DOH reports students not up to date with immunizations

Officials at the Hawaii State Department of Health are expressing their concern over new data showing that the number of Hawaii students not up to date with immunizations is increasing, according to a news release.

The data shows a total of 39,583 or 21% of students from public, charter and private schools were not up to date on school-required immunizations for the 2023-24 school year — an increase of 25% from the 2022-23 school year.

The number includes students claiming exemptions, those without immunization records and those missing individually required vaccines.

According to DOH, the majority of the increase in missing school-required immunizations stems from 7th grade school requirements that were implemented in 2020 during COVID. DOH says for the 2023-24 school year, “16% of kindergarteners were not up to date with school-required vaccinations compared to 55% of 7th graders.”

For the 2023-24 school year, 282 (74%) schools out of 382 reported more than 5% of their students were not up to date with Hawaii’s school immunization requirements. Thirty-six schools (nearly 10%) reported over 50% of their student body are not up to date.

The Hawaii Department of Education reported that 36,026 students in Hawaii public schools were missing one or more required immunizations for the 2023-24 school year.

DOE says preliminary data for the 2024-25 school year shows 28,300 students missing one or more vaccinations. Schools have until today, Jan. 10, to report the number of students not up to date on immunizations to the DOH.

“An increase in the number of students without up-to-date immunizations is a cause for concern,” stated DOH Director Dr. Kenneth Fink in the release. “High vaccination rates help protect those who are unable to receive certain vaccines due to medical reasons and those with a non-medical exemption through what’s called ‘herd immunity.’

“Low vaccination rates mean unvaccinated keiki are at increased risk of infection, especially at schools with a high rate of the student population not being up to date. We are already seeing increased cases of pertussis and are at risk for a measles outbreak. Immunizations are necessary to protect infants, children and adults from potentially serious and contagious diseases,” Fink said.

The two vaccination exemptions for schools are for medical or religious reasons. DOH data shows a religious exemption rate averaging 4.1% for the 2023-24 school year across the state. The trend has increased since 2019-20 which was at 2.1%. Medical exemptions have increased from 0.07% in 2019-20 to 0.16% in 2023-24 though is continues to remain low.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, DOH says there has been a “concerning increase in vaccine hesitancy” nationwide, including Hawaii. Contributing to the trend is the continuing amount of misinformation about vaccines in addition to the challenge for residents in rural areas to access healthcare and missing vaccinations.

DOH says they continue to work closely with educational partners and healthcare providers to address the ongoing challenges to maintaining regular immunizations by educating families of the importance of vaccinations, working with pharmacies and physician practices to increase access, and making it easier to collect, analyze and report accurate data on student immunizations by modernizing the Hawaii Immunization Registry.

View the immunization data by school.