CDC Reports: Vaccine Exemption Rate for NJ Kindergarteners Creeps Up
Trenton, NJ, August 28, 2015 ― Tim Darragh reports in The Star-Ledger that New Jersey’s high rate of kindergarten-age children receiving their vaccinations before school is not quite as high, a new federal report shows and continues to fall below the national average.
The estimated percentage of kids entering kindergarten who received a pass on their vaccines rose to 1.8 percent in the 2014-2015 school year, up from 1.6 percent a year earlier, according to a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In all, 2,159 kindergartners in New Jersey received medical or religious vaccine exemptions, according to the CDC. The data do not cover exemptions for older students.
Overall, more than 92 percent of New Jersey kindergartners had complete measles, mumps, rubella vaccinations, CDC said.
That, however, is below the national median of 94 percent, the CDC said in a study released Thursday in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
To read Darragh’s full story, click here.