Rates for measles, other vaccinations dip for kindergartners

The portion of U.S. children getting routine vaccinations required for kindergarten dipped slightly during the pandemic.

A government report released Thursday looked at vaccination rates for the 2020-21 school year. It shows rates were close to 94% for measles, whooping cough and chickenpox vaccinations.

That was down 1% from a year earlier.

According to the report, 35,000 U.S. children entered kindergarten without evidence of complete vaccination for extremely contagious diseases.

That raises concerns for potential increase in those diseases.

“As schools return to in-person learning, high vaccination coverage is necessary to continue protecting students from vaccine-preventable diseases,” the study’s authors said, according to Reuters.

Researchers believe missed appointments with doctors during the pandemic contributed to the lower vaccination rate.

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