Colonial and Wissahickon families can now look up vaccination rates at their children's individual schools for the first time, thanks to a new state tool that went live Tuesday, Aug. 4, less than four weeks before the Aug. 31 first day of school.
The interactive dashboard, built by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and Department of Education, shows 2025-26 immunization data for kindergarten, seventh grade and 12th grade at more than 90% of Pennsylvania schools. Parents can filter by county and search by school name to find MMR, DTaP, polio, hepatitis B, varicella, Tdap and meningococcal rates, plus medical, religious and philosophical exemption percentages.
The district-level search function is not yet available. To find Colonial or Wissahickon schools, parents must filter by Montgomery County and type in individual school names.
"Knowledge is power, and Pennsylvania parents deserve clear, accessible data about the health of their children's schools," Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Debra Bogen said when announcing the tool. "This new tool cuts through the noise, putting critical information directly into the hands of families and local leaders so they can work together to reduce the risk of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles and whooping cough."
The launch comes as Pennsylvania's measles outbreak continues to grow. The state recorded 176 cases statewide as of Wednesday, Aug. 5, with 33 hospitalizations, according to WESA. Montgomery County had three confirmed cases as of July 25.
Why 95% matters
Public health experts consider a 95% MMR vaccination rate the threshold for community immunity, meaning enough people are protected to prevent measles from spreading easily. Statewide, more than half of reporting schools meet that benchmark for kindergarteners, according to the Times Herald. But about one in three Pennsylvania kindergarteners attend a school that falls below it.
Compliance improves with older students: more than 74% of reporting schools hit the 95% mark at seventh grade, and more than 83% at 12th grade.
Montgomery County's overall kindergarten MMR rate was 95.2% in the 2023-24 school year, barely clearing the threshold, according to a Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children report. The new dashboard now breaks that county average into school-by-school figures for 2025-26.
What Colonial families need to do
The Colonial Middle School nurse posted that incoming seventh graders must submit documentation of two required vaccines, Tdap and meningococcal conjugate (MCV4), by Aug. 31. Families can upload records through the SNAP portal or email them to [email protected].
As reported July 25, Colonial Middle School had posted an Oct. 1 immunization deadline that conflicted with the state's Aug. 31 requirement. The nurse's current notice lists Aug. 31 as the deadline.
The dashboard fulfills a requirement of Gov. Josh Shapiro's Executive Order 2025-02, which directs state agencies to expand access to vaccine information. Officials said a district-level search and updated 2026-27 data will be added later this year and next year, respectively.
Families who have not yet scheduled vaccine appointments should contact their pediatrician before the Aug. 31 deadline.
