LANSING, MI (AP)-- Public health officials worried that not enough Michigan children are being immunized against diseases must combat a trend not helpful to their cause.
More parents are simply refusing to get their kids vaccinated.
Michigan has the country's fourth-highest rate of parents getting religious or philosophical waivers to vaccine requirements, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 7,300, or 5.5 percent, of Michigan's roughly 125,000 kindergartners had medical, religious or philosophical waivers on file last school year.
Parents are skeptical that all vaccines are essential or fear they carry their own risk. State officials pushing for immunizations this month suspect some parents get waivers not because of their personal beliefs, but because they've run out of time to get to the doctor before school starts.
