Immunization policies at child care centers help ensure children and the broader community, including those who can’t be vaccinated, are protected vaccine-preventable diseases. States, including Colorado, typically set immunization requirements for schools and child cares in statute, however child care facilities often have some control over how the policy is enacted at their site. Colorado law allows for non-medical (personal belief or religious) exemptions to required vaccines in addition to medical exemptions. Some child care centers in Colorado have implemented policies that remove non-medical exemptions (NMEs) to vaccination to enhance the level of protection against vaccine-preventable diseases. Child care administrators often seek guidance for improving their immunization policies, but few Colorado-specific resources currently exist. To support Colorado child care administrators and policymakers in future immunization policy decision making, Immunize Colorado:
- Collected and analyzed vaccination policies between Colorado child care centers and
- Compared Colorado statues with other state and global contexts to identify opportunities
Immunization policies from a random sample of 50% of child care centers that reported immunization data to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in 2018-2019 were collected and analyzed to determine policy completeness and if the policy permitted NMEs (personal or religious) to vaccination. Policies were collected from each facilities’ website.