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Vaccination rate slips again for kids in Allegheny County schools

Vaccination rates in children slipping in Allegheny County
Vaccination rates in children slipping in Allegheny County 02:03

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Vaccination rates among children of school age in Allegheny County are high, but health officials said they're concerned because the percentage is slipping, and it's been slowly dropping for years.

94.6 percent of children enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade in Allegheny County received all the required vaccinations to protect against illnesses like measles, polio, and hepatitis B for the 2023-2024 school year, according to the county health department's new immunization report.

"We overall have a really excellent rate of vaccine coverage for school-aged children across the county. We are seeing a very slow but continual downtrend," said Dr. Barbara Nightingale, Deputy Director for Clinical Services for the Allegheny County Health Department.

The county's data shows the vaccine rate could be better than it used to be. Dr. Nightingale said they've been seeing a slow dipping trend for more than a decade. 

"We're concerned about the downward trend because anytime when the rates of vaccine coverage dip, you're at higher risk for having an outbreak for a vaccine-preventable disease, things like measles," she said.

The school-age immunization rate was 97.1 percent in 2013, and it was 94.6 percent last school year. That means the percentage of Allegheny County school kids who were fully vaccinated dropped below 95 percent, which is the threshold for measles immunity in schools. But Dr. Nightingale said when you look at the individual vaccines, 96.8 percent of kids got the measles shot last school year.

"We're actually still above the 95 percent. The reason we look at 95 percent is because that tends to be a number where when you start to drop below that for children who have the vaccine, you're at higher risk for having an outbreak. Measles is a very contagious disease," she said.

Dr. Nightingale said it's hard to pinpoint one exact reason for the slow immunization decline among school children over so many years.

"People are exposed to a lot of different types of information. And also, we're getting very removed from when diseases like measles or polio were much more widespread. So, there may be some aspects of which people are not perceiving the threat as much as they used to when they were more familiar when the diseases were more prevalent," she said.

"We know that people are hearing a lot of different things about vaccines and we definitely are taking steps as the county within the immunization program to see how we can combat misinformation and people really need to have accurate information regarding vaccines and their safety," she added.

Parents who have questions about vaccines regarding the benefits and side effects should talk to their healthcare provider.

"I would highly encourage parents and caregivers to make sure that their children are immunized...The other thing I would say that is important for parents to be aware of is that vaccines are very safe. They are very effective," Dr. Nightingale said.

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