Spotlight: School Vaccination Status Tracker

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Parents PACK

In today’s society, schools are rated on a variety of scales: test scores, graduation rates, college acceptance rates, and more. Now, in the State of California, schools can be measured in one more way — by what percentage of its students are vaccinated and what percentage of parents claim personal belief exemptions. The Child Care/School Lookup tool, a component of the website Shots for School, allows parents to identify any school or childcare facility in California or within a certain zip code in that state, and view its 2013-2014 vaccination status. The stats include the percentage of students with all required vaccine doses, with personal belief exemptions, and those who have received particular immunizations, such as: varicella (chickenpox), hepatitis B, Hib, MMR, polio, and DTaP or Tdap depending on the age searched. These stats combine to form a scale that ranges from most vulnerable to safest, thereby providing a vaccination profile of any facility that reported its statistics.

Because a pillar of vaccination is the concept of herd immunity  — the idea that if enough people in a community or setting are immunized, the entire community is less susceptible to an outbreak — the tool provides parents with a great snapshot of a particular facility’s or community’s potential for outbreaks of some vaccine-preventable diseases.

Materials in this section are updated as new information and vaccines become available. The Vaccine Education Center staff regularly reviews materials for accuracy.

You should not consider the information in this site to be specific, professional medical advice for your personal health or for your family's personal health. You should not use it to replace any relationship with a physician or other qualified healthcare professional. For medical concerns, including decisions about vaccinations, medications and other treatments, you should always consult your physician or, in serious cases, seek immediate assistance from emergency personnel.