A Multimethod Examination of Conditionally Admitted Kindergartners and School Entry Vaccination Requirements
Summary
There is little understanding of when, why, and where children are falling behind on vaccinations. Our research aims to fill this knowledge gap by examining provisional enrollment in school-age children. While there has been considerable prior research on vaccine hesitancy and NME use, to our knowledge, no one has examined similar questions with regard to provisional entrants. Our research includes both a national-level assessment and a more in-depth state-level analysis. The state-level analysis leverages the natural experiment provided by Pennsylvania's policy change prior to the 2017-18 school year that reduced the grace period allowed for provisional entrants. There has been no rigorous evaluation of that new policy and its effects on vaccination.