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

Abstract

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.

FIGURE

Median and range of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR) coverage and exemptions from any required vaccination among kindergartners — United States, 2011–12 to 2016–17 school years Source: School Vaccination Assessment Program, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, and 2016–17 school years. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vaxview/index.html. * Data from local areas and territories are not included. Number of states whose data are included in the MMR coverage medians and ranges varied by year: 2011–12 (44 states); 2012–13 (46); 2013–14 (47); 2014–15 (50); 2015–16 (51); and 2016–17 (49). Number of states whose data are included in the exemption medians and ranges varied by year: 2011–12 through 2014–15 (46 states); 2015–16 (48); and 2016–17 (46). ^† Represents the number of children who are exempt from any vaccination, not just MMR.