By Morgan Chilson, Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — More Kansas families with kindergarteners attending school last year claimed state vaccine exemptions than in previous years, and the “unfortunate melding” of science and politics may cause that number to keep rising, an infectious disease doctor said.
The number of kindergarteners with vaccine exemptions increased from 2.9% in the 2023-24 school year to 3.59% in 2024-25, according to Kansas Department of Health and Environment state vaccine data, reported in September.
The percentage of kindergarteners who received the state-required vaccines to attend school remained relatively stable, rising just three-tenths of a percent, from 86.7% to 87%, data showed.
But county data breakdowns highlighted wide disparities across Kansas, with Morton County in the southwest corner of the state reporting the lowest number of kindergarteners with required vaccines at 50%. Kingman County followed with 54.1%, then Decatur County at 60%.
Twenty-two Kansas counties reported vaccination rates at less than 75%.
“I have to believe, given the current climate and the unfortunate melding of medicine and science with politics and also, just from what we’ve seen in the recent past, that, yes, there will continue to be more exemptions,” said Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control at the University of Kansas Health System. “This will then also open the door, unfortunately, for more disease and more consequences and complications of that disease process, whatever that might be.”
Concerns about vaccine safety are being raised at the national level as U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expresses doubts about vaccine use, despite disagreement from all medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Institutes of Health.
Some states have changed vaccine mandates based on legislators’ concerns, with Florida completely eliminating all vaccine mandates for children.
Kansas vaccine requirements follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations, according to KDHE spokeswoman Jill Bronaugh.
“We are in the process of gathering the most current and accurate information before making any changes or issuing additional guidance or educational materials as it relates to current vaccine schedules and recommendations,” she said in an email.
Bronaugh did not answer a question about whether the state would continue to follow CDC recommendations as changes are implemented. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices last week recommended that the combined shot for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (chickenpox) be separated into two shots, with chickenpox being given separately and at a different time.
Decatur County on the Nebraska border saw a drop to 60% of the number of kindergarteners with the required number of vaccinations. The small school district has around 150 students, but the decline still raises concerns for local health officials.
“We’re been working with schools to send out reminders,” said Bobbi Koerperich, health officer at the Decatur County Health Department. “I don’t think the percentage is that low.”
Koerperich said the majority of the parents that health staff talk to are open to getting vaccinations. The health department is offering influenza vaccinations at the school next week, she said.
Low vaccination rates endanger herd immunity, which occurs when enough people in a population are immune that the spread of the disease is stopped. Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2020, but measles cases surged in 2025, including in Kansas.
Measles vaccine coverage dropped from 94.5% in Kansas in the 2019-20 school year to 90.6% in 2024-25, KDHE data said.
Hawkinson said the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, commonly called the MMR, is safe.
“We know that they are safe and they are effective, but now what we are seeing is a conscious dismantling of the vaccination strategies, of the continued information to try and dissuade people from getting vaccinations,” he said. “If this continues, in my opinion, probably in the next five to 10 years, (this will be) the largest public health experiment in recent times that we have seen, because of the continued decrease in vaccination rates and increase in exemptions.”
