In general, vaccination rates are declining here and across the state. While some of this is due to access, 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.
Doctors and public health experts say not enough children are meeting routine immunization requirements, which increases the risk of an outbreak should they get exposed to a highly contagious illness like measles.
This is something that pediatricians are actively preparing for at places like Dayton Children’s Hospital.
“We’re a global community, and there’s no insulating ourselves,” said Dr. Michael Klatte, chief of pediatric infectious disease at Dayton Children’s, adding the hospital is using lessons learned from past cases of the measles to inform what they plan to do if they see cases in this region this year.
“If it’s in one place on the globe, it very easily has the potential to spread,” Klatte said.
Every year, this news outlet obtains vaccination data for Ohio schools to help the public understand the status of efforts to protect children from contagious diseases through vaccinations. 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.
“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.
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.
“Unfortunately, we’ve seen those rates decrease over the past several years to a place where now we’re at a higher risk of having outbreaks in school settings,” Thomas said.
Herd immunity challenges
The majority of schools in the nine-county Dayton, Springfield and Butler County region are not meeting the threshold for herd immunity, which is is the minimum percentage of the population that needs to be immune to prevent the spread of a highly contagious illness.
As of the end of the March, a total of 483 measles cases were reported by 20 states and jurisdictions, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. There have been five outbreaks, which are defined as three or more related cases, reported in 2025, and 93% of confirmed cases (447 of 483) are outbreak-associated.
For measles, a vaccination rate that is between 92-94% is needed in order to prevent or limit the spread of measles infections, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Only about 33% of the elementary schools in the region have 92% or higher of their kindergarten students meeting all of their immunization requirements, according to a Dayton Daily News analysis of ODH data. That goes down to 19% when looking at how many schools meet the 94% threshold.
“Our modeling studies from the CDC show that when that rate gets less than 85% in particular, if a case of measles comes into a school and the vaccination rate is that low, it’s more than likely going to lead to a measles outbreak in that school,” Thomas said.
Montgomery County continues decline
Montgomery County has not bounced back to its pre-pandemic vaccination rate of 91.3%, according to Public Health.
Last school year, 83% of kindergarten students in Montgomery County met all of their vaccination requirements, ODH data shows, with that figure dropping to 81.9% for the 2024-2025 school year.
Some of the schools in the region with the lowest vaccination rates are public charter schools, such as National Heritage Academies’ Emerson Academy, which reported to the state that six out of 71 of its kindergarten students met all of their immunization requirements.
Since the time they reported that to the state, the number of children who have gotten vaccinated has since gone up, a spokesperson for the school said.
The rate of fully immunized kindergarten students at Emerson Academy increased from 17% during the 2023-2024 academic year to 66% during the 2024-2025 school year, the spokesperson said.
The school attributes this to ensuring an easy-to-navigate paperwork submission process for families, while connecting them to community resources as needed and decreasing any barriers, the spokesperson said.
National Heritage Academies’ North Dayton School of Discovery reported 33 out 67 kindergarten students met their immunization requirements. Updated data since those figures were reported to the state were not available.
Moral exemptions grow
The percentage of kindergarten students whose parents or guardians are filing non-medical exemptions to avoid vaccinations continues to increase both statewide and in most of the nine-county Dayton region.
The state as a whole declined in the percentage of kindergarten students who met their vaccination requirements while seeing another increase of the religious or reason of conscience exemptions, going from 3.6% in the 2022-2023 school year to 4% in 2023-2024 and 4.5% in 2024-2025.
All of the counties in the region except for Darke County had an increase in the percentage of students whose families submitted a religious or reason of conscience exemption, according to our analysis of ODH data.
Springboro’s Clearcreek Elementary School has the state’s highest number of students who have religious or reason of conscience exemptions with 40 students with that type of exemption, according to ODH data.
About 86% of kindergarten students there have all of their required vaccinations, which is 262 students out of 304. The school district did not respond to requests for comment.
Northmont’s Kleptz Early Childhood School has one of the higher number of kindergarten students with a religious or reason of conscience exemption with 19 kindergarten students, according to ODH.
“The nurses send multiple communications to families. They start with grade level and then narrow it down to those who still need to provide proof of vaccination,” said Tony Thomas, superintendent at Northmont City Schools.
The Kleptz Early Learning Center also has a large number of kindergarten students with 326 out of 345 kindergarten students, or 95%, vaccinated, according to the district. Many other schools in the region with students with religious and moral exemptions are smaller in size.
Preble County has the largest percentage of kindergarten students with a religious or moral exemption at 10.4%, according to ODH. Eaton Community City also has 19 kindergarten students with that type of exemption. Of its 141 kindergarten students, 121 meet all of their vaccination requirements.
Springfield schools
Springfield schools have some of the lower rates of vaccination in Clark County. The district faces unique challenges, it said, adding that the district is committed not just to compliance, but to finding solutions to support the well-being of students and their families.
“Unlike other school districts in Clark County, Springfield serves a highly mobile student population, with high rates of transience, homelessness, and poverty — all of which contribute to lower vaccination rates," said Jenna Leinasars, communications specialist for Springfield schools.
While a rural district may have a kindergarten class of 25 students who remain enrolled throughout the year, an urban district like Springfield’s sees frequent student movement, with new enrollments and withdrawals happening regularly, she said.
Additionally, the Springfield City Schools District accounts for 10 of the 20 elementary buildings in the countywide data set and serves 681 kindergarten students, making comparisons to smaller, rural districts difficult, she said.
“Despite these challenges, county health officials have noted that the district’s vaccination rates are actually higher than expected given the city’s poverty levels,” Leinasars said. “This success is a direct result of the dedicated efforts of our Health Services team. District and building nurses work proactively, sending multiple vaccination reminders before the school year, followed by letters and personal phone calls to families about missing immunizations.”
To further support student health, the district opened a new School-Based Health Center (SBHC) at Springfield High School in partnership with Rocking Horse Community Health Center. Open during and after school hours, the SBHC provides a range of medical services, including vaccinations.
“Since opening in August, the center has served over 2,000 patient appointments, with the majority being SCSD students and families,” Leinasars said.
The district expanded its partnership with Rocking Horse by deploying a mobile health unit to schools on a bi-weekly schedule. This initiative ensures students stay up to date on vaccinations while eliminating transportation barriers for families, Leinasars said.
Butler County
Some progress was made this school year. Butler, Champaign, Darke and Preble counties each saw an increase in the kindergarten students who met all of their vaccination requirements this school year compared to the previous school year.
Middletown’s Amanda Elementary School has one of the lower rates of kindergarten students who have all of their required vaccinations in Butler County. About 76% — 53 out of 70 kindergarten students — are up-to-date on required vaccinations, according to ODH.
The Middletown City School District is committed to supporting families in keeping their children healthy and ready to learn, said Dan Wohler, MCSD communications administrator
“MCSD works closely with parents and guardians by sending reminders and making personal phone calls to help ensure students receive the required vaccinations,” Wohler said.
The district shares information about local immunization clinics through the Butler County General Health District, as well as how to access services through the district’s school-based health center.
MCSD also provides resources about other local providers where families can obtain vaccinations, Wohler said.
Young patients most at risk
Young children are the ones who are most vulnerable to experiencing a severe illness, health complication or even death when it comes to highly infectious diseases like measles and pertussis.
“As a pediatrician, a lot of these infections disproportionately infect younger children when it comes to the severity,” Klatte said.
Since the measles vaccine was developed in 1963, the worst the illness has to offer hasn’t been a common thing to see, especially for parents who are Generation X, Millennials or Generation Z, all of whom were born after the introduction of the vaccine.
For the medical professionals who have watched the severity of these illnesses impact their youngest patients, it is a difficult thing to see. This leads doctors like Klatte to encourage parents and guardians of young children to talk to a trusted medical professional about their concerns when it comes to vaccination.
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