Local medical experts address vaccination questions at community forum

Three local medical professionals shared decades of combined experience and answered community questions about vaccines during a recent public forum at Nicolet College, addressing topics ranging from childhood immunizations to COVID-19 boosters.
The panel included retired internal medicine physicians Dr. Chris Koeppl and Dr. Joel Furda, along with pediatric nurse practitioner Sara Baldwin, who recently moved to the area. The discussion, which was broadcast on Facebook Live, covered the history of vaccines, current immunization schedules, and concerns about vaccine safety.
Dr. Furda, who practiced cardiovascular internal medicine for decades before retiring five years ago, opened the discussion by recounting memories of the polio epidemic and the relief parents felt when the Sabin vaccine became available in the 1950s.
“Parents were absolutely frightened to death because they remember what it was like before vaccines, and just about everybody knew somebody who had polio,” he said, showing images of children in iron lungs. “Polio vaccine has absolutely eliminated that 100% in our society.”
The physicians emphasized that two major medical advances in the past century have dramatically increased life expectancy: vaccinations and antibiotics. Life expectancy in the United States rose from 47 years in 1900 to around 80 years recently, largely due to the reduction in childhood deaths from infectious diseases, they explained.

Health department staff revealed statistics about local immunization rates. In Oneida County, only 58% of two-year-olds are fully vaccinated with the recommended childhood series, down from the high 70s in 2014. The state average is 68.8%.
“When I hear those numbers on childhood vaccination, it makes my heart sad,” Baldwin said. “Children are our future, and if we’re going to start losing them to diseases and suffering complications that can be prevented... they’re innocent. They’re not the ones making the decisions about their health.”
Much of the forum focused on COVID-19 vaccines, with panelists addressing questions about effectiveness, side effects, and the need for continued boosters.
Dr. Koeppl explained why COVID vaccines require regular updates, unlike some childhood immunizations. The COVID virus mutates frequently, similar to influenza, requiring new formulations to maintain protection.
“The measles, mumps, rubella viruses, polio virus, those viruses don’t mutate,” he said. “COVID and influenza, they’re very similar in this regard. They mutate all the time, and they’re smart.”
Regarding transmission, Koeppl provided detailed statistics showing that while vaccinated individuals can still contract and transmit COVID, they do so at lower rates and with reduced viral loads compared to unvaccinated people. The death rate among vaccinated individuals is also markedly lower.
All three panelists emphasized they have no financial ties to pharmaceutical companies and never received payment for recommending vaccines during their careers.
Dr. Koeppl outlined multiple levels of vaccine monitoring, including clinical trials, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), and ongoing surveillance by healthcare providers. He cited the example of MMRV vaccine, which was separated into MMR and varicella vaccines after a cohort study of millions of children found a twofold increase in febrile seizures in children under four.
“This shows there is continuous monitoring of the vaccines, continuous monitoring of the reactions that people are having,” a health department representative noted. “If they see a signal or they see something, they halt it, they stop it, they change it.”
Baldwin highlighted the HPV vaccine as one of the most significant advances in her career, noting it’s the only vaccine that prevents cancer.
“Australia has a very high rate of vaccinating their children with HPV, and they’re on course to practically eliminate cervical cancer,” she said.
Dr. Koeppl pointed to mRNA technology as the greatest recent advancement, explaining how it allows for rapid vaccine development without growing viruses in eggs and uses minimal preservatives compared to traditional vaccines.
The panelists expressed concern about measles outbreaks occurring in communities with low vaccination rates. In Texas, Michigan, and California, 90 to 95% of measles cases are occurring in unvaccinated populations. Wisconsin has had 36 to 38 cases recently.
“We’re seeing groups of unvaccinated people developing some of these illnesses again,” Dr. Furda said. “That’s not a surprise because these viruses didn’t just magically disappear.”
Baldwin described her approach to families who refuse vaccines, emphasizing conversation over confrontation.
“I say, tell me your concerns. What are you concerned about?” she explained. “Sometimes they can’t articulate it. Sometimes they say, ‘I just don’t want them. My family member had a bad reaction and I’m just scared.’ We’ll just sit there and we’ll talk. All I can think is that maybe I planted a seed.”
The clinicians also expressed concern about the current state of public health information and recent changes to federal health agencies.
“The level of misinformation that is out there right now is incredibly distressing,” Dr. Furda said. “It’s put forth in publications that are very well written, very persuasive, and the subject is complicated enough that the misinformation is put forth in a way that it is believable.”
Dr. Koeppl noted that the recently reconstituted Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, despite being composed largely of vaccine skeptics, did not eliminate any vaccines from the recommended schedule in its recent update.
“When you’re put in a position of responsibility and you have to stand up and do something, you would have predicted there would have been elimination of vaccines completely,” he said. “They didn’t eliminate any vaccines. That ought to tell you something.”
The health department announced that vaccination services were available immediately following the forum, with staff offering all recommended vaccines. The recorded presentation is available on the department’s Facebook page.