As southwest Oregon prepares for winter colds and flus, public health officials worry that not enough kids are vaccinated against childhood diseases.
The Oregon Health Authority says at least 95% of children should be vaccinated against polio, measles and other diseases to reach herd immunity.
But no county in Oregon hit that recommended threshold, according to state data from the 2024-2025 school year.
Klamath County is the closest, at 92%. In Josephine County, fewer than 82% of K-12 students received all required immunizations.
The numbers get worse for younger students. Only five counties had at least 90% of kindergarteners who received all required vaccines.
Some individual schools are doing better than others.
Keno Elementary School and Mazama High School in Klamath County both had more than 96% of their K-12 students fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, at River's Edge Academy Charter School in Jackson County, about 55% of students had completed all state-required immunizations. At Rogue Christian Academy in Josephine County, the number was approximately 58%.
For childcare facilities, only about 68% of kids in Curry County had received their required vaccines. Coos County was higher at 77.5%, but still well below the 95% threshold.
Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, Douglas County’s public health officer, said he worries about disease outbreaks at schools.
"I'm old enough to remember a time when measles was around, and measles is a terrible disease," he said. "What I always tell people who’ve not seen measles is that the least sick kid with measles is sicker than anybody you've seen in clinic this week."
Oregon requires the following vaccinations for students starting kindergarten:
- DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, also known as whooping cough)
- Polio
- Varicella (chickenpox)
- MMR (measles, mumps and rubella)
- Hepatitis A
- Hepatitis B
To receive a nonmedical vaccine exemption, parents in Oregon must either watch an online education module and submit a certificate of completion or have a health care provider sign a vaccine education certificate.
Dannenhoffer calls this rule "very permissive."
Statewide, almost 10% of kindergarten students had a nonmedical vaccine exemption for a school-required vaccine. In 2012, that number was only 5.8%
Dannenhoffer said there’s a lot of misinformation about vaccines, but ultimately, they keep children safe.
"[If] we don't do these vaccines, these diseases will come back, as we've seen in Texas, as we've seen in Utah, as we've seen in South Carolina," he said. "These kids will be sick, and some kids will die."
