Added on June 3, 2019  Sara Swanson

Unvaccinated student rates rise for third straight year in Michigan schools

by Magdalena Mihaylova (Bridge)

The percentage of Michigan students who are unvaccinated has increased for the third year in a row, with nearly 1,000 public and private school buildings in which more than 5 percent of students haven’t had at least some childhood vaccinations in 2018-19. 

In some schools, more than 25 percent of the students checked were not vaccinated, according to data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. And fully half of the state’s private schools surveyed had unvaccinated rates of 5 percent or more.

The three-year increase in unvaccinated children is consistent, illustrating the challenges schools and health officials face in balancing parental choice with classroom safety. The increase comes as Michigan faces an outbreak of more than 40 confirmed measles cases this year.

“In some ways, we are a victim of our own success,” Lynn Sutfin, public information officer at MDHHS, wrote in an email. “Many vaccine-preventable diseases are considered eliminated and we haven’t really seen or heard about them due to high vaccination levels. Combine that with misinformation that exists on vaccines, and some parents have become more fearful of the vaccine than of the disease.”

Michigan requires all students to be immunized against 10 diseases, such as polio, chicken pox and hepatitis B. But it is also one of 16 states that allow parents to opt their children out of vaccinations for “philosophical reasons” in addition to medical or religious concerns.

Unvaccinated children are more likely to contract contagious diseases such as measles and whooping cough, and to spread those diseases to others.

“The reappearance of measles, which was declared eradicated in 2000, is a huge concern among physicians,” Jared Burkhart, Michigan Chapter American Academy of Pediatrics, said in an emailed statement to Bridge. “The disease is dangerous to children – especially those under age 1 who are not yet able to be vaccinated – and to other vulnerable populations. We need to boost immunization rates in order to protect those who have diseases or medical conditions which don’t allow them to be vaccinated.”

Vaccination rates in Michigan are similar to the U.S. average. But Michigan’s rates have been volatile since 2014.

The share of Michigan children attending schools without having vaccinations dropped significantly in 2015 following a state requirement that families seeking vaccination waivers must first attend an education session on vaccines. But the rate, which dipped to 3.1 percent in 2015-16, has gone up each subsequent school year.

Despite the highly publicized 2019 measles outbreak in Oakland County and a statewide campaign promoting vaccinations, the share of unvaccinated students rose from 3.6 percent in the 2017-18 school year to 3.8 percent in 2018-19, according to new data released by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. That’s a 23-percent increase in three years.

Even at 3.8 percent, the state’s current waiver rate is more than 20 below what it was in 2014, before the state added the parent education requirement, Sutfin said.

The reported vaccination rates are not based on all Michigan students; state law only requires schools to report vaccination rates for kindergartners, seventh-graders and students enrolling in a district for the first time. But they offer parents the best window into the vaccination rates at their children’s schools.

Data from the 2018-2019 school year show the highest group of unvaccinated students are kindergarteners, increasing from 4.2 percent in 2017-18 to 4.5 percent this school year; unvaccinated new enrollees increased from 3.3 percent to 3.5 percent, and unvaccinated seventh-graders remained at 3.4 percent.

Among schools with high rates of unvaccinated students: Caro Middle School in Tuscola Countyin The Thumb, had a reported 43 percent of students unvaccinated. North Branch Area Schools in Lapeer County has a high school, middle school and elementary with unvaccinated rates that are two to three times the state average.

Caro and North Branch school officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Reliability of the figures – though they are the only data mandated by the state – is questioned by some educators. Because data is only collected from students in two grades and from students who are new enrollees, the data, particularly in small schools, may be skewed. 

For example, Blissfield High School in Lenawee County, reported a 29 percent unvaccinated rate in 2018-19. Blissfield Principal Christopher Jones said the rate is misleading because it is based on a high unvaccinated rate among 17 transfer students, and not on total school enrollment of nearly 400, which has a rate that is far lower. 

Lapeer Community High School, where 54 percent of students are reported to be unvaccinated, include area homeschooled students in its report. 

While this might explain some schools’ high rates, the data indicate an overall increase in unvaccinated students, at both public and private schools. Overall, 982 of the 6,581 public and private schools surveyed report that more than 5 percent of their students are unvaccinated.

Half of private schools have more than 5 percent of their students who are unvaccinated, compared to 22 percent of public schools.  

Rep. Brian Elder, D-Bay City, recently introduced a bill mandating that if more than 5 percent of a school’s students are unvaccinated, the school must post a sign stating so on both their website and front entrance. Now, schools are only required to report vaccination rates to county health officials.

Elder’s wife, Susan Elder, is a public school teacher at Bay City Central High School, and they have three children in the public school system. He told Bridge that concern for his family and this year’s measles outbreak prompted him to draft the bill.

“I’m a big fan of public notice and making sure that we have an informed citizenry so that they can make their own decisions,” Elder said. “If each school building’s vaccination rates were posted on the front door, then a pregnant woman … or a senior citizen whose doctors have told them to avoid unvaccinated children, would be informed and could make proper decisions.”

If Elder’s bill were in effect this year, 982 Michigan schools would be required to follow the “greater than 5 percent” rule and post that information on their front doors.

Elder said he hopes to make schools safer by being more transparent with vaccination information.  

“We’re not really wading into the vaccination and anti-vaxxer controversy, we’re just making sure people are informed,” Elder said. “I just think that it’s important that citizens in our state have the best, most up-to-date information available to them and in a way that they can actually use.”

It remains unclear, however, whether the Republican-controlled House will give Elder’s proposal a hearing. 

Rep. Hank Vaupel, R-Fowlerville, is chairman of the House’s health policy committee, where Elder’s bill was referred. A staffer in Vaupel’s Lansing office told Bridge on Thursday there is no immediate plan to take up the bill.

Bridge reporter Lindsay VanHulle contributed to this report.