Dive Brief:

• On Tuesday, the Oregon State Senate advanced a bill that would mandate that all schools publish what percentage of their students are immunized and for what diseases.
• An earlier bill that would have eliminated all nonmedical vaccination exemptions died earlier this year.
• The current bill’s backers say it is intended to help parents — especially those who aren’t able to immunize their children — make decisions about where to send their students. The rates will be publicly available and posted in the school and on school websites.

Dive Insight:

The anti-immunization movement remains active, and the impact on schools continues to result in more legislation. Some state officials in Oregon and elsewhere have worried that there are schools where "herd" immunity — which occurs when a large number of vaccinated students protects those who aren't — no longer exists. Colorado, which has lower immunization rates than many surrounding states, passed a law last year mandating that all schools make their immunization rates publicly available and some districts posted vaccination opt-out rates as high as 15%.

Some states have taken even more aggressive action than Oregon. California recently passed a law that ended personal and religious exemptions to immunization.