Vaccination Coverage for Selected Vaccines, Exemption Rates, and Provisional Enrollment Among Children in Kindergarten — United States, 2016–17 School Year

• Published in: MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report 2017-10, Vol.66 (40), p.1073-1080
• Main Authors: Seither, Ranee, Calhoun, Kayla, Street, Erica J., Mellerson, Jenelle, Knighton, Cynthia L., Tippins, Ashley, Underwood, J. Michael
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chickenpox Vaccine - administration & dosage; Child; Child, Preschool; Diphtheria-Tetanus-Pertussis Vaccine - administration & dosage; Full Report; Humans; Immunization Schedule; Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine - administration & dosage; School enrollment; Schools; Tetanus; United States; Vaccination; Vaccination - statistics & numerical data
• ISSN: 0149-2195; 1545-861X
• DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6640a3

State and local school vaccination requirements help protect students and communities against vaccine-preventable diseases (1). CDC reports vaccination coverage and exemption data for children attending kindergarten (kindergartners) collected by federally funded immunization programs in the United States.* The typical age range for kindergartners is 4-6 years. Although vaccination requirements vary by state (the District of Columbia [DC] is counted as a state in this report.), the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommends that children in this age range have received, among other vaccinations, 5 doses of diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP), 2 doses of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR), and 2 doses of varicella vaccine (2). This report summarizes 2016-17 school year MMR, DTaP, and varicella vaccination coverage reported by immunization programs in 49 states, exemptions in 50 states, and kindergartners provisionally enrolled or within a grace period in 27 states. Median vaccination coverage was 94.5% for the state-required number of doses of DTaP; 94.0% for 2 doses of MMR; and 93.8% for 2 doses of varicella vaccine. The median percentage of kindergartners with an exemption from at least one vaccine was 2.0%, similar to 2015-16 (1.9%). Median grace period and provisional enrollment was 2.0%. Vaccination coverage remains consistently high and exemptions low at state and national levels. Local-level vaccination coverage data provide opportunities for immunization programs to identify schools, districts, counties, or regions susceptible to vaccine-preventable diseases and for schools to address undervaccination through implementation of existing state and local vaccination policies (1) to protect communities through increased coverage.