minnesota department of health

Washington County school nurse receives national immunization award

Tara Goebel from South Washington County Schools named Minnesota’s Immunization Champion 

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) today announced that Tara Goebel, a health services coordinator and licensed school nurse from South Washington County Schools, has been named Minnesota’s 2024 Immunization Champion for her incredible effort and leadership with increasing immunization rates in children. Each year, the national Immunization Champion Awards honor one person in Minnesota for their exceptional work in encouraging immunization for children or adults in their community. 

“Tara has demonstrated incredible leadership and care for students and her community,” said Jessica Hancock-Allen, director of the Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Prevention and Control Division at MDH. “She has used her passion to partner and collaborate with key partners to provide better access to vaccinations and protect the health of students in her school district from vaccine-preventable diseases.” 

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, South Washington County Schools saw a dramatic decrease in school immunization rates in their district. Measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) immunization rates dropped more than 10% for kindergartners and meningococcal immunizations rates dropped more than 40% for seventh graders in 2021. 

During the 2023-24 school year, the efforts of Goebel and the South Washington County Schools team had an incredible impact on student immunization rates with approximately 4,000 students receiving vaccines they needed for school. They also saw the MMR immunization rate increase from 84.8% to 93.4% for kindergartners, which meant a larger portion of the student population was protected from this year’s measles outbreak in the Twin Cites metro area. Vaccines remain the best way to protect children from highly infectious and preventable diseases, with free and low-cost vaccines for children available.

The rise in immunization numbers was driven by a personalized approach where Goebel’s team contacted every family to discuss options in getting their child up to date on vaccines needed for school. The team also provided opportunities by organizing several community immunization clinics for kids throughout the school district. 

“Tara’s relationship with families in the school community was key to the success of these outreach and access activities to increase immunization rates,” said Emily Robb, a colleague from the Washington County Department of Public Health and Environment. “What sets her apart from others is that she understood how to leverage the trust and sense of connection that many families have with their schools to help students access needed vaccines to protect them against preventable diseases.” 

The Immunization Champion Award is presented by the Association of Immunization Managers. Immunization Champion nominees come from a pool of health professionals, coalition members, community advocates and other immunization leaders. This award celebrates the outstanding efforts of people who go above and beyond to ensure immunization access in their communities. One winner is selected in each participating jurisdiction of the 50 states, five large cities, eight U.S territories and freely associated states, and the District of Columbia.

-MDH-

Media inquiries:
Danielle Ryan
MDH Communications
651-392-1097 
[email protected] 

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