Santa Barbara County Says Health Monitoring is Robust Despite Grand Jury Concerns
John Palminteri
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. – The Santa Barbara County Health Department says it is using all of its protocols and outreach to make sure required immunizations are given and to identify any gaps in the system.
This comes after a report from the County Grand Jury.
On May 29, the report came out entitled “Do Vaccination Rates in Santa Barbara County Create a Public Health Risk?”
It brought up issues related to the lack of County vaccination rate data for homeschooled children, adult populations and high-risk settings, including the Sheriff’s Department jail.
Santa Barbara County Supervisor Laura Capps who sits as the chair said, “the Grand Jury did a great job of highlighting potential vulnerabilities and we always need to be vigilante. I think that’s what they were trying to point out.”
A Santa Barbara County Public Health Department Health Director Dr. Mouhanad Hammami said for home schooled children, obtaining data is challenging. There is currently no reliable study. In place of that, the department created a worse-case scenario based on the number of home school children ages 5-17. If there were an issue it would not be out of the range of the acceptable “herd immunity target” and could be addressed.
New requirements will help with the most accurate numbers. Hammami said, “any pediatrician, anybody who gives a vaccine, is going to report it and this is how they are going to establish the rate.”
He said the department has a team that mobilizes whenever there is a concern over, for example, a measles outbreak. They identify where it came from and who was exposed. The plan has been effective when used in the past.
In the jail Dr. Hammami said at intake, a health care related process is conducted. The department’s response to the Grand Jury reads:
The Sheriff’s Office has established protocols for isolating inmates who exhibit signs and symptoms of infectious disease. Isolating incarcerated persons solely because they are unvaccinated would potentially violate these individuals’ rights.
Where there are unvaccinated inmates the department is offering catch-up vaccinations in accordance with the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and based on identified risk factors.
Hammami said, “every now and then we see maybe a Covid outbreak or we see something that is not related to childhood immunizations.” He says there is a rapid response plan in place. “We have what is called an IDER, Infectious Disease Emergency Response plan, which is countywide in case, God forbid, we have another outbreak or pandemic and these are all in place.”
Capps has a serious concern based on recent trends. “We’re living through a time in history where our federal government is dismantling our vaccination system so we have a lot to be concerned about.”
She believes in the effectiveness and reliability. “We live in the state of California where we have a strong vaccination system and we need those systems in place.”
(more details, photos and video will be added later today)
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