Impact of publicly available vaccination rates on parental school and child care choice.
OBJECTIVE
Several states require schools and child cares to report vaccination rates, yet little is known about the impact of these policies. Our objectives were to assess: (1) predicted impact of vaccination rates on school/child care choice, (2) differences between vaccine hesitant and non-hesitant parents, and (3) differences by child's age.


METHODS
In 2016, a cross-sectional email survey of Colorado mothers with children ≤12 years old assessed value of vaccination rates in the context of school/child care choice. A willingness-to-pay framework measured preference for schools/child cares with different vaccination rates using tradeoff with commute time.


RESULTS
Response rate was 42% (679/1630). Twelve percent of respondents were vaccine hesitant. On a scale where 1 is "not important at all" and 4 is "very important" parents rated the importance of vaccination rates at 3.08. Respondents (including vaccine-hesitant respondents) would accept longer commutes to avoid schools/child cares with lower vaccination rates. Parents of child-care-age children were more likely to consider vaccination rates important.


CONCLUSIONS
This study shows parents highly value vaccination rates in the context of school and child care choice. Both hesitant and non-hesitant parents are willing to accept longer commute times to protect their children from vaccine-preventable diseases.
['Cataldi|Jessica R|JR|', 'Dempsey|Amanda F|AF|', 'Allison|Mandy A|MA|', "O'Leary|Sean T|ST|"]
D000328:Adult D000067576:Child Health D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D005260:Female D006801:Humans D010290:Parents D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care D012574:Schools D014611:Vaccination D014612:Vaccines
Vaccination Child care School health Utility measure