Wisconsin kindergarten vaccination rate among lowest in nation
More Wisconsin kindergartners are skipping required vaccines, with the state's exemption rate at 8%, sixth-highest in the country and more than double the national rate of 3.3%, a new report says.
Only 84.8% of Wisconsin kindergartners received two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, or MMR, in the 2023-24 school year, the third-lowest among states after Idaho and Alaska. Nationally, 92.7% of kindergartners met that requirement.
Wisconsin also had one of the lowest rates of kindergartners getting five doses of the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, or DTaP, vaccine, with 85.7% compared with 92.3% nationwide. Cases of pertussis, or whooping cough, have soared this year in Dane County , Wisconsin and around the country.
"These low vaccination rates are worrisome, especially given that there are pockets of the state with very low rates," said Stephanie Schauer, immunization program director for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report on Thursday highlighted the new data, released by the CDC earlier this month.
Students in Wisconsin are required to get 15 doses of five vaccines — which protect against measles, mumps, polio, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis B and other diseases — to enter kindergarten. In seventh grade, they're required to get another whooping cough shot, known as Tdap, which stands for tetanus, diphtheria and acellular pertussis.
A meningitis vaccine is also now required in seventh grade , with a booster shot needed before 12th grade.
The immunizations are required unless students get exemptions for medical or other reasons. In Wisconsin, most exemptions are for personal convictions or religious reasons, which parents can get by signing a form .
Nationwide, the share of kids with exemptions from one or more vaccine requirements rose to 3.3%, up from 3% the year before. Wisconsin's rate was 8%, up from 7.2% in 2022-23.
Only five states had higher exemption rates in 2023-24, according to the CDC: Idaho, 14.3%; Alaska, 9.5%; Utah, 9.3%; Oregon, 8.9%; and Arizona, 8.5%.
"These results could indicate changes in attitudes toward routine vaccination transferring from hesitancy about COVID-19 vaccination, or toward any vaccine requirements arising from objections to COVID-19 vaccine mandates, as well as a potential for larger decreases in coverage or increases in exemptions," the CDC report said.
A Wisconsin State Journal review last year of vaccine exemption rates at Dane County schools found that schools with the lowest vaccination rates and highest personal conviction waiver rates were private, many of them religious .
Schauer said vaccines are available statewide at doctor's offices, clinics, pharmacies and health departments. People without insurance can get immunizations through grant programs and the Vaccines for Children or Vaccines for Adults programs, she said.
In Wisconsin, most exemptions are for personal convictions or religious reasons, which parents can get by signing a form.
