Second-to-last: That’s where Leelanau County ranks in Michigan when it comes to measles vaccination rates for young children.

For Dan Thorell, health officer for the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department (BLDHD), low immunization rates are just one concern on a long list of public health issues facing the region, state, and nation. Now four months into his role as the BLDHD’s first dedicated health officer in over a decade, Thorell sits down with The Ticker to talk measles outbreaks, flu season, bird flu, and the politicization of public health.

Thorell took the job as BLDHD’s health officer in November, but he’s actually been in the department’s orbit for longer than that. For a decade, BLDHD had an agreement with the Health Department of Northwest Michigan (HDNW) to share health officers. Under that arrangement, Thorell has technically been the top public health official for Leelanau and Benzie counties since 2022. 

When BLDHD decided to break from HDNW and hire its own health officer, Thorell jumped at the chance. Now, he’s with Benzie and Leelanau full time, instead of one day a week.

It’s good timing, he says, given the state of public health.

In recent months, public health has been at the center of a lengthy list of national headlines. “This is the worst flu season in 15 years,” National Geographic proclaimed last week. “Texas measles outbreak rises to 146 cases spanning more than 9 counties,” The Associated Press reported over the weekend. And COVID-19 continues to be a factor, too, including a significant spike around the holidays.

There’s also the mounting concern around bird flu, according to late-February data from the CDC. And the Trump Administration has taken steps to restrict the CDC's research and messaging – just one move from the new president that has incensed some public health experts.

Here's what Thorell had to say about these national issues – and how they filter down to the local level.

On measles:

Last year, Michigan saw its first documented measles cases since 2019. Now, with an outbreak of the virus raging in Texas, Thorell is “very concerned” something similar could happen here.

“The best thing you can do to protect yourself and your kids from measles is getting immunized with the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine,” Thorell says. “And right now, we have a very low uptake rate in this area. In Leelanau County, we are at 73 percent MMR uptake for 19-35-month-old kids, which puts us 83rd in the state. We have 83 counties, plus the City of Detroit, so we’re second to last. That’s not a place we want to be.”

Thorell says the national uptake rate for MMR vaccinations in 19-35-month-olds is 93 percent. Leelanau’s immunization rates get slightly better among school-aged kids (5-8 years) – about 81 percent – but still lag behind national averages.

“We’re working hard to increase these rates, but they’ve been falling since COVID; in 2019, uptake rates in that 19-35-month age range were 7 percent higher,” Thorell notes. “We’re trying to provide education about the importance of those vaccinations, because as we are seeing right now in Texas, measles is the most contagious infectious disease in the world. If a sick person walks into a room with measles, nine out of 10 people in that room are going to get measles. And it can be deadly.”

Measles was declared "eliminated" in the United States in 2000, an achievement widely credited to the country’s robust vaccination program. But anti-vaccination sentiment grew in America throughout the 2000s, thanks mostly to a 1998 study that alleged a link between the MMR vaccine and autism. That study was retracted and exposed as fraudulent in 2013.

On the politicization of public health:

While Thorell says he and his team have been able to sway some “on-the-fence” parents about the safety and efficacy of vaccines, he fears ongoing rhetoric will mean continued challenges in northern Michigan.

“We are deeply concerned about the future guidance for immunizations coming from the CDC, given the challenging immunization rates we have in Leelanau County; we are vulnerable to outbreaks,” he says. “Lately, important meetings about immunization guidance and formulations for the next flu vaccine have been cancelled.”

Those cancellations have been attributed to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic who serves as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

“I am also concerned that there will be less surveillance of disease in other parts of the world,” Thorell adds, citing Trump’s day-one move to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization. “With air travel, any infectious disease is only 24 hours away from our communities. Surveillance and outbreak containment in other parts of the world are crucial to keep us safe at home.”

On flu season:

The CDC estimates 33 million Americans have been sick with the flu this season, leading to 430,000 hospitalizations and 19,000 deaths. It marks the first “high severity” flu season since 2017-18, and the worst flu season on record in 15 years.

Locally, Thorell says flu numbers have been “a little higher than last year, but not significantly different.” Still, he notes that Michigan has had five pediatric deaths already this season, and encourages locals to take the virus seriously – whether by getting an annual flu shot or staying away from others while ill.

On bird flu:

While Leelanau County is one of Michigan’s agricultural hubs, Thorell says its focus on commodity crops rather than livestock has been a blessing lately.

“We don’t have a lot of poultry or big cattle farms around us, so we haven’t had the bird flu issues in farm settings like other parts of the state and other parts of the country have,” he notes. “A lot of other local health departments have had to really reckon with bird flu already.”

According to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), there have been five notable bird flu detections in Michigan in the last 60 days, all in backyard poultry flocks. The closest was in Alpena County. Thorell says BLDHD is monitoring known outbreak areas and communicating with MDARD and other state departments to stay up to date.

Since Michigan detections have so far revolved mostly around backyard poultry, Thorell urges vigilance among people who keep their own chickens or other domestic birds.

“Especially with egg prices being what they are, I think a lot of people have backyard flocks now,” Thorell says. “For those folks, there are precautions you can take to make sure that wild birds and your domestic birds are not interacting. There’s some very good information on the Michigan Avian Flu website that I recommend people look at.”

“Other recommendations would be not to drink unpasteurized milk,” Thorell adds. “That's kind of a trend these days, and we really do not recommend doing that with the bird flu risk being what it is.”