Nevada is facing a serious public health crisis right now. A sustained, multi-year decline in vaccination rates and recent shifts in federal health directives have left local communities exposed to preventable diseases. To stop this slide, the UNLV School of Public Health launched “NVax: Nevada’s Immunization Coalition” on April 9.
The new coalition is led by infectious disease epidemiologist Professor Brian Labus. It started with a $123,000 grant from the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health.
The core objective is straightforward. NVax wants to bring patients, parents, and healthcare providers together into a unified front. They plan to provide clinical guidance and host community education events to fight back against medical misinformation.
The Numbers Are Bleak
Nevada currently ranks 40th out of 50 states in childhood pertussis inoculations. The state sits at 36th for the hepatitis B birth dose. It drops to 42nd for babies receiving the full three-dose hepatitis B series by age six months.
During the 2024-2025 school year, roughly 7% of Nevada kindergartners went unvaccinated. This places the state in a three-way tie for the fourth worst non-medical vaccine exemption rate in the United States. Adult rates are just as low. Adult flu vaccination rates sit at 31%, ranking third worst nationally behind Idaho and Michigan. Only about 13% of adults received a COVID-19 booster in the last year.
Local health agencies are mobilizing. Earlier in 2026, abrupt modifications to the U.S. Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule prompted major pushback across the West Coast. State-level health boards, including those in Nevada, chose to preserve the existing, more rigorous American Academy of Pediatrics standards instead of adopting relaxed federal guidelines.
Local media reports continue to highlight the deficit. Fewer than three-quarters of Nevada toddlers currently receive all recommended routine shots, an issue frequently explored by local institutions and regional health advocates.
NVax will host its first free-to-the-public community meeting on Thursday, April 23, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. Officials hope proactive countermeasures can prevent severe outbreaks of diseases like measles, pertussis, and meningitis before they hit the state.
Why Nevada is Centralizing Its Fight Against Vaccine Hesitancy
NVax marks a formalized, state-funded policy shift. Public health messaging in Nevada is transitioning.
For years, immunization efforts relied on scattered local campaigns. Now, the state is backing a centralized, academic-led coalition to directly combat one of the worst immunization deficits in modern state history. This move shows that Nevada health officials view centralized, science-backed community education as the only viable strategy to reverse the dangerous drop in routine childhood inoculations.