From WisPolitics.com/WisBusiness.com …
— State health officials over the weekend reported the state’s first measles cases of the year, which come as more Wisconsin students are getting vaccination waivers.
The Department of Health Services and local health officials on Saturday announced they had confirmed nine cases of measles in Oconto County, all of which were linked to out-of-state exposure. The state agency says no public points of exposure have been identified and the risk of further spread is low.
Following the measles announcement, DHS today rolled out updated student vaccination figures for the 2024-2025 school year, showing 86.4% of students met minimum immunization requirements. That’s a decrease of 2.8 percentage points from the prior school year.
At the same time, 3.8% of all students were behind schedule on their vaccines, which is twice as high as the previous year. Still, DHS notes this increase and the overall decline in students meeting minimum vaccination requirements are due to a new meningitis vaccination requirement for those in grades 7 to 12.
DHS also notes the share of students with one or more vaccination waivers was 6.7% in the 2024-2025 school year, up from 3.4% in 2004-2005. Currently, 5.8% of students had a personal conviction waiver.
DHS Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ryan Westergaard notes Wisconsin has a higher waiver rate than other states, and is one of just 13 states that allows the personal conviction waiver in addition to those granted for religious and medical reasons.
This comes as Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara, R-Appleton, and Rep. Lindee Brill, R-Sheboygan Falls, are circulating legislation that would require schools to provide more information to parents about waivers for vaccines.
The lawmakers have argued the bill would increase transparency and let parents make decisions about their kids’ health.
Speaking today during a DHS news conference, Westergaard said “we feel in public health that knowledge of the exemptions or waivers is commonplace” as related information is already provided by schools to students and parents.
“Our recommendation is that people get their kids vaccinated, because we as a public health entity feel that any risks are far outweighed by the benefit, both to individual health and to our community health,” he said.
Neither lawmaker provided comment on today’s press conference.
See the DHS releases below.
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