An ongoing measles outbreak in Texas and New Mexico has sickened over 250 people. One unvaccinated child has died.
Vaccination rates here in Hawaiʻi are concerning public health experts. The state Department of Health says that 21% of students were not up to date on their required vaccinations last school year.
Hye-ryeon Lee, who is the chair of the School of Communication and Information at UH Mānoa and studies health communication, said that the COVID-19 pandemic was a catalyst for increased vaccine hesitancy.
She added that a 2022 study from the University of Hawaiʻi surveyed the differences in those who were likely to get vaccinated versus those who were not.
"People who trusted government and relied on government information sources are significantly more likely to get vaccinated and people who said, 'Well, I don't trust the government and I get my information mostly through non-government sources.' Those are the people who are likely to say, 'No, I don't want to get vaccinated,'" she said.
A measure introduced at the request of Gov. Josh Green this legislative session aimed to limit non-medical vaccine exemptions in Hawaiʻi schools. The bill died as some lawmakers, including Republican Reps. Garner Shimizu and Diamond Garcia, spoke out against the measure.
Garcia posted on social media last week after the bill died. In his Instagram reel, he said that the killing of the bill is a "major victory for we, the people in Hawaiʻi."
Lee shared that the ultimate failure of the bill stemmed from the belief in personal freedom of decision and the government not telling the public what to do.
"Itʻs very important that when we work with different population, we always look at, OK, people are very different. Different groups of people have different thoughts, ideas, background and history and motivation. So there cannot be a single message," she said.
"I think in this case, you know, who proposed the policy maybe didn't do a good job crafting message to assuage some of these fears among people who are against it."
Lee was also concerned about recent federal funding cuts to health agencies and the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
"It's already bad enough that these people have not much trust in government and rely on untrustworthy sources of information. Now our government might be actually spreading information that might be quite misleading," she said.
"I think this is really an important time for us to think about different ways for us to change the situation so that maybe we can alleviate some of the potential harms that are going to come forth from the current administration."
This interview aired on The Conversation on March 12, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m.
