(HARTFORD, CT) – Governor Ned Lamont today said that a decision by his administration to publicly release data on school-by-school vaccination rates is a win for parents and guardians who want to know basic statistics about the educational institutions in which their children are enrolled.
Data on vaccination rates for the 2018-2019 school year was released earlier today by the Connecticut Department of Public Health. The governor stressed that the data contains no information that could identify or single out any individual students, but rather it gives a broad depiction of what is happening on a school-based level.
“This information needs to be available to the public and lawmakers so they are not operating in the dark as they make decisions for their families and shape public policy,” Governor Lamont said. “I want to make it absolutely clear – nothing in the data that was released today identifies any individual student. Rather, it constitutes important public health statistical data critical to the ongoing debate on this trend, which is happening not just in our state, but throughout the country. I do not see any justifiable reason why the public should be blocked from having access to this information, and I hope it is used for exactly what we intended – to better inform people on both sides of this issue.
“This data shows that our state is continuing to see an increase in the number of students whose parents and guardians are choosing to not provide them with lifesaving immunizations. We need to do more to protect children against preventable diseases, which is why it is even more pressing that we work with the General Assembly to repeal the non-medical exemptions in the interests of public health.”