Durian Fiend - The majority of this increase in missing school-required immunizations is from 7th grade school requirements that were implemented in 2020 during COVID.
So, perhaps the blame isn't with all the MAGA and new age hippie parents, it's due to these new rules that are more difficult and time consuming to completely satisfy?
Here's the context for the change in 2020 - basically, Hawaii updated its vaccine schedule to match CDC recommendations for the first time in about 20 years.
https://www.civilbeat.org/2019/08/health...uirements/
Not sure why these vaccine requirements at 7th grade would be seen as being more difficult or time consuming compared to the previous ones. Rather, since 2020 there has been a well-documented rise in anti-vax rhetoric and vaccine hesitancy, including locally which has led to an increase in kids not being up to date with their vaccinations. While Medical Exemptions (which require a doctor's sign-off) remain small, Religious Exemptions, which only require the caregiver to attest that their vaccine objections are bona fide beliefs, are where can be found some of the largest groups of kids not up to date on their vaccines. Malamalama Waldorf in HPP, for instance, has like a 60% Religious Exemption rate as a particularly extreme local example. So to be clear, schools here can and do allow unvaccinated kids to attend school if they file for an exemption.
As previously mentioned, one of the changes in 2020 was to add the HPV vaccine requirement for 7th grade. There's like a couple hundred known Human papillomavirus, which are transmitted through skin contact, usually during sex, but also can be from simple contact like holding hands. HPV is responsible for several types of cancer, including nearly all cases of cervical cancer. Thankfully as more individuals have gotten vaccinated before becoming sexually active, we've seen a rapid drop in cases of HPV related cancers, notably a steep decline in the rates of cervical cancer in young women, including almost eliminating cervical cancer deaths in the U.S. for that age group.
TLDR: Vaccines work. If you care about your health and the health of your family and community, please get vaccinated.
So, perhaps the blame isn't with all the MAGA and new age hippie parents, it's due to these new rules that are more difficult and time consuming to completely satisfy?
Here's the context for the change in 2020 - basically, Hawaii updated its vaccine schedule to match CDC recommendations for the first time in about 20 years.
https://www.civilbeat.org/2019/08/health...uirements/
Not sure why these vaccine requirements at 7th grade would be seen as being more difficult or time consuming compared to the previous ones. Rather, since 2020 there has been a well-documented rise in anti-vax rhetoric and vaccine hesitancy, including locally which has led to an increase in kids not being up to date with their vaccinations. While Medical Exemptions (which require a doctor's sign-off) remain small, Religious Exemptions, which only require the caregiver to attest that their vaccine objections are bona fide beliefs, are where can be found some of the largest groups of kids not up to date on their vaccines. Malamalama Waldorf in HPP, for instance, has like a 60% Religious Exemption rate as a particularly extreme local example. So to be clear, schools here can and do allow unvaccinated kids to attend school if they file for an exemption.
As previously mentioned, one of the changes in 2020 was to add the HPV vaccine requirement for 7th grade. There's like a couple hundred known Human papillomavirus, which are transmitted through skin contact, usually during sex, but also can be from simple contact like holding hands. HPV is responsible for several types of cancer, including nearly all cases of cervical cancer. Thankfully as more individuals have gotten vaccinated before becoming sexually active, we've seen a rapid drop in cases of HPV related cancers, notably a steep decline in the rates of cervical cancer in young women, including almost eliminating cervical cancer deaths in the U.S. for that age group.
TLDR: Vaccines work. If you care about your health and the health of your family and community, please get vaccinated.