Flagler County’s kindergarteners enrolled in public schools have the highest rate of exemption from immunization on religious grounds in Florida–5.5 percent, according to a new report by the Florida Department of Health. The statewide average is 3 percent. Flagler’s seventh graders have the third highest rate of religious exemptions, after Sarasota and Gilchrist counties.
Flagler County’s position improves relative to other counties when temporary or permanent medical exemptions are added in: while that combined rate of non-immunization rises to 7.6 percent of public school kindergarteners, 27 counties have an even higher rate.
Flagler County kindergarteners’ rate of immunization, 92.4 percent, is below the 95 percent goal of public health officials.
The rate of non-immunization for religious reasons in Flagler County’s private schools is much higher: 10.8 percent of kindergarteners, but several counties exceed Flagler in that regard.
Flagler County’s lower numbers worried public health officials before Covid: in 2019, when the country was experiencing an unusual measles outbreak, the county’s children had the second-highest rate of non-vaccination for in the state, and a religious exemption rate almost three times the state average. But vaccination rates have now fallen statewide.
It now appears that disinformation about Covid vaccines, which played a large role in keeping the Covid-immunization rate below 70 percent, is infecting trust in other vaccines. That trust is being undermined even by the Florida Department of Health.
Florida’s surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, a vaccine sceptic, has been militantly opposing covid vaccinations for children and adults younger than 39, on dubious evidence. His department issued the latest directive against vaccination on Friday, claiming the risks of the covid vaccine “likely outweigh the benefits at this point in the pandemic.” (“I’m sorry, but this guy is an embarrassment to the medical profession,” a prominent Flagler County physician reacted in an email to fellow-doctors and others. “A political stooge masquerading as a doctor/scientist.”)
The latest vaccination rates among children reflect a more than 10-year low for Florida’s kindergarten and seventh-grade students completing all doses of required immunizations, according to the state Department of Health report.
About 91.7 percent of kindergarten students in public and private schools statewide completed the immunizations required to enter school during the 2021-2022 year, the September report showed. That rate of completion is the lowest since the 2010-2011 school year, when 91.3 percent of students completed all doses of the required vaccines.
Similarly, 94.3 percent of seventh-grade students completed their shots for the last school year, which was the lowest rate since the 2009-2010 academic year. That year, 93.4 percent of seventh-grade students completed all doses.
The covid vaccines are not required to attend schools. The required shots are designed to protect against diseases including tetanus, diphtheria, measles, mumps, rubella, influenza B, hepatitis B and polio.
“Those are historically all diseases … that have caused, in the past, significant mortality and morbidity in children when these diseases were prevalent and we weren’t vaccinating,” Dr. Kathleen Ryan, a pediatrician and infectious disease specialist at the University of Florida College of Medicine, told The News Service of Florida in an interview.
Because the organisms that cause those diseases “don’t go away” even when most people are vaccinated against them, they can begin to resurface if people are vulnerable to them. As an example, tetanus lives in the soil in people’s backyard, Ryan noted.
“If the immunization rates fall in any one of those areas, we start to see those diseases creep back in,” said Ryan, a clinical associate professor who is co-chief of the college’s Department of Pediatrics.
Most of Florida’s county school districts did not meet a health department goal of 95 percent of kindergarten students receiving all doses of all vaccines required for school entry, according to the data.
Eighteen of Florida’s 67 county districts, or 27 percent, met or surpassed the 95 percent “coverage goal.”
In nine districts, fewer than 90 percent of kindergarten students completed their shots. Those districts were in Duval, Escambia, Gadsden, Indian River, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Putnam and Sarasota counties.
For seventh-grade students, 49 of the 67 county districts met or exceeded the 95 percent goal, including Flagler, but barely.
Ryan said that a 95 percent threshold is a common benchmark used by public health officials to reach a high immunization rate.
“If you hit this threshold, of like 95 percent, then you can keep it at bay and you don’t see breakthrough disease. If it trickles down to even 90 percent, you’ll see some breakthrough. This happens everywhere in the world that you see, say, lower immunization rates for measles. The minute that immunization rate starts to drop, you start to see breakthrough cases,” she said.
School immunization rates have been dropping nationwide, Ryan said. The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a “call to action” on the issue.
According to the CDC, vaccination coverage among kindergarteners nationwide dropped more than one percent during the 2020-2021 school year.
National and state health officials have advised that the Covid-19 pandemic is at least in part to blame for the backward slide in student immunization rates.
The pandemic “negatively impacted” Florida’s kindergarten and seventh-grade vaccination and exemption rates, the state Department of Health reported as part of the data–but in a footnote, without additional explanation.
According to a Sept. 2 memo that corresponded to the report, just shy of 7,000 kindergarten and seventh grade students who enrolled in virtual school programs for the 2021-2022 school year were carved out of the reporting requirement.
“Because these students are exempt from the school-entry and attendance immunization requirement, they are excluded from this report,” said the memo from state epidemiologist Carina Blackmore, which was sent to county health department officers.
The pandemic brought about other shifts and changes in schools. Statewide school enrollment also decreased 1.7 percent between the 2019-2020 school year and last school year, the memo said.
Regardless of how heavily the pandemic contributed to the vaccination decline, Ryan said pediatricians are “very concerned” whenever a decrease in immunization rates happens.
“This particular drop is a big drop. We’re at our lowest rate in 10 years, so that’s a concern. If we don’t turn that around, or it continues to drop, then we’re concerned that we’ll see these illnesses return,” Ryan said.
–FlaglerLive and News Service of Florida
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Grey Man says
It seems as if Dr Lapado is a highly trained medical doctor. I would like to ask the author of this article where they received their medical training since it clearly advocates against the recommendation of the surgeon general of Florida.
FlaglerLive says
Training and capabilities are not synonymous. Ladapo is a political appointment and an outlier in the scientific community, comparable to climate deniers, who must be called out as such. Doing less would be irresponsible journalism. We are not Ladapo’s PR agency. He has the Department of Health for that.
DaleL says
The CDC employs some of the best doctors in the world. I trust the CDC over any single doctor, especially Lapado. An AMA survey, conducted in June 2021, found that 96% of all doctors were fully vaccinated against COVID. I trust the 96% over the 4%.
To be clear, although Lapado is a medical doctor, his qualifications do not include a specialization in infectious diseases. He has also promoted the now debunked COVID treatments of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin.
Anti-vaxxers take advantage of ignorance and the lack of peer reviewed published studies. Anti-vaxxers claim to have some sore of “special” knowledge or make conspiracy allegations. Peer reviewed studies take time to conduct, review, and publish. This has provide a vacuum in which vaccine lies can propagate. The CDC published a study this September concerning vaccine safety. “COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine Safety Among Children Aged 6 Months–5 Years — United States, June 18, 2022–August 21, 2022”
The bottom line is that the vaccines are safe and effective.
NotMyKidNotMyProblem says
At this point I’m so done, let your kids die. By the time I was in kindergarten I had over a dozen vaccinations. Not dead yet. And no autism either. Why? Because that’s BS. It’s caused by what YOU do as a mother (while child is in utero) or by what the father does that created modified seed. I read that they think Tylenol taken by pregnant mothers may have some traction in causing autism. My generation was heavily vaxxed and we have low percentages of autism. The generations after mine, when anti-vax started taking off have a tremendous amount of autism cases. It’s not the vaccines, stupids. You had them when you were younger and are you autistic? No, just dumb.
Deborah Coffey says
Ditto. Enough is enough. Since vaccines aren’t 100% effective, it’s galling to know that my tax dollars are paying for all these unvaccinated kids to spread their diseases to other kids whose parents have all done the right thing! Republicans kill…in numerous ways.
The dude says
“The COVID vaccine is unsafe” is much like “voter fraud”, if the rubes are gonna insist that this crap is true, they need to give us some actual facts and evidence to support it.
“Doing their own research” on Facebook, Twitter, Parler, and 4chan doesn’t in any way qualify as “facts” or “evidence”.
Charles says
Stop putting religions with government and that means starting at the top.
Jack Howell says
Welcome back, Measles, Mumps, Polio, and all other diseases that were once eradicated. It amazes me that so many of you idiots are self-proclaimed epidemiologists whose medical training was obtained by believing the bullshit posted on social media platforms. And speaking of idiots, the politically appointed Dr. Ladapo keeps his tongue well-positioned on the governor’s ass ( that’s called job security). I am 80 years old, still an active EMT, and still kicking ass and taking names after being vaccinated for various diseases throughout my childhood, military career, and as a senior citizen.
Michael Cocchiola says
Anti-vax Republicans are killing themselves at a higher rate than other Americans. Now they are passing their Mad-Hatter genes onto their children who will similarly die at greater rates than fully vaxxed kids. Yet, they celebrate their “freedoms”.
I don’t know what drives anti-vax conservatives other than genetic brain damage, but I really don’t care. They have been warned constantly of the consequences of their madness, and yet they choose illness and death. That’s on them.
But I do resent sending their little COVID bombs into school classrooms to infect, no matter how slight, vaxxed students, teachers and staff, and their families and friends. In my mind, that is premeditated assault. And we can do nothing in Florida but treat the inevitable victims of their cruelty.
DeSantis and Ladabo… the blood and phlegm is all on your vile lying hands.
Skibum says
I’d love to have some of these anti-vaxxers explain to all of us exactly what this “religious exemption” is. Can you please tell me which religion(s) are telling the parents of children that they should not protect their kids, don’t get vaccinations? I would bet that some of these parents who are against having their children vaccinated are merely using this “religious exemption” term for no other reason than their own ignorance and political ideology. I’m in no way complaining about the very small minority of parents who have been told by medical professionals (not quacks like Ladipo) that their child has specific medical issues that would preclude getting vaccinated against the seasonal flu or covid. Too many “adults” are having kids only because they have the proper plumbing to do so, but lack proper parental care skiils. What they need more of here in Florida, the land of Deathsantis, more parents who are willing to use some brain cells between their ears so they can call out people like Ladapo as quacks and refuse to listen to their nonsense in favor of intelligent, experienced medical professionals like Dr. Anthony Fauci and the many other qualified CDC staff who have a long history of work to protect the young and old from viruses and other medical diseases.
Laurel says
Skibum: I’m with you again.
Since you asked:
Followers of Christ
Faith Assembly
Church of the Firstborn
Christian Science
Faith Tabernacle
End Time Ministries
The Believers’ Fellowship
Jehovah’s Witnesses
Church of God of the Union Assembly
Church of God (certain congregations)
First Century Gospel Church
Full Gospel Deliverance Church
Faith Temple Doctoral Church of Christ in God
Jesus through Jon and Judy
Christ Miracle Healing Center
Northeast Kingdom Community Church
Christ Assembly
The Source
“No Name” Fellowship
The Body
1 Mind Ministries
Twelve Tribes
Born in Zion Ministry
Since 1980 children have died in these sects without medical attention for:
pneumonia
meningitis
diabetes
diphtheria
appendicitis
measles
gangrene
dehydration
blood poisoning
Wilm’s tumor and other cancers
perinatal suffocation or strangulation
diarrhea
respiratory infections
kidney infections
Rocky Mountain spotted fever
epilepsy
pericarditis
strangulated hernia
bowel obstruction
sepsis
thalassemia
Source: Child Inc.
My favorite here is “Jesus through Jon and Judy.” Shows the mentality.
I’ve been covid vaxed and totally boosted, and glad of it. We feel we’re so fortunate to be able to go to Mayo Clinic, and will take the advice of our doctors there over Fox Entertainment, and the simple minded Tucker Carlson any day!
Skibum says
Laurel, thank you for the follow up and your info. Wow, I had no idea there were that many so-called churches or religions (including that wonderful entry of Jesus through Jon and Judy), that would put their followers in peril by advocating against potentially lifesaving medicine for themselves and their children. People should be free to believe what they want, but when it comes to putting the lives of innocent children in danger by the very ones who are supposed to protect them because of pure foolishness and parental neglect, then it is time for the adults who perpetrated that to be held criminally liable.
DaleL says
From Watchtower (Jehovah’s Witnesses publication): “Are Jehovah’s Witnesses Opposed to Vaccination? No. Jehovah’s Witnesses are not opposed to vaccination.”
According to Baptist News Global: “Unless you’re a member of a Dutch Reformed church or a Christian Science church, making a claim for a religious exemption to the COVID-19 vaccine as a Christian is going to be hard to prove.”
John Grabenstein, Senior Medical Director for Adult Vaccines for Merck Vaccines, published a paper on religious beliefs surrounding immunization in the peer-reviewed medical journal Vaccine in 2013. Grabenstein found that only two religious groups ― Christian Scientists and the Dutch Reformed Church ― have demonstrated a precedent of widely rejecting vaccinations, but even these are not explicitly laid out in their doctrine.
The Catholic Church has an issue with any vaccine or medicine that was in any manner developed or tested with fetal cells or cell lines.
Most of the people claiming a “religious” exemption are just lying.
Laurel says
Dale L.: Two things: John Oliver on “Last Week Tonight” did a show on how easy it was to become a church, and how the credentials were not checked or were ignored. The show is called “Televangelists” and can be found on YouTube. His show became a church to prove how ridiculous it is.
Aside from that, and this is not in response to your comment, I remember several years ago that I heard, or read (don’t remember) how Hindus (not a religion, but a way of living) so believe in karma and the next life, that if a child fell overboard, they would not try to save it from drowning because the child was meant for another life. Personally, I hope that’s no longer true but people believe what they believe.