Legislative interventions in 2014, 2015 and 2016 in California have helped increase vaccinations among young children across the state, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
A 2014 bill tightened requirements for obtaining a personal belief exemption; a 2015 campaign provided school staff with educational materials on the conditional admission for kindergartners who were not up to date on required vaccines; and a 2017 bill eliminated personal belief exemptions.
Researchers used cross-sectional school-entry data from 2000 to 2017 to calculate the rates of kindergartners who were not up to date on required vaccinations.
They found of the 9.3 million children who started kindergarten during the 17-year study period, 721,593 were not up to date on required vaccinations. The rate of kindergartners not up to date on required vaccinations increased from 7.8 percent during 2000 to 9.84 percent during 2013. That percentage decreased to 4.87 percent during 2017, after the interventions were put in place.
More articles on population health:
Johns Hopkins, 9 more Baltimore hospitals launch pilot to end homelessness
Neighborhood disadvantage linked to readmissions at safety-net hospitals
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset offers transitional housing