This year, this comes as other parts of Ohio face an outbreak of measles, a vaccine-preventable disease. Go here for our full analysis from reporter Samantha Wildow.
Key takeaways from this year’s investigation:
1. Big picture: Our analysis of newly released 2024-2025 vaccination data from the Ohio Department of Health shows there’s been little improvement in vaccination rates and more utilization of non-medical exemptions.
2. The numbers: Statewide, vaccination rates have declined among kindergarten students, from 86.2% in the 2023-2024 school year, to 85.4% of kindergarten students being fully vaccinated in the 2024-2025 school year, according to ODH. Similar trends were seen in five of the nine counties in the Dayton, Springfield and Butler County region.
3. Local impact: More than 150 area elementary schools have kindergarten measles, mumps and rubella vaccination rates below what health experts say is needed for community protection.
4. Search the data: We made a searchable database of every elementary school in Ohio that has at least ten kindergarten students. Go here to search the vaccination and exemption rates at your area schools.
5. Bottom of list: More parents at one Springboro elementary school filed to have their kids exempted from vaccine requirements on moral grounds than any other school in Ohio. That school has the state’s lowest vaccination rate among in-person schools with more than 300 students.
6. Exemptions: Vaccine refusal has grown enough in some local counties to leave the countywide vaccination rate below what’s needed to prevent spread, the data shows.
7. Experts say: “It’s important that children are fully vaccinated before they attend school because they’re going to be in close contact with lots of kids and probably exposed to a lot of diseases, including diseases that vaccines can prevent,“ said Dr. Becky Thomas, medical director for Public Health - Dayton & Montgomery County.
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