OP-ED: Senator Becca Rausch is Your Public Health Champion
Your Public Health Champion
As the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, I take my responsibility to protect and preserve public health very seriously. Since being elected our State Senator in 2018, I have made it a clear legislative focus to strengthen and make cohesive our public health systems in the Commonwealth. The lack of statutory law has made it challenging to address the short and long term impact of COVID-19. While my current political opponent spreads misinformation during a pandemic, I have been and continue to be your public health champion.
Currently, Massachusetts has only a hodgepodge of statutes pertaining to infectious disease prevention, and what we do have is full of holes. For example, we do not have mandatory data reporting; instead, the Department of Public Health (DPH) circulates a voluntary survey to schools, daycares, summer camps, and colleges each year. While the majority of programs respond to the annual survey, in the 2018-2019 school year, roughly 20% of programs did not respond to DPH’s survey about immunity rates. Accordingly, any estimates of our immunity rates are actually based on only 80%-complete data sets. This significant incomplete data problem would be remedied by the Community Immunity Act, a bill I carefully crafted and intentionally designed to create comprehensive infectious disease prevention infrastructure, something we currently lack in Massachusetts.
The infrastructure in my bill will reduce the threat and spread of serious yet preventable diseases by standardizing and centralizing immunization requirements and exemption processes while maintaining the existing medical and religious exemptions, ensuring our public health experts get complete data on our immunity rates, and supporting broad delivery of accurate, evidence-based information about infectious disease prevention to families. This legislation is about safeguarding the health of our children, families, teachers, and school staff.
Indeed, we do not have a statewide method of disseminating medically accurate and evidence-based scientific information about infectious disease prevention, including but not limited to immunizations. As the world waits with bated breath for a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine, such an information distribution system, like a reverse 911 call, is imperative. This too would be created by the Community Immunity Act.
I’m working tirelessly to legislatively build the infrastructure that would have helped us navigate the current COVID-19 crisis and will help to prevent another infectious disease crisis in the future, while maintaining existing immunization exemptions. I also support other bipartisan efforts to promote public health. We all want what’s best for our kids. As your State Senator, as a member of our community, and as a mother, I’m proud to champion public health. Together, we will survive this moment, protect against future pandemics, and build a better, healthier future for our children.
The Community Immunity Act earned a favorable report from the Joint Committee on Public Health in June 2020 and is supported by a broad coalition of organizations, including Mass General Brigham, the Massachusetts Chapter of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Massachusetts Coalition of Nurse Practitioners, the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners, the Massachusetts Association of Public Health Nurses, the Massachusetts Association of Health Offices, the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, the Massachusetts School Based Health Alliance, and the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), among others. The bill is also supported by national security expert Juliette Kayyem and numerous public health, epidemiology, and infectious disease experts, including Dr. Stephen Elledge, Dr. Regina LaRocque, Dr. Vandana Madhaven, Dr. Michael Mina, and Dr. Mark Poznansky.
As your State Senator, know that this district can count on me to continue to lead on the issues that matter most to us all. There’s still a great deal of work to be done, and I remain committed to protecting, preserving, and championing public health.
In service,
State Senator Becca Rausch