Rising kindergarten vaccine exemption numbers may reflect documentation gaps, county officials say

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - A new CDC report shows kindergarten vaccine exemptions rose nationally last school year, but local health officials say the number in Hamilton County may reflect missing documentation rather than a lack of vaccination.

National and state numbers

The CDC says kindergarten vaccine exemptions rose to 4.2% last school year, up from 3.6% the year before. Twenty-four states reported exemptions above 5%, including Ohio.

Dr. Steve Feagins with Hamilton County Public Health said Ohio law, like every state’s, allows parents to exempt their kindergartners from required school vaccines for one of two reasons: a medical exemption certified by a physician, or a reason of conscience, which includes religious conviction.

He said last school year, Ohio’s exemption rate climbed to 5.5%, up from 4.7%.

Hamilton County numbers

In Hamilton County, 0.1% of kindergartners had medical exemptions, and 3.5% had non-medical exemptions, based on forms parents filled out. Feagins said that puts Hamilton County’s non-medical exemption rate below both the state and national averages.

He said there’s a catch: one in four kids, especially in urban areas, has no vaccination documentation on file. He said schools are under state law to supply that documentation, but schools deal with so many other priorities.

“So that leaves at least 26 percent of documentation is missing,” Feagins said. “We have every reason to believe that these are vaccinated children that just didn’t either provide or were unable to or you know schools unable to get documentation. So, we believe that we have an actual lower in both the U.S. and the Ohio non-medical exemption rate here in Hamilton County.”

Documentation challenges

Feagins said if a measles case turned up at a school, his health providers would have to assume, without documentation, a child hasn’t been vaccinated.

“And so, in many cases we are finding that documentation in the event epidemiologist disease investigators have to investigate and we find that its actually available once we really look into it but in many cases, it can be very difficult,” Feagins said.

Feagins said most parents do choose to vaccinate their children. His message: it’s never too late to catch your child up on vaccines.

For a list of routine childhood immunizations children need, visit the Hamilton County Public Health website.

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