Vaccination Rates Remain High In Michigan
State health department says the rate of parents opting out has dropped, too.
Most Michigan school children start kindergarten with all the required vaccinations. The Michigan Department of Community Health says 92 percent of all kids who started school last fall were fully immunized. That’s a slight increase over the year before. Parents do have the option of not vaccinating their kids in certain cases. But the rate of waivers being granted in those instances has fallen from 5.8 percent to 5.2 percent. MDCH spokesperson Jennifer Smith tells WDET’s Pat Batcheller that the state has focused its efforts on educating parents about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.