Day Care Centers Fall Short Of Federal Vaccination Guidelines

Three-quarters of Michigan children in licensed day care attend a center with vaccination rates below federal guidelines.

That’s according to an analysis of state data by MLive.

Of the approximately 159,000 children in a licensed day care with at least five children, the MLive analysis shows 119,000 are in centers where less than 95 percent of the children are fully vaccinated, the benchmark recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Many of those centers are in the state’s wealthiest, most densely populated counties, including Oakland, Washtenaw and Livingston, although virtually every county in Michigan has day cares with low vaccination rates.

The average day-care vaccination rate of 87 percent is lower than the rate in Michigan’s K-12 schools, which rank among the worst in the country.