Over the next few weeks, millions of young children across America will walk through the schoolhouse doors for their first day of kindergarten. They’ll have backpacks on their shoulders, butterflies in their bellies and smiles on their faces.

For most families, it’s a day filled with excitement and possibility. It should also be the start of a school year protected by one of public health’s greatest achievements: routine childhood vaccination.

As a dad, I love the excitement of the first day of school. As Cleveland’s public health director and a physician, I also know how much work goes into making sure children begin the year healthy. Health departments across the country work every day to increase vaccination rates. Yet we are waging an uphill battle without the clear, unwavering federal leadership on vaccine policy that our nation could once count on.

As measles outbreaks continue to emerge in the United States and throughout the world, it is essential that federal health officials rejoin the fight to protect our kids.

As vaccinations drop, measles and polio make a comeback 

Cleveland, like many places, has lower vaccination rates than we would like. Only 76% of incoming kindergarteners in Cleveland met Ohio’s........

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