In the Journals: Daycare Policies

On Nov. 17, 2014, the C. S. Mott Children’s Hospital, the University of Michigan Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases, and the University of Michigan Child Health Evaluation and Research Unit published the results of a study of parents of 614 children between 0 and 5 years of age (C. S. Mott Children’s Hospital, National Poll on Children’s Health, volume 22, issue 4, Nov. 17, 2014). Investigators wanted to determine how parents felt about their children attending daycare centers where other children might not be immunized. The survey was administered in June 2014 to a randomly selected group of parents at least 18 years that represented the United States population. The authors of the study found the following:

• Three quarters of parents believed that daycare providers should check vaccination records every year.
• Two thirds of parents believed that they should be informed of the number of children at the daycare center who were not up to date on vaccines.
• About 40 percent of parents supported a policy to exclude under-vaccinated children from daycare centers until they were up to date on their vaccines.
• Three quarters of parents believed that in a scenario where 1 in 4 children in a daycare center was not up to date on his/her vaccines, they would consider removing their children from that daycare.

As more parents are choosing to delay or withhold vaccines for their children, parental attitudes about this choice will be become increasingly more important as society determines what to do about it.