DENVER — A state health department dashboard published Friday makes available the COVID-19 vaccination rates for schools and school districts across Colorado.
Out of about 850,000 students enrolled in K-12 public schools, 47.5% have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine; 41.5% are fully vaccinated, and 6.8% have received a booster, according to the data.
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The dashboard digs down deeper than the statewide level, allowing searches of vaccination rates at the county, district and school level.
"COVID-19 vaccination coverage rates at the school district, school, and grade levels vary, and CDPHE created this dashboard to help parents/guardians/caregivers, educators, and school staff make informed decisions about other potential mitigation practices they may want to consider for their children and/or themselves, including continued indoor masking and physical distancing," according to a CDPHE news release.
Schools aren't required to collect COVID-19 vaccination information. So the dashboard was made possible by an interagency agreement between the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and the Colorado Department of Education (CDE), the news release says.
CDE shared student directory information for students enrolled in prekindergarten through 12th grade at state public schools from the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 school years.
"This data sharing agreement maintains individual confidentiality by ensuring any publicly shared data remains aggregate so as to protect student personally identifiable information," the release says.
CDPHE matched student information with patient immunization records. About 96% of 855,621 student records were successfully matched, according to CDPHE.
The dashboard will be updated on a weekly basis, the state health department says.
After a COVID-19 vaccine is authorized for children younger than 5, CDPHE will include vaccination rates for prekindergarten-age children.
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