© 2024 WYSO
Our Community. Our Nation. Our World.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Immunizations Could Be Required For Entrance Into Day Care

A child receives immunization for polio
United States Agency for International Development

A pair of bills to require nearly all kids in day care centers to be fully immunized are expected to move quickly in the lame duck session of the state legislature. 

The measures require parents to vaccinate their preschool age kids if they want to enroll them in one of the 4,100 licensed day care centers in Ohio. Republican Shannon Jones of Springboro sponsored the Senate version of the bill, and admits supporters have battled some misinformation about vaccines.

“There still, in this state, would be an option for there to be an opt-out for those kids, physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics and all the public health specialists tell us that this is critically important to protecting the population,” Jones said.

A CDC survey ranks Ohio 49th in the country in immunizations for kids 19 to 35 months.