More parents are forgoing required vaccines for their school-aged children — a situation that is raising concern among state public health officials.
Driving the news: 91.8% of Colorado students received all mandatory vaccines in the 2020-21 school year, according to data released Monday by the state’s public health department.
- That represents a 2.2% decline from the prior year when immunizations plummeted amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Immunization rates among kindergartners are the worst at just 86.7%, a 5.2 percentage point year-over-year decline.
- One bright spot is vaccines for childcare and preschool ages, up about 1% across the board.
Why it matters: Colorado typically ranks toward the bottom nationally when it comes to school-age vaccination rates, and a controversial 2020 law signed by Gov. Jared Polis to make it harder to seek exemptions is not doing enough to boost inoculation numbers.