Community Health & Wellness
Local measles vaccination rates remain high, though below pre-pandemic levels
An overwhelming majority of students entering kindergarten on the Kitsap Peninsula are vaccinated against measles, state data shows. But immunization rates here and across the state remain below where they were before the pandemic.
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Students out of compliance — meaning they were neither vaccinated nor received an approved exemption — also rose among kindergarten classes in all six districts serving Kitsap County, Gig Harbor and the Key Peninsula since the 2019-2020 school year.
Measles, a highly contagious but preventable disease, can remain airborne for up to two hours after a contagious person has left an area. That allows it to spread quickly in settings like schools, particularly among the unvaccinated.
“If a kid is coughing in a waiting room, say, and surrounded by 10 other people, nine of them will probably get it if they’re all unvaccinated,” Dr. Gib Morrow, Kitsap’s top public health officials, said during a Kitsap Public Health board meeting this week. “If they’re all vaccinated, probably none of them will get it.”
Measles was eradicated in the United States two decades ago. But outbreaks have re-emerged amid growing skepticism of public health and subsequent declines in immunization rates. Last week, an infant from King County was Washington’s first case this year.
The Centers For Disease Control reported 164 cases of measles in the U.S. in 2025, as of March 5. About 20% resulted in a hospitalization. One person, an unvaccinated child in Texas, died. It was the U.S.’s first measles death since 2015, according to the Associated Press.
Measles is almost entirely preventable through immunization. The vaccine provides an estimated 97% protection. The CDC advises children a dose of the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine for kids about 1 year old and a second dose for kids 4 to 6 years old.
Kids and MMR vaccinations
In most kindergarten classes on the Kitsap Peninsula, more than 90% of kids are vaccinated against measles in any given year. Unlike most other immunizations, Washington law does not permit exemptions to the MMR vaccine for personal or philosophical reasons. Families can only opt out for religious or medical reasons.
Among five of the districts – Peninsula, Bainbridge, North Kitsap, Central Kitsap and South Kitsap – kindergarten classes almost always reach the 90% threshold. In the last five years, the only exception in those five districts was North Kitsap School District’s 2021-22 kindergarten class, in which 89.2% of students completed the MMR series.
Bremerton schools are the outlier. Fewer than 90% of its kindergarten students were vaccinated against measles in each of the last four years. During the 2023-24 school year, only 82% of Bremerton kindergartners were vaccinated.
Bremerton also had, by far, the highest rates of students who were out of compliance, meaning they had no vaccine or exemption. In the last three years 15 to 18% of Bremerton kindergarten students were noncompliant, according to state data. Other districts in the area seldom have more than 4% of students listed as noncompliant.
Karen Bevers, a district spokesperson, said health services staff are working with families to ensure students meet health requirements. The district maintains accurate vaccination records through its student information system and is working to transfer that data to the state Department of Health.
“Our staff are prioritizing this process to ensure the most up-to-date and accurate reporting while continuing to support families in meeting immunization requirements to keep our students healthy and safe,” she wrote in an email. “We anticipate that this process will be fully completed by fall 2025.”
Still, vaccination rates declined among nearly all districts in the last five years. Rates were down in Peninsula (-2.5%); Bremerton (-8%); Central (-3.9%); North (-1.1%); and South (-2.6%). The state saw a 3.2% decline over that same span. Bainbridge schools saw a 2.2% increase.
While still overwhelmingly high, rates have remained consistently below 95%, the coverage level needed to reach herd immunity. Few districts have consistently met that benchmark in the last five years.
The Bainbridge Island School District has been the most consistent. Only once in the last five years has Bainbridge fallen below that mark, reaching a low of 94% during the 2019-20 school year.
The Peninsula and South Kitsap school districts had vaccination rates above 93% in each of the last five years. That includes two and three years, respectively where they were at or above 95%.
Flu rates remain high
Cases of the flu have also surged in the last few months. Nationwide, the percentage of visits to a doctor driven by flu-like symptoms is the highest in 15 years, according to the Associated Press.
“Influenza-like” in Washington activity is “very high,” according to the state Department of Health’s weekly influenza update. The department reports 214 flu-associated deaths during the 2024-25 flu season.
Kitsap County has had reported more than 100 cases of flu each week since Dec. 15, according to data from the Kitsap Public Health District. Before that, the county had not seen more than 71 cases in any week over the prior 24 months.
The health district reported 200 or more confirmed cases each week throughout February. During that span, the flu made up between 4 and 6% of county emergency department visits.
Cases of the flu have also made up over 4% of hospitalizations in Pierce County since the start of February, according to data from the Tacoma-Pierce County Health District.