Idaho kindergarten vaccine rates appear to have fallen from year prior

Idaho continues to report some of the lowest vaccination rates in the country.

This past school year, data submitted in the fall showed that, on average, 74.8% of Idaho kindergartners had received all their recommended vaccinations, according to a report released by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

That’s a drop from an average of 76% among kindergartners the same time the year before.

About 14% of kindergartners statewide had recorded vaccine exemptions, which is roughly the same as last year’s rate. However, that doesn’t mean all other students are up to date, said Shawn Tiegs, the superintendent at the Moscow School District.

In his district, about 7.4% of kindergartners have a vaccine exemption.

“You’re in the 93% range for non-waiver kids, that doesn’t guarantee they’re all vaccinated,” he said.

Some students may not have records of being up-to-date on vaccines but have not actively sought an exemption, Tiegs said. The school district works to provide vaccine information for those individuals, he said.

Tiegs, who previously worked at the Nezperce School District, said he feels conversations around vaccines have become more polarized. But, he said, public schools are there to serve everybody. 

“I mean, in this environment, we can always find someone that agrees with what we think. Like, I can do the same thing,” he said. “And then it can become pretty easy to get kind of rigid and say like, ‘Well, no, I heard somebody saying something I agree with.’”

While Tiegs’ district remains on the high end of vaccination rates for Idaho, some other local schools vary widely. In the North Central Health District, kindergartner vaccine exemptions varied anywhere from 28.2% in Idaho County, to 10.4% in Nez Perce County.

There was also a wide range of variance on a school-by-school basis.

The Kamiah Joint School District reported that 9.5% of its kindergartners had an exemption. Some schools in the health district shared their numbers but asked not to be named because the information would be identifying based on the size of their class.

Idaho law allows a broad range of reasons for vaccine exemptions in school, including health, religion or “other grounds.” Exemptions are also extremely easy to acquire in Idaho, Tiegs said, and lacking vaccine records doesn’t prevent students from being enrolled in school.

“We do have an official (vaccine exemption) form. But Idaho law requires that an exemption — I mean, it could be written on the back of a receipt, or a half-torn piece of paper or something,” he said.

CORRECTION: This past school year, data submitted in the fall showed that, on average, 74.8% of Idaho kindergartners had received all their recommended vaccinations, according to a report released by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. This story has been updated to correct the percentage of Idaho kindergarteners who received adequate immunizations.