NEW YORK (AP) – How many kids are vaccinated at your child’s school? Federal health officials think you should be able to easily find out.
Last school year, only 21 states posted vaccination rates for individual schools, school districts, counties or areas of the state. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been quietly prodding more states to make the information available online.
CDC’s Dr. Anne Schuchat made the push more public during a press conference Thursday.
“It’s important to recognize when vulnerabilities exist in communities,” said Schuchat, who oversees the agency’s vaccination work.
Parents could use the information to weigh their child’s risk of vaccine-preventable illnesses at specific schools or school districts, Schuchat said. And it could help health officials identify pockets of unvaccinated children, she said.