Nearly 1,200 kindergarteners declined immunizations

TULSA, Okla. (AP) – A state Health Department survey shows that almost 1,200 kindergartners in Oklahoma declined one or more mandated immunizations during the 2017-18 school year with exemption rates at some schools surpassing 20 percent.

Figures obtained by the Tulsa World from the state Department of Health indicate around 90 percent of kindergartners have gotten their up-to-date vaccinations, although inoculation rates are substantially reduced at a few individual schools.

State law forbids any Oklahoma school from admitting a student unless they have gotten or are “in the process of receiving” immunization against numerous ailments that include measles, chicken pox, and hepatitis A.

Parents are permitted to exempt their kids from the mandatory inoculations on medical, religious, or personal grounds.

Oklahoma officials last week confirmed the state’s first case of measles in the past year.