Prognosis
Childhood Immunizations Decline, Raising Concerns Over Hesitancy
- Vaccination coverage among kindergarteners dropped to 93%
- Measles protection at lowest level in a decade, CDC says
A child wears a band-aid after receiving a vaccine in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
Photographer: Emily Elconin/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
School immunization rates for common childhood diseases fell slightly in the US last year, raising concerns about vaccine hesitancy that arose during the pandemic in response to Covid-19 shots.
About 93% of kindergarten students were vaccinated during the 2021-2022 school year against a slew of preventable illnesses that can be especially dangerous to young kids, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday in a report, down from 94% a year earlier and about 95% before the pandemic began. The number of children who went unvaccinated without exemptions also increased during the most recent school year.