MADISON (NBC 26) — New Wisconsin Department of Health Services data shows fewer students received their required vaccinations last year.
According to the DHS, 86.4% of students met the minimum immunization requirements during the 2024-25 school year, down from 89.2% the previous year.
A total of 2,662 schools reported information on 881,628 students.
Health experts say students in grades 7 through 12 are required to get the meningitis vaccine, and the unfamiliarity with the new requirement is behind the drop in students vaccinated.
"Our school vaccination data tells us there are children in our schools who are not protected from an outbreak of preventable diseases like measles," State Health Officer Paula Tran said in a news release. "In public health, we know that 95% of people in a community need to be vaccinated against measles in order to prevent an outbreak, which is why it's so important to get children the vaccines they need on time."
A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the number of Wisconsin kindergarteners vaccinated against preventable infections is below the national average.
The new data from the Wisconsin DHS comes as Oconto County is dealing with nine measles cases, the first known cases of the highly-contagious virus in the state this year.
Measles can cause serious health complications — especially for children — including pneumonia, brain damage, and deafness, and can sometimes be deadly, according to the DHS.
You can prevent contracting the virus by getting the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine. Health experts say two doses of the MMR vaccine are 97 percent effective at preventing the disease.
Anyone who has symptoms of measles is urged to stay home and call their doctor's office before visiting.
