Wenatchee School District Well Prepared for Vaccination Deadline

When the deadline to have an MMR vaccine or be possibly removed from school came around recently, only two students in the Wenatchee School District were still getting finalizing their paperwork to remain in class.

Superintendent Dr. Paul Gordon says the low numbers are because of their school nurses.

"They really took a proactive approach. They knew this was coming. The communication that they did with our parent community; I think by the end there was only a small handful of students. They are really working with our parents to ensure that they are meeting the letter of the law."

New legislation passed in 2019 removed the personal exemption as a reason parents can refuse the vaccination for their child.

Communications Director Diana Haglund says as of Friday morning they had only one kid who was getting the paperwork finalized with expectation that would be handled that day.

"It does fluctuate but it's ongoing thing that they are constantly monitoring and we're just really fortunate to have such a professional, knowledgeable team of school nurses in our district."

Vaccinations for MMR can now only be skipped for religious or medical reasons.