Measles vaccinations in Phoenix: See kindergarten school immunization rates - ABC15 Arizona

PHOENIX — The national measles outbreak continues to grow, with the Centers for Disease Control now reporting more than 700 cases in the U.S.

There has only been one case so far in Arizona, reported last month in Pima County , but health officials say it's just a matter of time before we get another case, and also possible is an outbreak.

"With our low vaccination coverage and all of the measles activity that's going on around the country, we are concerned we'll see another measles case," said Jessica Rigler, with the Arizona Department of Health Services.

A key indicator health officials look at is "community immunity," meaning that we count on each other to stop the disease if it comes here. But right now, the community immunity numbers are very low, especially as kindergartners, required to have a measles shot by the time they attend school, are showing lower numbers of immunization compared to years past.

"We are lower than that threshold of 95 percent that we'd like to see in order to have a community protected from a measles outbreak," said Rigler. "In Maricopa County this school year, it looks like only about 40 percent of kindergarten classrooms have enough students that are vaccinated against measles in that classroom to prevent an outbreak in that classroom."

ABC15 obtained measles vaccination data for Maricopa County for the 2018-2019 school year, which shows the compliance rates for MMR vaccinations among kindergartners in schools across the county.

Click on each school below to see the MMR immunization rates at schools across Maricopa County for the 2018-2019 school year.

A total of six schools have MMR compliance rates below 80 percent, with one smaller school in the county only having 38 percent of their kindergarten students are immunized. Take a look to see each of the schools listed below.

SCHOOL NAME	CITY	ENROLLED	% IMMUNE MMR	% EXEMPT MMR	% COMPLIANCE MMR
ETHOS ACADEMY	GLENDALE	48	75%	2%	77%
PEORIA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL	PEORIA	71	75%	3%	77%
EAGLE COLLEGE PREP HARMONY	PHOENIX	27	70%	0%	74%
PAINTED DESERT MONTESSORI	BUCKEYE	65	46%	20%	66%
PIMA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL	SCOTTSDALE	70	61%	0%	61%
QUEEN OF PEACE CATHOLIC SCHOOL	MESA	29	38%	0%	38%

The MMR vaccination, delivered over a series of dosages, is required for children in an effort to prevent the spread of measles, mumps, and rubella. The first dose is typically recommended to be administered to children between 12 and 15 months of age, according to the CDC.

These compliance rates take into account children who are exempt from needing to receive the MMR immunization, and some county schools have a high percentage of students who are exempt.

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The list below shows the Maricopa County schools that have exemption rates of 30% of more for the 2018-2019 school year.

SCHOOL NAME	CITY	ENROLLED	% IMMUNE MMR	% EXEMPT MMR	% COMPLIANCE MMR
SCOTTSDALE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY	PHOENIX	53	70%	30%	100%
MONTESSORI EDUCATION CENTRE CHARTER SCHOOL-85204	MESA	40	68%	33%	100%
NORTH VALLEY CHRISTIAN ACADEMY	ANTHEM	21	57%	38%	100%
EAGLERIDGE ENRICHMENT PROGRAM	MESA	77	48%	52%	100%
DESERT MARIGOLD SCHOOL	PHOENIX	36	42%	58%	100%

This data does not include exact numbers of how many students are not immunized for the MMR vaccine, but an analysis of the data for every school in the state shows that of the almost 78,000 kindergarten students, approximately 1,350 (of 1.7 percent) have not been immunized.

Schools with fewer than 20 students were excluded from this list to protect the identities of the students involved.

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