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News / Health / Health Wire

Rates for measles, other shots dip for kindergartners

By Associated Press
Published: April 21, 2022, 3:17pm

A smaller portion of U.S. children got routine vaccinations required for kindergarten during the pandemic, government researchers said Thursday, raising concerns that measles and other preventable diseases could increase.

Rates were close to 94 percent for measles, whooping cough and chickenpox vaccinations for the 2020-21 school year. That was down 1 percent from a year earlier and means 35,000 U.S. children entered kindergarten without evidence that they were vaccinated for extremely contagious diseases, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report.

In addition, almost 400,000 fewer children than expected entered kindergarten and their vaccination status is uncertain, the CDC said.

Pandemic-related disruptions likely contributed to the decline, the report said, as pediatricians canceled nonemergency appointments, parents skipped checkups for their children and vaccine requirements were eased for students doing remote learning.

“We haven’t seen outbreaks and that’s probably representative of the fact that families were staying home during the pandemic,’’ said Dr. Georgina Peacock, the CDC’s director of immunization services.

The data come from schools’ reports on vaccination rates in 47 states plus Washington, D.C. The CDC said staffing shortages and other pandemic disruptions could have led to incomplete or absent school reports, a limitation in assessing the true vaccination rates.

In 16 states, rates for kids entering kindergarten were at least 95 percent for measles shots and for the combination diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough shot. The rates were below 90 percent for the combined whooping cough shot in eight states plus Washington, D.C., and in seven states plus Washington, D.C., for measles shots.

For chickenpox vaccinations, 17 states had rates of at least 95 percent and nine plus Washington, D.C., had rates below 90 percent.

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