Medical, religious and personal belief. These are three of the reasons parents can give for not having their child vaccinated before entering the school system.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, all 50 states have legislation requiring specified vaccines for students.
Although exemptions vary from state to state, all school immunization laws grant exemptions to children for medical reasons. Almost all states grant religious exemptions for people who have religious beliefs against immunizations.
Twenty states allow philosophical exemptions for those who object to immunizations because of personal, moral or other beliefs.
Iowa allows exemptions for medical and religious beliefs.
Mississippi leading the way?
It might come as a surprise to people that Mississippi is one of two states in the U.S. that doesn’t have religious exemptions.
This means Mississippi, one of the worst ranked states for smoking, obesity, physical activity and teen birth rates, is leading the nation when it comes to vaccination rates. West Virginia is the other state that doesn’t allow religious or personal belief exemptions, only medical.
According to the CDC, 99.7 percent of kindergartners in Mississippi are vaccinated for measles (MMR). West Virginia has a percentage of 96.1.
The rate in California, where the current measles outbreak first began, is 92.3 percent.
The outbreak likely started from a traveler who became infected overseas with measles, then visited the amusement park while infectious. However, no source has been identified.
Colorado has the lowest vaccination rate with 81.7.
Colorado and California are two of the many states that allow for all three reasons of the medical, religious and personal belief exemptions.
According to Clarke County Public Health Director Sandy Eddy, R.N., 95.08 percent of students at Iowa schools have a valid Certificate of Immunization and have received all of the required vaccine by Iowa law.
“It’s under discussion, I’m sure they’re looking at it closer because some of the personal opinions,” Eddy said. “Most of the kids in (Iowa) school are immunized. The most at risk are the children under 12 months of age (who can’t receive the vaccine).”