Sharp drop in fully vaccinated Ohio kindergartners signals need for all

In just five years, the number of fully vaccinated Ohio kindergartners has dropped by a stunning 4.5%. Last school year, only 85.4% of kindergartners in the state met all vaccine requirements (versus 89.9% just five years earlier), cleveland.com’s Laura Hancock reported.

That translates to thousands of Ohio kids not getting the shots that have proven both effective and needed to protect children and reduce chances of contracting and spreading harmful and highly infectious diseases like measles, polio and Hepatitis B.

To its credit, the Ohio Department of Health Immunization Program continues to “ seek to prevent 17 vaccine-preventable diseases ... with currently available vaccines ” for both children and adults. Besides measles, mumps, rubella, polio and Hepatitis B, these state-enco