Report: Dade Lags In Kindergarten Immunizations
MIAMI (CBS4) - More than 20 percent of kindgarten students in Miami-Dade County lacked complete immunizations in the previous school year, the highest percentage of Florida's 67 counties, according to a new report.
Kids without the required vaccinations are allowed to go to class under a provisional status.
CBS4 news partner the Miami Herald reports that in Miami-Dade, only 76.7 percent of kindergarteners had complete immunizations in 2010-11. In Broward, the percentage was 92.9 percent; in Palm Beach it was 90.4 percent, and in Monroe County, 93.6 percent. Statewide, 91.1 percent of public school children began kindergarten in the last school year with complete immunizations.
Officials don't know why Miami-Dade's vaccination rate is so low, but they're concerned that the low rate puts students and their communities at higher risk of catching measles, mumps and whooping cough.
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