School nurse coordinator Sherry Reinhart gave an update on the School Immunization Report Card at a recent Seymour school board meeting.

The purpose of the report is to allow schools to compare data reported in February to data reported at the end of the school year and get a better representation of where each school is in meeting established school vaccination requirements.

Reinhart said Seymour Community School Corp. has had some growth in its immunization compliance since last year and then discussed the required immunizations for each grade from pre-K through 12th grade.

In the elementary schools, kindergarten immunizations are counted.

In the 2021-22 school year at Seymour-Jackson Elementary School, there were 101 kindergartners, and 85% were up to date on childhood immunizations, up 10% from the previous year. The average of all Hoosier elementary schools was 81%.

Emerson Elementary School had 56 kindergartners enrolled and 84% compliance, up 1% from 2020-21.

“Margaret R. Brown Elementary School with 116 kindergartners presents a challenge,” Reinhart said. “We are at 60% compliance this year, which is down from 63% last year.”

She said the data are taken from February, but since then, there have been immunization clinics over the summer for Brown Elementary and also at Seymour High School and the Sixth Grade Center onsite.

”I think this number will be much better next year for Brown, and we’re going to continue to reach out to those families and students as much as we can,” Reinhart said. “We’re going to continue to do immunization clinics in the schools, and we have partnered with the Jackson County Health Department, who was conducting the immunization clinics at Brown over the summer.”

Cortland Elementary had 25 kindergartners with 96% compliance, down from 100% last year.

Reinhart said the number was down because there was 4% due to medical objection, otherwise they would be at 100%, but they are still well above the state average of 81%.

“We have two objections, and if you’re not going to be compliant, you must have a medical or religious objection, and that all takes away from our percentage of compliance,” she said.

According to in.gov/health/immunization, a medical exemption is a physician’s certification that a particular immunization may be detrimental to the child’s health. It must state in writing that the child has a medical contraindication to receiving a vaccine.

A religious objection must state that the objection to immunization is based on religious grounds. The objection must be in writing, signed by the child’s parent and delivered to the school.

Seymour-Redding Elementary School had 111 kindergartners enrolled and was 84% compliant, down 1% from last year.

“At the high school, there were 357 seniors last year, and they had a 71% compliance rate, up from 53% last year,” Reinhart said. “They are above the state average of 64%, but our goal is still 95% vaccination rate for all of our students.”

The Sixth Grade Center had 381 sixth-graders enrolled in 2021-22 with 77% compliance, up 1% from the previous year. The state average for sixth-graders is 73%.

“The sixth grade does a tremendous job of keeping up with the vaccinations, and I think the school nurse actually planned with the health department to have a day for the sixth-graders,” Reinhart said. “She got all the consents signed, and they were bused over to the health department and got their vaccinations.”

She said the schools really need to do those kinds of things to help those students and families by reaching out, and sometimes, they have to think outside the box.

“On Aug. 8, we had clinics set up at the Sixth Grade Center and Seymour High School and were able to vaccinate around 60 students,” Reinhart said. “Then on Sept. 28, we had an immunization clinic at Seymour High School and vaccinated 42 students.”

She said with the support of the school administration, they will continue to have immunization clinics during the school year to improve the immunization rates so they can ensure the students stay safe and healthy.

Indiana 2022-2023 required and recommended school immunizations

Pre-K

Required: 3 Hepatitis B, 4 DTaP (Diphtheria, Tetanus and Pertussis), 3 Polio, 1 Varicella (Chickenpox), 1 MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) and 2 Hepatitis A.

Recommended: Annual influenza

Kindergarten to fifth grade

Required: 3 Hepatitis B, 5 DTaP, 4 Polio, 2 Varicella, 2 MMR and 2 Hepatitis A

Recommended: Annual influenza and COVID-19

Grades 6 through 11

Required:

3 Hepatitis B, 5 DTaP, 4 Polio, 2 Varicella, 2 MMR, 2 Hepatitis A, 1 MCV4 (Meningococcal) and 1 Tdap (Tetanus, Diphtheria and Pertussis)

Recommended:

Annual influenza, 2/3 HPV (Human papillomavirus) and COVID-19.

12th grade:

Required:

3 Hepatitis B, 5 DTaP, 4 Polio, 2 Varicella, 2 MMR, 2 Hepatitis A, 2 MCV4 and 1 Tdap

Recommended:

Annual influenza, 2/3 HPV, 2 MenB (Meningococcal) and COVID-19