What to know about vaccines in NY as students go back to school

Back-to-school checklists for many parents include backpacks, notebooks — and making sure their kids are up to date on their vaccines.

Even amid mixed messaging around vaccines out of Washington, D.C. and a decline in childhood vaccination rates nationally, New York’s childhood vaccination rates remain strong.

New York state’s kindergartners have among the highest vaccination rates in the country, according to federal data , largely thanks to strict school immunization rules that don’t permit religious vaccine exemptions.

Vaccination rates among children too young to attend school have also started to rise in New York City in recent years for most types of immunizations, although coverage varies depending on the vaccine and the ZIP code, public data shows. Meanwhile, flu shots hav