Hawaii Exemption Bills

High Exemption Rates? No, low Covid uptake.

Two new bills have been dropped in the Hawaii Legislature to eliminate nonmedical exemptions to school attendance vaccine requirements.

The normal misrepresentations by the media are in play.

From Hawaiian Public Radio: (here is a reason to de-fund)

For a person unfamiliar with this issue, what would they think the exemption rate is?

21%.

What key data point is missing from this article?

The exemption rate.

What is the exemption rate? Only 4.07%.

14.33% of students are “missing shots”, and

2.76% “didn’t have their records”, but this article

lumps them all together, hence “21%”

How many legislators are going to research this

issue deep enough to understand this?

What is “missing shots”? There are few single vaccinations any longer. For most of the United States, for K-6 attendance there are five, 2 to 5 injection series for a total of 16 injections.

5 DTaP, 4 IPV, 3 Hep B, 2 MMR, 2 Chicken Pox.

4 of those injections, (5th DTaP, 4th IPV, 2nd MMR, and 2nd Chicken Pox) are ACIP scheduled in a 3-year administration window between the 4th and 7th birthday.

Kindergarten enrolls at age 5. Not exempt students who are still in process of those final boosters, and appropriately vaccinated for age, are being misrepresented as “under vaccinated”, and in this case, lumped in with exempt to try to alarm the legislature and the public.

But Hawaii goes further than many states and adds an extra requirement for K-6th attendance that most states do not- the Hepatitis A vaccine, 2 more injections. 18 injections versus the national norm of 16 injections.

For most states that is it, until there is a 7th grade TdaP booster due, for a total of 17 injections K-12.

But again, Hawaii goes even further and requires MORE vaccines for 7th to 12th grade attendance than most other states.

For 7th to 12th grade Hawaii requires the Human Papilloma Vaccine, HPV, 2 or 3 injections, and a Meningitis vaccine, 1 injection, for 7th to 12th grade attendance.

22 - 23 injections total for K-12 attendance, versus 17 as the national norm.

I am surprised the exemption rate is only 4.07% with this rigorous of a schedule.

What is the trend for the incoming Kindergarten classes?

In 2023/24 school year Kindergarten exemption use was DOWN 1.1%.

How about this article in Civil Beat?

“1 in 5” = 20% again.

“Hawaiʻi has seen an explosion in the number of families using religious exemptions to opt out of the state’s mandate that children receive vaccinations to attend school.

Last year, 4% of Hawaiʻi students in public and private schools had religious exemptions, up from 2% before the Covid-19 pandemic. The increase is even more dramatic over the past decade. From 2013 to 2023, the number of students with a religious exemption grew from 2,100 to 7,500 kids — a roughly 250% increase.

Escalating misinformation and contempt around vaccines at the national level has driven Hawaiʻi leaders to push for legislation to limit families’ abilities to avoid vaccine requirements in schools, said state Rep. Gregg Takayama, who chairs the House Health Committee.”

This article does list the exemption rate in the copy.

But then it tries to frame the 2019 2.12% exemption rate increase to 4.07% in 2024 to “misinformation” and “contempt” for vaccines, instead of the true cause, by omitting key data.

That key data is that 2020 is when the State added the Hep A, HPV, and Meningitis vaccines to the school attendance requirements. That is what increased exemption use.

Do they really think there will be no response when they add additional requirements? HPV is a controversial school requirement- STD’s should not be transmitted at school. Hep A is along the lines of food poisoning and very rarely has any long-term effects. Meningitis is extremely rare, with often only 1 or no cases per year.

The exemption rate is only 4% - 5%.

Why are they misrepresenting and implying a 20% exemption rate to alarm the legislature to remove a 5% exemption rate?

Why are they attacking exemptions now?

Public Health really, really, wants to add the Covid vaccine to school rules. They really do.

They have never tried to require a vaccine this unpopular before.

Uptake is under 12%.

If they add Covid with exemptions still in place parents will exempt at 80% - 90%.

They need to get rid of exemptions first.

That is why they are falsifying a 20% exemption rate for the “good” vaccines, as an excuse to get rid of exemptions.

Then, when exemptions are gone, they will slide Covid vaccines in the side door.

“Wait, we only wanted to get rid of exemptions for the regular shots, not Covid”.

“Sorry- no exemptions mean no exemptions.”

What do you think all the hoopla about measles in Texas is about?

Don’t fall for it.

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2020 Vaccine Schedule Additions