Скачать или смотреть Childhood vaccination rates decline in Ohio, raising public health concerns

As Ohio children return to school, health officials are sounding the alarm about a troubling trend: fewer students are getting vaccinated against preventable diseases and experts say the consequences could be dangerous.

For the 2024–2025 school year, 85.4% of kindergartners met all state vaccine requirements, according to the Ohio Department of Health. That’s a drop of nearly 4.5 percentage points from the 2019–2020 school year, when the compliance rate was 89.9%.

“That means thousands fewer incoming kindergartners are protected against the range of diseases that these vaccines prevent,” said Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff in a press conference last week.

The state’s vaccination rate is now below the national average and falls short of the 90% threshold typically needed for herd immunity — the level at which enough people are protected to help stop the spread of contagious diseases. Herd immunity is especially important for protecting those who cannot be vaccinated, such as infants or people with compromised immune systems.

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