Our Health Department Heroes

It is the obligation of my administration to protect all our residents from debilitating and potentially fatal diseases. The law requiring childhood vaccinations has been in place for many years for this very reason but unfortunately over the years vaccine hesitancy has become more common leading to some of these diseases resurfacing, including a case of paralytic polio in a Rockland resident in July 2022.

The Rockland County Department of Health has been putting in tremendous work to increase immunizations through various education efforts, provider outreach, increasing access to immunizations, and much more.

In fact, in Observance of National Immunization Awareness Month, the Rockland County Department of Health (RCDOH) rolled out a new campaign to empower parents with information on immunizing their children against harmful diseases such as Polio, Measles, and Pertussis, among others. The campaign includes new educational pamphlets in English, Spanish, Yiddish, and Creole languages that will be distributed to Houses of Worship, doctor’s offices, and daycares throughout Rockland. The aim of the materials is to teach parents the importance of keeping up with vaccinations for children aged 2 and under which includes Hepatitis B, DTaP, IPV, MMR, HiB, Varicella, and PCV inoculations.

I’m proud to share with our residents that those efforts are working.

Since our case of polio in summer of 2022, over 30,000 polio vaccines have been administered and we have not seen any strains of polio surface in wastewater since February.

So far in 2023, from January through August, we increased clinic visits by 40% compared to 2022, and tripled them compared to 2021.

This is without question incredible news that I credit to our Department of Health staff, which I consider heroes. I pledge that our staff will continue to remain vigilant with these initiatives to continue increasing vaccinations in Rockland. We urge medical providers and religious leaders to continue to strongly advocate for vaccinations, as this is a battle we cannot win without your help.

We need to kill diseases before they ever gain a foothold and that starts with being immunized. Residents of Rockland be sure to act now and protect yourselves, your family, and your community.