Vaccine exemptions are hazardous to kids' health

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Ten years ago, it was uncommon for parents to decline one or more vaccinations for their children, and it was rare for a pediatrician to have a lengthy or difficult conversation with a parent trying to explain the benefits of childhood immunizations.

Today, these conversations have become much more common; they occur daily in any pediatric office.

Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, vaccination rates for most childhood vaccines were at or above 95%. Since then they have been dropping. A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ("Parents keep kids clear of vaccines," Nov. 10) noted that in 2022-23, only 93% of children entering kindergarten nationally were fully vaccinated.

While most parents are still vaccinating their children, more and more parents are refusing. Educating parents about the importance of fully vaccinating their children is the best way to prevent these diseases. But by itself that won't be enough, and it's time lawmakers step up to help Minnesota's kids.

There are a series of vaccinations that all children must have received to be enrolled in Minnesota's public schools. Some children need exceptions because of certain medical conditions. The vaccine may put such a child at risk. But the percentage of children needing these exemptions is extremely low (0.1-0.2% of the population). In Minnesota, however, exemptions are also permitted for any nonmedical reason or personal belief, religious or otherwise, that a parent or guardian may have against their child receiving a vaccination.

In Minnesota, for the 2022-23 school year, just under 90% of all children entering public school kindergarten were fully vaccinated, with 82% of children entering kindergarten in private schools being fully vaccinated and only 73% of those entering charter school kindergarten being fully vaccinated (according to the Minnesota Department of Health). In both public and charter schools, about 4% of parents use a nonmedical exemption for their children and this rises to almost 10% for private schools.

Nationally, the rate for nonmedical exemptions has almost doubled to 3%.

Removing personal belief exemptions is effective in improving vaccination rates. For example, the state of Maine removed its religious and philosophical exemption options in 2021 and in just two years' went from having one of the nation's worst childhood vaccination rates to one of the best.

Routine childhood vaccinations are among the greatest scientific breakthroughs of the last 75 years. They have included vaccines against polio, measles and, more recently, COVID-19. These vaccines have saved millions of lives around the world. They protect both the person vaccinated and those around them who may not be vaccinated.

For most diseases, if 95% of the population is vaccinated, the chances of unvaccinated individuals spreading a disease are very low. However, once that rate drops below 95%, that population protection drops significantly. That is what we are now seeing. With this lack of community immunity, we will see diseases from long ago, diseases we thought were eradicated, emerging in our populations and impacting the lives of Minnesotans of all ages.

Minnesota's kids need to get vaccinated and our lawmakers need to realize that. The personal exemption language must be removed from Minnesota's statute.

Sheldon Berkowitz is past president of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (MNAAP).