By Ken Sweet —
The Associated Press
Vaccination rates for kindergarten children
fell
again last year, and federal authorities are starting a new campaign to try to improve them given the negative consequences it can have for all minors.
Between 94% and 95% of
kindergarten
children are usually vaccinated against measles, tetanus and other diseases.
But the rates fell below 94% in the 2020-2021 school year, in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study released Thursday found that rates fell again in the following school year, 2021-2022, to around 93%.
The pandemic disrupted immunizations and other routine health care for children, and also strained the ability of school administrators and nurses to track which children were not up to date with their shots.
CDC officials said another possible contributing factor is
increased mistrust
of vaccines.
[The new vaccine against the virus that overwhelms hospitals could be available next year]
“I think it's a combination of all of those things,” said Dr. Georgina Peacock, the CDC's director of immunization.
Vaccination rates for kindergarten children took a significant drop in 2022, for the second year in a row, according to new data from the CDC. Jae C. Hong / AP
Health officials focus on vaccination rates in kindergartens because that is when most children enter school systems.
Public schools generally require immunizations as
a condition of attendance, although some exceptions are allowed
.
Exemptions increased slightly last school year, but the CDC's Shannon Stokley said they are not the main cause behind the declining vaccination rate.
What actually happened, she said, is that more schools relaxed their policies to allow enrollment while giving families a grace period to get vaccinated.
The new figures suggest that as
many as 275,000 children attending kindergarten
lack full protection from vaccinations.
Falling vaccination rates
open the door for disease outbreaks
once thought to be a thing of the past, experts say.
They point to a case of
paralytic polio
reported last year in New York and recent measles surges in Minnesota and Ohio.
[More monkeypox vaccines arrive as infections of a child and a dog are confirmed]
Those outbreaks coincide with isolated reports and surveys that suggest more parents are questioning basic childhood vaccines, long considered a public health success.
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A Kaiser Family Foundation poll conducted last month found less support among parents for school immunization requirements compared to a 2019 poll.
“
It's crazy.
There is a lot of work to be done
,” said Jason Newland, a pediatric infectious disease physician at St. Louis Children's Hospital and vice president of community health at Washington University.
Other doctors have told him that more and more parents are selective about which vaccines to give their children.
The CDC data showed that
the chickenpox vaccination rate fell more dramatically
than the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination rate.
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This week, the CDC launched a campaign called “Let's RISE,” an acronym for Scheduled Routine Immunizations for All.
It includes new educational materials to help doctors talk to families about immunizations, as well as information for those who have questions about families.
Building confidence in vaccines "is something that has to happen at the local and community level," Peacock said.
The CDC study released Thursday was based on reports of kindergarten vaccinations in public schools in 49 states and reports in private schools in 48 states.
Montana did not report data.
Data varies across the country.
CDC officials noted significant increases in some states, including Hawaii, Maine, Maryland and Wyoming.
But most states saw declines, with the biggest drops in Mississippi, Georgia and Wisconsin.