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Vaccination rate among kindergarteners declines for second year in a row, CDC says

The number of kindergarten students with standard vaccinations has declined for the second consecutive year, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Thursday. File Photo by EsHanPhot/Shutterstock

The number of kindergarten students with standard vaccinations has declined for the second consecutive year, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Thursday. File Photo by EsHanPhot/Shutterstock

Jan. 12 (UPI) — The vaccination rate among children starting kindergarten dropped for a second year in a row, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published Thursday.

“During the 2021-22 school year, coverage with MMR, DTaP, polio, and varicella vaccines among kindergarten children was approximately 93% nationwide for each vaccine, lower than the 94% coverage reported during the 2020-21 school year, and the 95% coverage reported during the 2019-20 school year,” the report said.

The CDC emphasized that areas with large numbers of unvaccinated children are vulnerable to outbreaks, and that kindergarten students’ vaccination rates are below pre-pandemic levels.

“It means nearly 250,000 kindergarteners are potentially not protected against measles alone. And we know that measles, mumps and rubella vaccination coverage for kindergartners is the lowest it has been in over a decade,” Georgina Peacock, director of the CDC’s immunization services division, told reporters Thursday.

“Vaccination coverage among kindergarten students remains below prepandemic levels; pockets of undervaccinated children within larger areas of high vaccination coverage can lead to outbreaks,” reads the report.

The report suggested “rigorously enforced school vaccination requirements, school-based vaccination clinics, reminder and recall systems, and follow-up with undervaccinated students by school nurses,” as potential solutions.

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