On the state's official scorecard, Cincinnati Public Schools looks like it has a serious vaccination problem: roughly one in four kindergartners is listed as fully immunized. Local school and health leaders insist that picture is badly skewed, pointing to missing paperwork and data delays rather than a sudden collapse in childhood shots.
According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, district officials say the percentage shown on the Ohio Department of Health dashboard "lags behind documentation schools receive year-round" and that most CPS students are either fully vaccinated or "actively working to complete required immunizations." As the Cincinnati Enquirer reports, the district ended a contract that had placed a nurse in each of its 66 schools at the end of the 2024-25 school year and has since shifted to fewer nurses and more school health aides.
How the new state dashboard works
The Ohio Department of Health rolled out its "Annual Ohio Kindergarten Immunization Level Assessment" on April 14, 2026, publishing school-level vaccination, exemption, and missing-documentation numbers on the state's DataOhio portal, per Spectrum News. The public tool compiles summary data and spans the 2017-18 school year through 2025-26.
What Ohio law actually requires
Under Ohio Revised Code section 3313.671, students must present written proof that they have received required immunizations or show that they are "in the process" of getting them. The law states a pupil "shall not be permitted to remain in school for more than fourteen days unless the pupil presents written evidence" of vaccination or in-process status. Families and school staff can find the specifics of the 14-day rule and the "in process" definition in Ohio Revised Code §3313.671.
Legal and public health stakes
That 14-day clock is the key deadline for schools and parents. By the end of that window, districts either need the paperwork in hand or they are supposed to follow exclusion rules. During disease outbreaks, public health guidance allows local health departments to treat exposed children who lack documentation as susceptible and to exclude or monitor those contacts for days to weeks while the situation is addressed, according to the Ohio Department of Health communicable disease guidance.
Hamilton County Public Health's medical director, Dr. Stephen Feagins, told the Cincinnati Enquirer that the Cincinnati numbers look "more of a reporting issue than a vaccination issue," and county officials say they are working with CPS staff to reconcile student records. The county public health website also lists Dr. Feagins as the agency's medical director and a regular local media commentator on infectious disease topics.
How Ohio stacks up
The statewide dashboard reveals that Cincinnati is not alone in having complicated data. Results vary widely by county and school. A county-level pull by the Scioto Valley Guardian found some Ross County schools with more than 95% of kindergartners fully documented, while the statewide summary in that analysis showed about 85.4% of reported kindergartners with complete documentation and roughly 9% with documentation missing.
Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control's SchoolVaxView reports that kindergarten coverage for key vaccines is still in the low 90% range for many shots but has inched downward in recent years, offering context for why state-by-state lists are closely watched by public health planners (CDC SchoolVaxView).
What parents can do right now
Families who are nervous about what the state has on file for their child can check the Ohio Department of Health dashboard on the publicly accessible DataOhio portal at DataOhio. Parents are also urged to call their school nurse or the district office to confirm that immunization records have actually been received and logged.
Cincinnati Public Schools runs school-based health centers at 24 schools, offering low or no-cost care. Those clinics can help families get required vaccines and update school documentation, and CPS directs parents to its school health centers page for specific locations and hours.
For state and local officials, the new dashboard is already proving its worth as a transparency tool. In Cincinnati, it flagged a significant documentation gap that health and school leaders now describe as mostly administrative. Their message to parents is straightforward: double-check your child's records so students are not accidentally kept out of class under Ohio law while staff works behind the scenes to align school files with the state's data.
