ABOUT THE DATA

Georgia law requires that all children attending public or private school be properly vaccinated against measles, mumps, rubella, polio, whooping cough, chickenpox, diphtheria, tetanus and hepatitis B. The state requires audits for compliance each fall of kindergarten and sixth-grade classes.

Children can receive exemptions from shots for medical or religious reasons. And schools can issue waivers of about 30 days to give parents time to get shots or documents.

For a medical exemption, a doctor must certify that a child shouldn't be vaccinated for a specific reason, such as cancer treatment or an immune disorder. A religious exemption requires a notarized statement that shots violate a family's beliefs.

The data on this site, released by the Georgia Division of Public Health, represents the vaccination status of children in either kindergarten or sixth grade at the time of the school's audit last fall. Audits generally occur in October or November; and each county's health department had to submit school data to the state by Nov. 30.

School officials with high numbers of children who are missing required shots downplay the risk, saying that as the school year progresses more get their shots. But the Georgia's school vaccination law says such students should not have been admitted to school without a complete vaccination certificate, an exemption or a temporary waiver.

For the 2008-09 school year, the state health department changed its vaccination audit forms in a way that can falsely inflate compliance rates. Using the state's new math, children who are missing required doses of vaccines are counted on the form as being in full compliance with the law -- when they're really not.

Children who lack doses are not fully protected against disease, which is why the booster shots are required. In the past, such children were counted on audit forms as noncompliant. As a result of the change, schools in the 2008-09 school year can tout themselves as being 100 percent in compliance, when in fact they may have children who are missing doses and are attending classes in violation of the law.

The data posted on this site calculates compliance using both the old and the new formulas so readers can see the difference. State officials said they are re-examining how to calculate compliance in the future.

If you have questions about a school's vaccination compliance, contact its principal or officials at its district headquarters.