How to check the measles vaccination rate at your child’s Illinois school

CHICAGO (WGN) — Illinois health officials on Wednesday released a new online tool that allows residents to look up the measles vaccination rate at any school in the state to assess the risk of infection.

Illinois this year is so far clear of confirmed measles infections, but Indiana health officials on Tuesday confirmed five more cases, bring that state’s total to six. In Texas, officials said this week that a second child died of measles. An adult in New Mexico has also died. None of three who died were vaccinated.

The last outbreak in the Chicago area was last spring, when dozens of infections were reported, mostly at shelters housing migrants to the city.

“Our new dashboard provides the public with the ability to review the measles vaccination rates in their child’s school and its risk for an outbreak,” IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said in a statement.

The Measles Outbreak Simulator Dashboard currently uses vaccination data from both public and private schools in the 2023-2024 school year. It’ll be updated with more-recent information from the current school year when the data becomes available “in the near future,” the department’s statement said.

The tool provides predictions, projections and estimates for the size and spread of a measles outbreak in individual Illinois schools from Pre-K through 12th grade.

“I encourage every school administrator to explore this resource to support families in staying informed and up to date on vaccinations,” State Superintendent of Education Dr. Tony Sanders said.