Dive Brief:
- While there has been much media attention on vaccination exemptions for students, not much has been reported on the fact that many states are lax on teacher and staff vaccinations.
- According to the Huffington Post, most states merely recommend teachers get certain vaccinations — a problem considering the current measles epidemic, which has resulted in over 100 cases in 14 states.
- The issue with a lack of accountability regarding teacher vaccination became clear after a recent outbreak at a Californian high school. While it was easy to pull up student vaccination histories, there was nothing on file for educators — and if there was, it was often outdated.
Dive Insight:
Measles is a highly infectious disease that can be transmitted through air, which is particularly problematic in schools — especially in states with high numbers of parents opting not to vaccinate their children for personal or religious beliefs. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that Colorado had the worst vaccination rates for kindergartners in the 2013-14 school year: between 81-85% were vaccinated. Idaho, Kansas, Arkansas, and Pennsylvania followed with 85-89% of their kindergartners vaccinated. Most states had over 90% of kindergartners vaccinated. Data like this, however, isn't currently tallied for teachers.