NorthwestJune 12, 2015

Associated Press

OLYMPIA - The Washington state Department of Health says nearly 11 percent of the state's kindergartners don't have up-to-date immunization information on file with their school.

The agency said Thursday that the rate of missing immunization information increased 0.6 percent from last year.

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In addition to a decline in up-to-date records for the state's nearly 86,000 enrolled kindergartners, there has also been a slight dip in the number of students who have all required shots documented when they arrived at school in the fall, down from 83.3 percent to 82.7 percent statewide.

The national and state goal is to have 95 percent vaccinated.

Of the forms that have been returned, 4.5 percent of the state's kindergartners had exemptions on file for medical, personal or religious reasons. That's down from a peak exemption rate of 7.6 percent in 2008.

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