Springfield health officials admit strain treating influx of Haitians

Springfield, ’s public health infrastructure is struggling to keep up with an influx of Haitian immigrants who are largely unvaccinated against infectious diseases and who have not received basic medical care.

Health officials on the ground say about immigrants have obscured the very real strain hospitals and clinics have felt after 12,000 to 15,000 Haitian immigrants arrived in the town over the past five years - boosting its population by 25 percent over the past three years.

In Haiti, polio vaccination rates have ranged between 60 and 90 percent, while measles vaccinations have hovered around 45 percent over the past four years, according to the .

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