Kindergarten Vaccination Rates Up After California Makes It Mandatory « CBS Los Angeles according to : CBS Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — California's school vaccination rate rose in the first year that the state required almost all public schoolchildren to get immunizations. That's a nearly 3-point increase over last year and the highest vaccination rate since the current immunization regimen went into force in 2001. State public health officials said Wednesday that nearly 96 percent of this year's kindergartners have received all required vaccines. Orange County, traditionally known for its large anti-mandatory vaccination constituency, dropped by over 4 percent. California's vaccine rates have been inching up for the past three years after a state law made it harder for parents to opt out of vaccines due to personal beliefs.




"I'm really pleased the numbers are so high," Catherine Flores Martin, director of the California Immunization Coalition, told BuzzFeed News. Across the country, there is wide variation from state to state in kindergarten vaccine coverage. "We are watching California very closely, and kudos to them for getting that bill through," Stephanie Wasserman, executive director of the Colorado Children's Immunization Coalition, told BuzzFeed News. But Mississippi, which is similarly poor, stands out for its high vaccination rates — likely because it, like West Virginia and now California, has a law banning personal belief exemptions. California has boosted its vaccination rates, thanks in part to a controversial law making it illegal for parents to refuse school vaccine requirements for "personal beliefs." Other states, however, are still vaccinating children at dangerously low rates.

California Vaccination Rate Hits New High After Tougher Immunization Law

California's school vaccination rate is at its highest level since 2001 after the state required almost all public school children to get immunizations. State public health officials released data this week that showed that nearly 96 percent of this year's kindergartners have received all the required vaccines. Earlier this month, an unvaccinated Laguna Beach High School student was quarantined after contracting measles, county health officials said. Students entering school in 2016-2017 were the first to be enrolled under a law that abolished the personal-belief exemption to legally required vaccines for school entry. Richard Pan, a pediatrician and author of the new legislation, hailed the rise in the kindergarten vaccination rate.


collected by :Lucy William

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