School immunization levels on Long Island

New York State now has more than 400 confirmed cases of the measles since October, mostly concentrated in Brooklyn and Rockland County. The outbreak prompted New York City on Tuesday to declare a public health emergency. But Long Island communities are also at risk. In fact, more than 70 schools in Nassau and Suffolk – some public, most of them private – have vaccination rates that fall below the 96 percent goal set by the state Health Department. At those schools, a single measles case is far more likely to cause an outbreak, because too many kids are vulnerable to the disease.

Why do parents choose not to vaccinate? In some cases, families claim a religious exemption – often for reasons that have nothing to do for religion, but because it’s the easiest way to avoid vaccination. These include parents who are reacting to false information spread by anti-vaccination groups. Other parents simply don’t trust their doctors, or government officials.

One complication is that in some public schools on Long Island with the lower vaccination rates, there are high percentages of immigrant families, or students who arrived here mostly from Central America in a status known as unaccompanied minors. Some may lack the paperwork to confirm that they’ve been vaccinated or, in other cases, were not vaccinated. Such cultural differences are an added challenge for health department officials, school administrators, doctors and others trying to increase the rate of vaccination.

Schools or districts that fall below 96% measles immunization rate are highlighted in red.