By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice
Colorado is proposing a new playbook for school vaccines. The Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) plans to drop reliance on the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) — a CDC panel — and instead follow the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which has rolled out its own schedule and supports only medical exemptions. The shift coincides with CDPHE’s campaign to lift MMR rates from 88 to 95 percent, the herd immunity target, amid national upheaval and rising parental concern.
Colorado’s health department is pushing new changes to school vaccine rules, and parents have less than two weeks to weigh in. CDPHE will appear before the State Board of Health on Oct. 15 to request a rulemaking hearing. Public comments are open now until 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19.
Parents on social media worry the changes could narrow exemptions or tighten school requirements. CDPHE says the edits are mostly technical, but its broader campaign to raise vaccination rates shows how high the stakes are.
Wildly important goals campaign
CDPHE has made measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) rates among kindergarteners one of its “Wildly Important Goals.” The department wants to raise coverage from 88.3 percent in 2024 to 95 percent by 2027, the level it says is needed for herd immunity against measles.
For the fourth year in a row, MMR coverage among Colorado kindergarteners has stayed below 90 percent, holding steady at 88.03 percent. CDPHE warns that this plateau comes just as measles resurges globally. The U.S. has reported 1,088 cases across 33 jurisdictions as of May 29, 2025 with 96 percent unvaccinated.
The agency also notes that federal COVID-19 immunization funding ended in March 2025, leaving a gap in support just as the measles threat grows.
The Governor’s public dashboard shows CDPHE treating vaccination like a scoreboard. In 2024–25, the state surpassed its goals: holding 343 clinics in low-coverage districts (target was 60), reaching nearly 59 million impressions in a measles media campaign (target was 55 million), and pushing catch-up vaccination through direct parent messaging to 33 percent (target was 25).
CDPHE’s dashboard shows a goal of raising kindergarten MMR rates from 88.3% in 2024 to 95% by 2027. Source for all four charts: Colorado Governor’s Dashboard, Public Health and Environment
CDPHE planned 60 school-based vaccine clinics by November 2024. By June 2025, the department reported 343 clinics held in districts with low MMR coverage.
CDPHE set a target of 55 million impressions for a measles-focused media campaign. By July 2024, the outreach reached nearly 59 million.
Texts and emails sent to parents of overdue kindergartners pushed compliance from 16 percent in FY24 to 33 percent by June 2025, surpassing the 25 percent target. CDPHE tracks how many overdue children get vaccinated after direct parent outreach.
According to CDPHE’s performance plan, the department will continue that push with at least 60 more clinics, stronger outreach to raise catch-up rates to 30 percent, a 14-million-impression measles campaign, and 40 community vaccine education events by 2026.
Proposed rule change
The department is proposing edits to 6 CCR 1009-2, which governs the Infant Immunization Program and student immunization requirements. The biggest change is swapping a reference to the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) schedule.
CDPHE says the update will streamline definitions and forms and tighten how schools track students who are “in-process” with shots.
For K–12, the state requires DTaP/Tdap, polio, MMR, varicella, hepatitis B and meningococcal in the designated grades. Colleges require MMR, and dorm residents are expected to either get a meningococcal shot or sign a waiver.
Exemptions remain in statute under SB20-163. Medical exemptions are filed once with a licensed provider. Nonmedical exemptions are renewed yearly for K–12 or at enrollment for college, either with a provider signature or through CDPHE’s online education module.
Concerns raised inside the board
At the June 18 Board of Health meeting, Dr. Christina Suh questioned the national committee Colorado has long followed. According to meeting notes, “She voiced concerns with whether the new ACIP members will be able to rigorously evaluate the data. She continues to support immunization efforts in Colorado and the dedicated, caring professionals at the Department who are carrying out this critical and life-saving work.”
Legislative Affairs Director Lindsay Ellis told the Board the 2025 session included “updates to school immunization requirements” among 78 bills affecting the department.
At the Aug. 20 meeting, Board administrator Ann Hause added, “With the close of the Legislative Session, there will be an increase in rulemaking in the future to amend rules.”
Parents watching closely
The dashboard’s bold target of 95 percent coverage is fueling the perception among some families that exemptions may eventually narrow. While state law still protects both medical and nonmedical exemptions, CDPHE’s aggressive campaign shows it is determined to drive rates higher.
The department’s performance plan commits not only to additional clinics and outreach but also to 40 community vaccine education events through FY26 aimed at building “vaccine literacy and confidence” in lower-coverage areas.
On social media, parents and child advocates have been weighing what these changes could mean for their families. Some say the proposals reinforce their decision to homeschool, while others worry they don’t have that option because of custody arrangements.
Several described feeling distrustful of state health policies and warned that broader federal policy shifts could further complicate Colorado’s approach. Others urged families to remain vigilant, encouraging attendance at Board of Health meetings and participation in public comment.
National context
For parents across the country, vaccine debates in D.C. aren’t an abstract policy fight — they translate into daily decisions about how to protect children. Mothers with newborns, for example, are weighing whether long-standing recommendations like the hepatitis B shot given at birth are necessary, safe, or at risk of being rolled back.
That uncertainty has only grown as federal leadership shifts. Since taking over as health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has dismissed the CDC director and replaced members of the agency’s vaccine advisory panel with figures who question the current schedule.
In testimony prompted by Sen. Ron Johnson, Kennedy revisited a 2002 CDC study from Atlanta, alleging data was destroyed after showing higher autism diagnoses among Black boys who received the MMR vaccine on time.
RFK Jr. alleges CDC scientists destroyed 2002 MMR study data involving Black boys
Another clip showed Kennedy arguing that Americans were “lied to” about natural immunity and vaccine transmission during COVID-19.
Kennedy sparred with Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, pressing him on whether mRNA vaccines had ever been linked to myocarditis or pericarditis and insisting that “Americans deserve the truth.”
Kennedy also questioned the policy of giving newborns the hepatitis B vaccine at birth, citing the small size of safety studies and arguing the risk of infant death from the disease was extremely low.
AAP, for its part, issued an evidence-based schedule that departs in places from the reshaped CDC advisers. It strongly supports childhood vaccination as the safest way to prevent disease and says school entry requirements should allow exemptions only for medical reasons.
It has gone further by advising that nonmedical exemptions be eliminated altogether.
Its new guidance continues to recommend routine vaccines including RSV, influenza, and COVID-19 for children in specific age groups. For example, the AAP explicitly recommends COVID-19 vaccination for children aged six through 23 months and for older children in high-risk groups, a firmer stance than the CDC’s current language.
States are moving in different directions as this plays out. Oregon, Washington and California are strengthening school vaccine mandates, while Florida has announced it will eliminate them altogether.
Colorado is taking its own course by aligning school requirements with the AAP schedule rather than the CDC’s — a move that signals both independence amid federal upheaval and a commitment to follow a body of pediatric experts who recommend on-time immunizations and oppose nonmedical exemptions.
How to weigh in
While debates swirl in D.C., the timeline in Colorado is already set. Parents and residents have until Sept. 19 to make their voices heard before the Board meets in mid-October.
Public comments are due by 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 19. Submissions can be made through CDPHE’s “Immunization laws and Board of Health rules” webpage. If the Board approves the department’s request on Oct. 15, the proposal will move to a formal hearing stage where written testimony and public comment will become part of the record.
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