Wisconsin Department of Health Services Reminds Parents to Get Their Kids Vaccinated

Monday, August 21st, 2023 -- 11:01 AM

(By Corrinne Hess, Wisconsin Public Radio) School has already started for some Wisconsin students, and health officials want to make sure children are vaccinated.

According to Corrinne Hess with the Wisconsin Public Radio, during the 2022-2023 school year nearly 90 percent of students met the minimum immunization requirements. That was a 1.2 percent increase from the previous year. But despite the increase, the state Department of Health Services, or DHS, says Wisconsin students are still behind.

"A critical part is making sure children are protected against vaccine-preventable diseases by staying up to date on school-required vaccinations," Kirsten Johnson, DHS secretary-designee said in a statement. "Healthy children mean healthier classrooms and healthier communities, and fewer days of missed school for kids and missed work for parents and caregivers."

Only 2.8 percent of students in the 2022-2023 school year were behind schedule, a 0.5 percent decrease from the previous school year. Students in Wisconsin can have immunization requirements waived for religious, personal or medical reasons. Overall, 5.4 percent of students had a waiver for one or more vaccines for the 2022-2023 school year, a 1.2 percent increase from the previous year. 

Dr. Stephanie Schauer, Wisconsin immunization program manager, said the increase in waivers are mostly people with "personal conviction" waivers. She said the most people who seek waivers get at least some vaccines for their children.

In Wisconsin, childhood vaccination rates for the state's youngest children are slightly lower than before the pandemic. In 2019, about 85 percent of children under 2 years old had at least one shot of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, or MMR, according to DHS.

Last year, under 82 percent of 2-year-old children had the vaccine. "To me that's a concern, MMR covers the measles, mumps and rubella diseases and really is a key vaccine," Schauer said. "Measles unfortunately is one of those that really requires very high community immunity to prevent high-spread, spread."

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.