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Utah’s charter school students five times more likely to catch chicken pox than those at public schools

Charter school students in Utah were more than five times more likely than public school students to catch chicken pox at school, according to state data.

The increased risk of chicken pox aligns with vaccination rates, which are far lower in charter schools than in public schools, according to research published this month by the Utah Department of Health. Nonmedical vaccine exemptions are more than twice as common at charter schools in Utah, one of 18 states which allow such exemptions.

Accordingly, rates of chicken pox were higher among charter school students. From 2011 to 2016, the rate of infection among charter school students was nearly double that of public school students, according to the study.