{"id":268113,"date":"2026-08-19T11:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T11:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/268113\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T11:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T11:10:08","slug":"pa-health-teams-stress-back-to-school-vaccines-as-measles-cases-persist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/268113\/","title":{"rendered":"PA health teams stress back-to-school vaccines as measles cases persist"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

How many kids are vaccinated against infectious diseases like measles, mumps or rubella in different Pennsylvania schools? Parents, educators and health officials can now take a closer look at that data, thanks to the state\u2019s new school immunization dashboard<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

The big picture shows that about 93% or more of all kindergarteners last year were vaccinated, according to state data<\/a>. But zooming in closer reveals a much more nuanced situation, with great variations by individual school, even within the same county.\n<\/p>\n

For example, in Delaware County, 97% of all kindergarteners last year at Springfield Literacy Center had completed the MMR vaccine series. But several miles away, only about 72% of kindergarteners at Chester Community Charter School had done the same.\n <\/p>\n

That\u2019s far below the 95% vaccination rate required to achieve strong herd immunity<\/a>, or the level of immunization needed for immunocompromised, vulnerable and unvaccinated people, including newborns, in a community to be protected against a disease like measles<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first time the state Department of Health has made school-by-school immunization data<\/a> public. Officials said they hope families, community health workers and educators use the information to identify gaps and barriers in vaccination coverage, especially as students return to class this fall amid the backdrop of ongoing measles outbreaks<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis gives another layer of transparency for people to make decisions for themselves and really understand the needs of their community,\u201d said Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen.
\n\"aRegistered nurse Diana Dur prepares doses of routine childhood and seasonal vaccinations on the Delaware County Health Department\u2019s Wellness on Wheels mobile health clinic in Upper Darby, Pa., on Monday, July 27, 2026.\n<\/p>\n

The vaccine dashboard can help public health experts pinpoint schools that are struggling the most with vaccinations and communities that are at risk of disease outbreaks, Bogen said.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are trying to build community immunity, and that community immunity really is about thinking, yes, this vaccine helps your child, but it also helps protect those around the child who may not be able to get vaccinated themselves,\u201d Bogen said.\n<\/p>\n

The state and local communities are trying to strengthen immunity by reducing barriers to vaccination through different initiatives.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4913,28,30,29,42286],"class_list":["post-268113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-measles","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-vaccines-for-kids"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}