Routine childhood vaccinations among kindergartners in U.S. public and private schools were down the previous school year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
For the 2023–24 school year, vaccine updates among that grade cohort “declined” to lower than 93 percent “for all reported vaccines,” including diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTAP) as well as for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), the CDC said on Oct. 17.
About 92.3 percent of kindergartners got the DTAP vaccine in the last school year, while 92.7 got the MMR vaccine, the agency said. The polio vaccine uptake range was 92.6 percent, while the varicella uptake was 92.4 percent, according to the CDC….