AMHERST — At a time when disruption is happening at the federal level over immunization schedules, alongside increasing parental vaccine hesitancy, a recently launched local website aims to offer accurate information about the continued importance and safety of administering shots to children.
Valley Vax, or valleyvax.org, went live this month, a website put together by the Amherst Health Department in coordination with other health care providers, including Amherst Pediatrics and Northampton Area Pediatrics, and with support from the University of Massachusetts.
It is already providing a wealth of information, such as how vaccines work and the diseases they prevent, various vaccine-related resources and links to news articles.
“We wanted to do something rooted in the local community,” says Kiko Malin, the public health director for Amherst. “We really need people to turn to local departments to get accurate, science-based information.”
Malin said the effort began about a year ago, when she began having conversations with a local physician who lives in Amherst and practices in Hadley, and the U.S. Senate was considering the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary. A concern centered on the direction Kennedy might take the office, understanding his reputation as a longstanding vaccine skeptic who has made unfounded claims linking vaccines and autism.
In the months since, Malin said the myth of an overvaccinated America has been exacerbated by Kennedy’s leadership, making it important to counter what is being said and done at the federal level.
“Many people are hearing these messages and internalizing them,” Malin said. “Valley Vax is aiming to restore public trust, leading with science-based recommendations. Valley Vax is endeavoring to do this.”
Dr. John Snyder at Amherst Pediatrics has seen firsthand how Centers for Disease Control guidelines can increase vaccine hesitancy, though there are also some parents seeking out vaccines before these might change. Snyder points out that Massachusetts state law continues to follow American Academy of Pediatrics recommendations on vaccines mandated for children.
“Given all of the bad information out there, and confusing, misleading and often contradictory information, people need a local source, a hyper local source,” Snyder said.
“We also felt similarly of the importance of getting a trusted local source of vaccination information,” Snyder said. “Debunking vaccine myths and medical myths, as a pediatrician, that’s very important.”
Malin said it was important for the website to be unique and different from other websites, like the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, which is a great resource, but not close to western Massachusetts.
Snyder explained that the work includes vetting reliable sources and providing links to websites that are considered trustworthy.
Ann Becker, public health director at UMass who coordinates the Local Public Health Nurse Consultant Program, said Valley Vax will also be important to the thousands of people affiliated with the university.
“We see the website as another helpful resource for our campus community, especially for staff, faculty and graduate students with families,” Becker said.
Becker said the website can be a starting point.
“Our hope is that it becomes a trusted, go-to resource that encourages and normalizes conversations with health care providers — doctors or local public health nurses and staff — about vaccine questions and concerns,” Becker said.
Like Amherst Pediatrics, Becker said she and staff have definitely noticed more questions coming in about vaccines, including who needs them, how effective they are and possible side effects.
“We’re also really happy to be partnering with our local community providers on this project and appreciate the chance to work together to promote community immunity,” Becker said.
The graphic for the website was created by a UMass student and will change upon the season, as will the photographs on the main landing page, currently depicting a barn at the foot of a small hill, with the foreground covered in snow.
Malin said the goal is to keep the website up to date, including a button where people can ask questions that experts who are part of the project will answer. Additionally, Valley Vax hopes to stretch its reach through the entire Connecticut River Valley, with potential partnerships with the Franklin Council of Governments, health officials in other communities, and extending south to include Holyoke Pediatrics.
To make the site more robust in the future, Valley Vax intends to include video testimonials from parents and experts discussing topics such as pertussis or measles, Snyder said.
The site currently has written statement from providers, including Olivia Lara Cahoon, Amherst’s public health nurse, who states “providing information and access to vaccines for my community is one of my most important roles,” and Dr. Emily Marsters of Hadley Family Medicine, who says “public health awareness around the safety and efficacy of vaccines is more crucial now than ever.”
Most of the focus is on pediatric vaccines, since childhood is when most of the critical immunizations are administered. But it is likely that Valley Vax, Snyder said, will eventually have some information about vaccines that are important for older adults, such as Pneumococcal pneumonia and shingles.
Becker said there could be more details that college-age people can use, as well.
“Over time, we’d love to grow the site to include more information about vaccine needs for young adults as well,” Becker said.
The launch of Valley Vax comes at a time when the Massachusetts Legislature will be taking up a bill that would prohibit people from claiming non-medical exemptions for vaccines.
Snyder said he will be offering testimony at the legislative hearing on making the state the sixth state to not allow non-medical exemptions, observing that state lines don’t work with public health, that measles outbreaks in one area can cause them elsewhere.
“Every year we’ve been seeing increasing numbers of vaccine exemptions, that’s a trend,” Snyder said.
His worry is that more preventable illness will follow.
“This will 100% happen,” Snyder said. “We don’t want to see children fall ill to completely preventable diseases and then dying from them.”