CO Health Institute CEO: Political will lacking to tighten immunization law

That’s Lueck’s take on why efforts to make it harder for parents to claim “personal belief” exemptions from childhood immunizations are unlikely to succeed. She made the comment after a briefing Thursday on the 2015 Colorado Health Report Card, which revealed the state has lost ground when it comes to childhood immunization rates. (Read Chalkbeat’s coverage of the report card here.)

Unlike most of the other 38 health indicators on the report card, immunizations are one area where the numbers go down as income goes up, said Lueck.

“It’s not an issue of cost and it’s not an issue of access.”

Colorado’s legislature tried last year to make it harder for parents to obtain personal belief exemptions by requiring them to be briefed first by a health care professional or complete an online education module. That provision was ultimately stripped from the bill.