Community Resilience

The Current Landscape

Union County faces a critical challenge in community health. Current data shows an 84.86% Kindergarten Immunization Rate, falling significantly below the 95% threshold required for herd immunity. This risk is amplified by a high 13.76% Religious Exemption rate. Most alarmingly, early childhood rates are plummeting: only 71.3% of toddlers (19-35 months) have received the MMR vaccine (a 12.3 point drop), and just 58.9% have completed the 7-vaccine series (a 14.4 point drop). With adolescent (13-17) MMR coverage standing at 85.7%, these downward trends across all age groups highlight a broader challenge: rural and underserved communities face systemic provider shortages. With only 1 pediatrician serving the entire county, access to care is a primary hurdle. To address this, our intervention strategy focuses on advocating for policies that fund mobile clinics and support existing rural providers. The intended result is to create frictionless access to routine immunizations regardless of geographic location, reversing these downward trends and protecting our community.