“We ask families about concerns they have around vaccines and try to provide the needed answers. We share the fact that, despite what they may see on social media, most people really do trust science and vaccinate their children. We know some families struggle to have access to care, and sometimes request vaccine exemptions just to keep their kids going to school and parents going to work. We try to offer every opportunity to update vaccines of the many, to keep other children safe who are too young or immune compromised to be vaccinated. Herd immunity is real and community vaccine rates of 85% are good, but 95% is better.” - Dr. Sara Guerrero-Duby
“Immunization is the most important way to keep people safe from vaccine preventable diseases like polio. Unfortunately, the rates of routine childhood vaccinations have been declining in the United States. Since measles and polio occur naturally in other parts of the world, unvaccinated Americans are still at risk of infection and severe disease. In July of this year, a person in New York contracted paralytic polio from a traveler. Even closer to home, an outbreak of measles is occurring now in a childcare facility in Columbus, Ohio among children who are not vaccinated and have not been traveling. Measles is very contagious and spreads to about 9 out of 10 unvaccinated children who are exposed, even before children have symptoms. One in five children with measles will need to be hospitalized. If Americans don’t get available, recommended vaccinations, diseases like polio, measles, and whooping cough will once again become more common, putting children at risk of serious complications from diseases that can be prevented by available vaccines.” - Dr. Becky Thomas
FIVE KEY FINDINGS:
1. Hesitancy growing
The percentage of parents filing moral or religious exemptions to allow their kindergarten children to attend school without required vaccines increased statewide last year, our investigation found. At 14 area schools, at least 14% of kindergarteners’ parents filed moral vaccine exemptions. You can search vaccination rates at every elementary school in Ohio on our website.
2. Pandemic impacted vaccine reluctance
Opposition to getting children vaccinated against diseases like measles and polio increased during the pandemic. Some believe hesitancy regarding the COVID-19 vaccine led parents to hold off on getting their kids the more traditional vaccines. “There has been a growing national trend of vaccine distrust that resulted from the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines. More and more parents are directly correlating their beliefs about COVID-19 vaccines with routine childhood vaccinations, such as polio or rubella,” said Springfield schools spokeswoman Jenna Leinasars.
3. Exemptions highest in rural areas
The seven school districts the newspaper found with district-wide kindergarten vaccine exemption rates over 10% all serve rural areas. COVID-19 vaccinations have also nationally been lower in rural areas compared to urban areas with 48% in rural areas versus 61% in metropolitan areas, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
4. Ohio makes exemptions easy
Ohio is among the easiest states for families to opt their children out of the immunizations required for school, offering parents the chance to submit written statements opposing vaccinations for religious and/or personal moral objections. While 44 states and Washington, D.C. allow religious exemptions for vaccinations, Ohio is among 15 states to go a step further and allow personal philosophy exemptions.
5. Cause for concern
Infectious disease experts and public health officials are concerned. Many area communities are dropping below herd immunity, increasing the risk that infectious diseases not often seen anymore could return. “We have seen an uptick in pertussis, mumps, measles, and other vaccine-preventable diseases across Ohio,” said Charles Patterson, health commissioner with the Clark County Combined Health District. “Many people have never experienced or seen the devastating effects of some of these vaccine-preventable diseases and therefore don’t always make a well informed decision about the possible consequences of declining to have their children vaccinated.”
OTHER RESOURCES:
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): www.aap.org/immunization
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): www.cdc.gov/vaccines/parents
Immunization Action Coalition (IAC): www.vaccineinformation.org