Measles was eliminated from continuous U.S. transmission, but imported cases can still start outbreaks when they reach groups with immunity gaps.

Hepatitis A vaccination is unusual because, when given promptly after certain exposures, it can still be part of preventing illness.

Pertussis vaccination dramatically reduces disease, but protection decreases with time. That is one reason whooping cough outbreaks can still occur.

Incoming seventh graders in Hawaiʻi need a qualifying physical exam plus required Tdap, MCV, and HPV documentation before school. Here’s what families should handle before summer.

Diphtheria is rare in the United States because vaccination is routine, not because the bacterium vanished from the world.

Hib once caused about 20,000 serious infections a year in young U.S. children. Vaccination changed pediatric medicine so much that classic cases are now uncommon.

HPV vaccination is no longer only a prediction about future cancer prevention. We are already seeing declines in HPV infections and cervical precancers.

For some polio patients, paralysis reached the muscles needed to breathe. The iron lung became one of the defining images of the pre-vaccine era.

College does not create meningococcal disease, but close living can increase opportunities for transmission. That is why vaccine status matters before dorm move-in.

Varicella-zoster virus causes chickenpox first, then can remain dormant for decades and reactivate later as shingles.

Hawaii's ties across Asia and the Pacific make hepatitis B prevention especially relevant. The story is about screening, vaccination, pregnancy, and preventing liver cancer.

Most babies can be protected from severe RSV through either maternal RSV vaccination during pregnancy or a long-acting infant antibody. Hawaiʻi timing can differ from the continental U.S.

Current CDC guidance recommends pneumococcal vaccination for all adults 50 and older and for younger adults with certain risk conditions. Prior vaccine history determines the exact plan.

Influenza does not behave like measles or polio. The virus changes, immunity changes, and the vaccine has to keep up.

One of the most elegant vaccine strategies happens before birth: maternal Tdap helps pass antibodies to the baby during the months when pertussis is most dangerous.

Measles reached Hawaii in 1848 and became part of a devastating epidemic period. This is the deeper island story behind today's routine MMR vaccine.

The U.S. hepatitis B birth-dose recommendation changed in December 2025. Babies born to mothers who are hepatitis B positive or whose status is unknown still need vaccination within 12 hours; other families now use shared decision-making.

In January 1957, Wahiawa was one of the Oahu communities offering free Salk polio vaccination as Hawaii expanded protection against a feared childhood disease.

Meningococcal disease is uncommon, but it can become life-threatening within hours. That is why prevention focuses on adolescents before exposure happens.

Before routine rotavirus vaccination, the virus sent tens of thousands of U.S. children to the hospital each year with vomiting, diarrhea, and dehydration.