The annual pre-kindergarten (pre-K) through 12th grade school immunization survey collects school-level, grade-specific data on vaccine coverage and exemptions. The survey collects vaccination and exemption status data on children who entered the school system on or before a specified date during the fall semester. Individual vaccine information on each student is not collected.
This table shows the percentage of kindergarten students vaccinated for each school-entry mandated vaccine series and the percentage with vaccination exemptions (medical or religious) reported by school. Percentage of students vaccinated is the number of students with the required number of doses of a given vaccine divided by the total number of students. Data includes all schools who reported students in kindergarten.
School-mandated vaccine series for students enrolled in kindergarten are inactivated polio, DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis), MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella), hepatitis B, varicella, and hepatitis A.
Each child has 1 of 4 possible vaccination statuses: Vaccinated, Exempt (Religious), Exempt (Medical) or Not Complete. The criteria shown below are used to assess whether a child is considered vaccinated.
• Polio = at least 3 doses of inactivated polio vaccine, with the last dose on or after their 4th birthday. This is a school entry requirement starting in kindergarten.
• DTaP = at least 4 doses of DTaP vaccine, with the last dose on or after their 4th birthday. This is a school entry requirement starting in kindergarten.
• MMR = at least 2 doses of MMR vaccine separated by at least 28 days, with the 1st dose on or after their 1st birthday. This is a school entry requirement starting in kindergarten.
• HepB = at least 3 doses of hepatitis B vaccine, with the last dose on or after 24 weeks of age. This is a school entry requirement starting in kindergarten.
• Varicella = at least 2 doses of varicella vaccine separated by at least 28 days, with the 1st dose on or after their 1st birthday, or a reliable history of chickenpox disease. This is a school entry requirement starting in kindergarten.
• HepA = at least 2 doses of hepatitis A vaccine, given a minimum of six calendar months apart, with the 1st dose on or after their 1st birthday. This is a school entry requirement starting in kindergarten.
• All = Percentage of students with all above vaccine series required for that grade level.
Children without a record of vaccination, but with serologic proof of immunity to certain diseases (measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B, hepatitis A, and varicella), meet school entry requirements and may be counted as vaccinated.
The values for schools with fewer than 30 enrolled kindergarteners are suppressed, and those fields are left blank.
Data Limitations and Considerations:
• The school level data shown here are as tabulated and reported by schools and discrepancies may exist.
• The Immunization Program identifies outliers and internally inconsistent data points and works with schools to resolve any data quality issues, when possible.
• CT DPH cannot verify the accuracy of vaccine data for individual children or whether the documentation necessary to claim an exemption has been submitted.
• Data are collected at the beginning of the school year, by which time vaccines are due. As the year progresses, immunization rates may increase as additional children receive required immunizations. Additionally, the student body is dynamic and as students arrive and leave school, the immunization rates are impacted.
• Vaccine status is assessed on the level of the child and not on each vaccine. Once a child is listed as exempt, vaccination data is no longer collected in the survey for that child. Therefore, children with exemptions are not counted as vaccinated in the vaccine level assessments although they may have received some vaccines.
• One school was excluded due to a data collection error.
