Colorado’s vaccination rate held steady in the most recent school year, but pockets of the state remain vulnerable to outbreaks of measles and other diseases.
Last school year, 92.1% of children from kindergarten to 12th grade had all of their required shots or a valid exemption, which was virtually unchanged from the 2022-2023 school year. Kindergarteners had lower compliance rates, with 90.1% either up to date on their shots or holding an exemption.
About 93.6% of all schoolchildren had their combined measles, mumps and rubella shots, which are among the most important because a person with measles can infect nine out of 10 unvaccinated people they come across, said Susan Lontine, executive director of Immunize Colorado. Only 88% of kindergarteners had been vaccinated against measles, though.