When making decisions about their children’s education, parents in Colorado — a state with a history of low participation in childhood vaccinations — prefer schools with higher immunization rates, according to a new study.

Even parents who are hesitant about vaccinating their own children are willing to drive further to avoid schools and child care centers with lower immunization rates, according to the study by the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Dr. Jessica Cataldi, who was the study’s lead author, said parents value schools with higher vaccination rates because they want their children in a healthy environment.

“Even those parents that have some concerns about vaccines still thought it was important,” said Cataldi, a pediatrician and an infectious disease researcher at the CU.

The study, which was published in the journal Vaccine, aimed to assess the value of publicly reporting vaccination rates. It was conducted before a law passed in 2014 requiring Colorado schools to reveal immunization and exemption rates.

Researchers surveyed more than 400 mothers of children under 12 years old, and asked them to rate the importance of six factors related to school and child care choice. Vaccination rates ranked fourth, after safety, academics and size, according to a news release.

Researchers also found that parents with children in child care were more likely than those with older students to consider vaccination rates important when it comes to choosing schools, Cataldi said.

It’s likely parents with younger children care more about immunization rates because the kids are “more prone to getting sick,” she said.

It’s only the second year the state’s health department has collected immunization and exemption data, which is required by the Colorado Board of Health. The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has made the data available to parents and guardians via a website that allows them to look up immunization and exemption data for schools.

“Now that it’s available … we’re starting to see people really starting to hold on to that,” said Tony Cappello, director of the health department’s disease control and environmental epidemiology division. “It’s providing that educated decision they can make for their children and their health.”

Colorado, which ranked 45th in vaccination rates for children 19 to 35 months old in 2013, has also seen immunization rates for students increase in recent years.

During the 2017-18 school year, almost 93 percent of Colorado students and more than 95 percent of children in child care or preschool received their immunizations, according to data from the state health department.

The number of students getting vaccines has gone up for multiple reasons, including a jump in the population and the state having higher quality data now that schools are required to report immunization rates, Cappello said.

“We’re seeing a really positive trend in the state,” he said.