Vaccination Coverage with Selected Vaccines and Exemption Rates Among Children in Kindergarten - United States, 2019-20 School Year.

State and local school vaccination requirements serve to protect students against vaccine-preventable diseases (1). This report summarizes data collected by state and local immunization programs* on vaccination coverage among children in kindergarten (kindergartners) in 48 states, exemptions for kindergartners in 49 states, and provisional enrollment and grace period status for kindergartners in 28 states for the 2019-20 school year, which was more than halfway completed when most schools moved to virtual learning in the spring because of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Nationally, vaccination coverage† was 94.9% for the state-required number of doses of diphtheria and tetanus toxoids, and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP); 95.2% for 2 doses of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR); and 94.8% for the state-required number of varicella vaccine doses. Although 2.5% of kindergartners had an exemption from at least one vaccine,§ another 2.3% were not up to date for MMR and did not have a vaccine exemption. Schools and immunization programs can work together to ensure that undervaccinated students are caught up on vaccinations in preparation for returning to in-person learning. This follow-up is especially important in the current school year, in which undervaccination is likely higher because of disruptions in vaccination during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic (2-4).

Vaccination Coverage with Selected Vaccines and Exemption Rates Among Children in Kindergarten - United States, 2018-19 School Year.

State and local school vaccination requirements exist to ensure that students are protected against vaccine-preventable diseases (1). This report summarizes data collected by state and local immunization programs* on vaccination coverage among children in kindergarten in 49 states, exemptions for kindergartners in 50 states, and provisional enrollment and grace period status for kindergartners in 30 states. Nationally, vaccination coverage† was 94.9% for the state-required number of doses of diphtheria and tetanus toxoids, and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP); 94.7% for 2 doses of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR); and 94.8% for the state-required doses of varicella vaccine. Whereas 2.5% of kindergartners had an exemption from at least one vaccine,§ 2.8% of kindergartners were not up to date for MMR and did not have a vaccine exemption. Nearly all states could achieve the recommended ≥95% MMR coverage if all nonexempt kindergartners were vaccinated in accordance with local and state vaccination policies.