DETROIT – Michigan parents have free access to detailed vaccination data for their children’s schools, allowing them to make informed decisions about health risks and school selection.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) maintains a comprehensive database showing vaccination rates and waiver information for kindergarteners and seventh graders across the state’s schools.
“This is data that is really meant for people to have some knowledge about what’s happening in their community,” explains Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, Chief Medical Executive for Michigan. She emphasizes that while the information is detailed, “none of this is personally identifying information. This just tells you what the vaccination rates are like in your school.”
Understanding Michigan’s Vaccine Requirements
Michigan stands out as one of the states offering multiple types of vaccination waivers. Beyond medical exemptions, the state allows waivers for both religious and personal beliefs. This flexibility results in varying vaccination rates across schools, making access to this data particularly valuable for parents.
How Parents Can Use the Data
The database serves multiple purposes for families:
Health Risk Assessment: Parents can use the information when discussing potential health risks with pediatricians, especially in schools with lower immunization rates.
School Selection: Some families may consider vaccination rates when choosing schools for their children.
Informed Medical Discussions: Dr. Bagdasarian provides an example: “If you know that you’re in a school environment that has lower immunization rates and your child develops fever and a rash, you may use that information to talk to your pediatrician about the risk for something like measles, which wouldn’t necessarily be so much of a concern if you were talking about a school where the vast majority of children were immunized.”
Southeast Michigan Vaccination Rates
Recent data from Southeast Michigan shows encouraging vaccination completion rates:
Kindergarten: Wayne County leads with an 88.4% completion rate
Seventh Grade: Detroit shows the highest rate at 92.4%
Accessing the Information
