Virginia students lagged on required immunizations last school year

School districts across Hampton Roads saw a decline last year in the rate of students who received the required sequence of immunizations to be eligible for enrollment in a public school, according to state data.

The state’s rate of students who were “adequately vaccinated” — meaning they got all doses of the vaccines required under state law — was just over 88% last year, down from just over 96% in 2019, Virginia Department of Health data shows. Similar trends occurred nationwide.

The state’s number of under-vaccinated seventh-graders rose 82%, according to The Virginian-Pilot’s analysis of VDH data. Some Hampton Roads school districts saw an increase of more than 90%, with one as high as 99%.

Schools report vaccination status of students to VDH at kindergarten and seventh-grade milestones through the department’s Student Immunization Survey, which is collected at the beginning of each school year.

Vaccines are generally intended to prevent the spread of disease. That’s especially important in a classroom or school setting, where students can often be in close quarters, said Marshall Vogt, an epidemiologist with VDH.

“I always tell people that these vaccines are safe and they’re effective, and they protect kids so that they can be in school, and so that they don’t need to lose time for illness or because there are outbreaks,” Vogt said.

Experts say a variety of factors contributed to the decrease in adequately vaccinated students last year.

Dr. Douglas Mitchell, the medical director of CHKD Medical Group and a pediatrician at Norfolk Pediatrics, said the pandemic and reduced operations at doctors offices had a significant impact. Mitchell said, like many doctors, his office stopped seeing most children for annual check-ups during the early months of the pandemic to prevent the spread of the virus.

“We basically didn’t see those visits for about three months. There went 25% of the year right there. There went 25% of our opportunity to vaccinate to the year,” Mitchell said.

Students who do not have the required vaccines and don’t qualify for a religious or medical exemption may be conditionally enrolled, but must receive the required vaccines within a certain time period.

Schools are required by law to review the immunization records of conditionally enrolled students “periodically until the required immunizations have been received.” State law says school districts can “exclude” under-vaccinated students from school activities until they receive the vaccines.

Statewide and in Hampton Roads, the number of kindergarten students conditionally enrolled was roughly the same in 2019 and 2020. But The Pilot’s analysis of VDH data shows the number of conditionally enrolled seventh grade students increased drastically in some districts.

In 2019, Portsmouth Public Schools reported nine seventh-grade students as conditionally enrolled. Last year, that number climbed to 192 — an increase of 95%.

Michael Cromartie, the Portsmouth division’s chief of schools, said the school district makes it a “standard practice” to conditionally enroll some students every year, especially because younger students have limited control over whether they receive vaccines.

“It’s really difficult for me to invoke sanctions against kids for decisions that they didn’t make. A lot of these kids are children, some younger elementary children,” Cromartie said. “They certainly can’t make their own appointments and get themselves to pediatricians or clinics for vaccinations, so I don’t ever want to penalize kids for bad decisions that adults have made.”

According to The Pilot’s analysis, the Portsmouth division also had the lowest rate of adequately vaccinated seventh-graders in Hampton Roads last year, at about 72%.

Similar increases in the number of conditionally enrolled seventh-graders were present in other Hampton Roads districts.

Virginia Beach City Public Schools conditionally enrolled 323 seventh-graders in 2020, an increase of 95% from 2019. At just over 94%, though, the division’s rate of adequately vaccinated seventh-graders was higher than the state rate of 88%.

At 99%, Hampton City Schools had the largest increase in the number of conditionally enrolled seventh-graders last year. In 2019, the division conditionally enrolled four. Last year, the number was 282. The division reported 80% of seventh grade students as adequately vaccinated.

Vogt said decreased vaccination rates across the state last year were a concern, but advised not to read too much into one year of data.

“I think it’s important to note that this is one data point for one year,” Vogt said. “We certainly look at that. Any time there is a fluctuation, up or down, our eyes are on that and we’re looking for what that could potentially mean, but we also kind of look at the trend over time. And that trend over time I think is relatively stable, and we’re happy with that.”

Overall, Virginia’s adequately vaccinated rate is stable from year to year, hovering around 96%.

Now, though, as students are back in the classroom for the new school year, they will need to catch up on their vaccines to protect themselves and others.

“We need to keep our population as vaccinated as possible to protect the individual, as well as protect the population from spread,” Mitchell said.

Parents should adhere to the Centers for Disease Control’s recommended schedule for vaccinations when possible, but the CDC does provide a catch-up schedule for those who are at least one month behind.

“We know the standard immunization schedule is safe,” Mitchell said. “We know that we want to get kids vaccinated on time because we recommend those vaccines when the kids are most vulnerable.”

Glory Gill, the Hampton school division’s health services coordinator, said the division is communicating with families whose children are not adequately vaccinated to ensure that they receive their immunizations. Cromartie said that the Portsmouth school division is making similar efforts.

Because some students will be playing catch-up on their vaccines this semester, families might have a hard time scheduling vaccination appointments due to the increased demand.

Cromartie said Portsmouth schools will provide a 30-day grace period for all immunizations this year.

Kellie Goral, the executive director of public relations and marketing for Hampton schools, said they will provide a 30-day grace period for the meningococcal vaccine, which is a new requirement for seventh graders this year. Some families have reported their doctors are having a hard time finding the vaccine, she said.

Schools are given 30 days from the start of the school year to report their students’ immunization status to VDH, which will release the results for this school year later in the fall semester.

Cromartie didn’t want to comment on exact numbers for this school year without all of the Portsmouth division’s data collected yet, but he said in general, more children are adequately vaccinated compared to last year.

Vogt said VDH will monitor any “gaps” in immunization and work with school districts, health departments and other stakeholders to address the issue.

“I certainly hope every year for the highest coverage rate that we can get, because I think Virginia, by and large, does very, very well, and has really really strong immunization rates,” Vogt said. “We’re proud of that and we want to maintain that.”

Mitchell of CHKD encouraged students to also receive this year’s flu vaccine, and the COVID-19 vaccine, if they are at least 12 years old. You can find information on where to receive a flu vaccine on the VDH website. Information on COVID vaccines is available at vaccinate.virginia.gov.

Korie Dean, 757-446-2962, korie.dean@virginiamedia.com