Student immunization coverage held steady, according to data released today by the Washington State Department of Health. As of November of last year, just over 86 percent of kindergarteners had all required immunizations to start school- about the same as the past three years.
About 5 percent of Washington kindergartners had an exemption, or waiver from immunizations, on file for a medical, personal, or religious reason. And 7 percent were “out of compliance” with immunization requirements – meaning they didn’t have all of their vaccinations up to date or were missing paperwork. The remaining students were “conditional,” and were getting caught up on their vaccinations or paperwork. New state requirements related to exemptions and immunizations for students are now in effect. Information on the changes is available online.
School immunization data were released later than normal this year as the department transitioned the data into new visualization software for easier use by the public. You can now see immunization rates by county, school district, and school building. The latest data are found on the department’s website.
Parents and guardians can access their child’s immunization records at home by signing up for MyIR. Washington provides vaccines at no cost for all kids up to age 19 through the state’s Childhood Vaccine Program.