Study Does Not Find Sustained Change in Non-medical Exemptions for Vaccines in Michigan After 2015 Rule Change

A new study has found that despite requiring parents to attend a vaccine education session at the local health department before obtaining a non-medical exemption, Michigan has not seen a sustained change in rates of non-medical exemptions for pediatric vaccines. The study, “Evaluating Michigan’s Administrative Rule Change on Non-Medical Vaccine Exemptions,” which will be published in the September 2021 issue of Pediatrics (published online Aug. 17), notes that, facing the fourth-highest vaccine exemption rate in the U.S. in 2014, Michigan changed its state administrative rules. Prior to the rules change, Michigan parents could obtain an exemption at their child’s school, where it was easier for parents to get an exemption than to get their child up to date with vaccination requirements. Beginning in 2015, parents were required to attend an in-person vaccine education session at their local health department before obtaining a non-medical exemption. Immediately following the rule change, rates of non-medical exemptions in the state fell 32%. The rates rebounded in subsequent years, however, increasing 26% by 2018, although income disparities in these rates decreased after the rule change. In addition to state regulation of vaccine exemptions, future interventions should seek to counter growing levels of vaccine hesitancy through education, building confidence in vaccines and government, curbing misinformation, and increasing affordability, the authors conclude.

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The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 67,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well-being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults.