CDPHE releases 2021-2022 school and child care immunization rates
STATEWIDE (Aug. 29, 2022) — As students across Colorado head back to school, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) asks parents and guardians to keep vaccine-preventable diseases out of Colorado classrooms. Vaccines are available that protect children from 16 infectious diseases, including measles, whooping cough, mumps, polio, and varicella (chickenpox), and COVID-19 vaccines are authorized for children ages 6 months and older.
Parents and guardians should talk with their child or adolescent’s health care provider or local public health agency about any questions they may have about vaccines, as well as to schedule an appointment. Vaccines required for school entry can be safely given with other vaccines, including COVID-19 and flu, and many children are eligible for low-cost or free vaccines. To find a free vaccine provider, parents and guardians can visit COVax4Kids.org. For a list of providers taking COVID-19 vaccine appointments for younger children, visit here. For additional vaccine providers, you can use CDPHE’s vaccine finder page.
“Staying up to date on routine vaccinations for preventable diseases is critical to the public health of Colorado,” said Dr. Eric France, chief medical officer, CDPHE. “CDPHE is here to help families track their vaccines and make sure they’re up to date. Childhood and adolescent vaccines save lives, and all Coloradans have access to them regardless of if they have health insurance.”
Aggregate, de-identified data self-reported to CDPHE by schools and child care providers for the 2021-2022 school year show increases in child care vaccination rates, but decreases in K-12 vaccination rates. Immunization rates for all school-required vaccines fell among K-12 students, with the most pronounced decreases observed among kindergartners.
CDPHE collected de-identified immunization and exemption data from 1,338 kindergartens representing 68,253 students statewide, as well 1,940 K-12 schools representing 862,257 students. 86.7% of kindergarten and 91.8% of K-12 students were in compliance with school immunization rules, a decrease of 5.2% and 2.2% in compliance from 2020-2021 rates, respectively. CDPHE calculates the vaccine-specific fully immunized rates for each school and child care/preschool by adding the total number of children who were fully immunized for a particular vaccine, then dividing by the total number of children who were eligible for that vaccine. Exemption rates are calculated the same way.
Additionally, exemption rates also fell across all school-required vaccines for kindergartens, K-12 schools and child care facilities from 2020-2021 rates. Non-medical exemptions decreased for all school-required vaccines for both kindergartners and K-12 students, while medical exemptions increased for kindergartners and K-12 students for all school-required vaccines. Previously, the state’s school and child care immunization data distinguished personal belief and religious exemptions. Both are now considered non-medical exemptions.
These data represent a single snapshot in time. Data is gathered through a Colorado Board of Health rule that requires most schools and licensed child cares to report aggregate, de-identified immunization and exemption data to CDPHE annually. Public, private, and parochial schools with grades K-12, as well as child care centers, preschools, and Head Start programs licensed by the Colorado Department of Human Services to provide care for 10 or more children are all required to report. School-age child care centers, family child care homes, drop-in centers, day treatment centers, foster care homes, day camps, resident camps, and online only K-12 schools are not required to report. However, these facilities are still required to collect immunization or exemption forms for their students. For the past school year, schools and child care/preschool facilities reported the data directly to CDPHE through an online data collection tool or by sending data directly to the department between October 2021 and February 2022.
More information on Colorado’s 2021-2022 School and Child Care Immunization data, including detailed tables of immunization and exemption rates, can be found in the FAQ.
Additional resources include:
- COVaxRecords.org directs people on how to request vaccination records for their children.
- COVID19.colorado.gov/well-child provides more information about the safety of well-child checkups during the pandemic.
- ChildVaccineCO.org provides more information on routine vaccinations, as well as where to find a provider who offers low- or no-cost vaccines.
Source: Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
