiting to figure out what they’re going to say and what decisions they might make," Roberts said.

Roberts was appointed to the committee, but found out she was no longer wanted on it before her tenure started. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. replaced the panel with new members, including several with histories of being anti-vaccine.

“I’m anxious, but if I had to be honest with you, I'm curious to see what they’re going to do, but it's very unlikely that their decisions will change my perspective on vaccines and who should get which vaccines and at which intervals," Roberts said.

Votes related to the Hepatitis B, MMRV, and COVID-19 vaccines are all on ACIP's agenda.