Public schools throughout Ohio struggle to ensure children are vaccinated

Associated Press

DAYTON, Ohio

Schools in Ohio are struggling to get students vaccinated and keep track of those who are immunized.

About 75 percent of Ohio elementary schools have failed to document every incoming kindergartner as vaccinated or exempt from vaccination by the state deadline this school year. At 158 schools, at least 30 percent of students started the 2016-17 school year without documentation of all needed shots.

Health officials say students who don’t receive shots put people who cannot be vaccinated in jeopardy. Officials say babies and children with compromised immune systems are among the vulnerable population.

“For herd immunity, we actually need to see those numbers be much higher,” said Melissa Wervey Arnold, CEO of the American Academy of Pediatrics Ohio chapter.

Herd immunity refers to the belief that the more people in a community who are immunized, the more protected the entire community is.

The Dayton Daily News reports that some 60 percent of Ohio schools have been meeting the herd immunity level in the last three years.

The state does not have the authority to force schools to report their vaccine records.

Legislators failed to pass legislation to improve school record keeping in 2016. Some lawmakers hope to try again with legislation to will help with gaps in reporting.

Health care officials insist they are not trying to take away parents’ rights to decide about vaccinations, but want to have schools are reporting through the system.