This year, vaccination rates for Michigan children 19 to 36 months have fallen below 70% in more than half of the state.

With the start of the school year, Michigan Chief Medical Executive Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian worries lower childhood vaccination rates could result in a rise in preventable diseases.

“The vaccines I’m talking about, with measles being one example, are incredibly safe and effective,” Bagdasarian said. “In many cases, these are the same vaccines that we got as children, and that in some cases our parents got when they were children. And there are diseases that have been eliminated and that have really declined that could return if we don’t take action.”

Every year, vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks occur in schools, which health officials worry could happen in places like Detroit, where the vaccination rate is below 60%.

In addition to flu and COVID, Michigan schools have seen outbreaks of measles in recent years. Most of the children to have come down with measles have been unvaccinated.