NYC students’ vaccination rates still below pre-pandemic levels: Health Dept.

Metro

By Matthew Sedacca

Big Apple students’ immunization rates for vaccines required for school attendance have yet to rebound to pre-pandemic levels, city health officials revealed. 

In the city’s public and charter schools, 95.3% of students in grades pre-K–12 are up to date with their mandatory shots, compared to 98.5% before the COVID-19 pandemic, a health official reported.

Immunization rates are down between 2 to 16 percent compared to 2019, depending on the vaccine and age group, said Dr. Celia Quinn, deputy commissioner for disease control, during a City Council hearing Thursday.

Children ages 4-6 — or those who were infants to age 3 during the worst of the pandemic — have the biggest gap in vaccine coverage.

During the pandemic, vaccination rates declined as people delayed routine doctor’s visits, Quinn said, adding without elaboration that “vaccine misinformation and disinformation” contributed to the dip in New Yorkers getting their shots. 

News of students’ diminished vaccination rates in the city has come amid rising measles cases in the country.

As of the end of February, 41 cases have been documented across 15 states and New York City — compared to 58 cases for all last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So far, the city has documented two measles cases this year, compared to just one for all last year.

Children should get their first MMR shot — for measles, mumps and rubella — at 12 to 15 months, and a second shot between ages 4 and 6, according to the CDC.

A vaccination rate of 95% for measles is enough for herd immunity protection for non-immunized individuals, Quinn said, but warned “wherever there are pockets of lower vaccine coverage, the risk of an outbreak is going to increase depending on how low that coverage gets.”