Greenwich school had highest rate of religious vax waivers
GREENWICH — For many schools in Greenwich, seventh grade vaccination rates last school year were above 90 percent, according to state data. However, the one school that did not follow this trend was Greenwich Catholic School.
According to the data, Greenwich Catholic School saw an 81.8 percent seventh grade vaccination rate for the following vaccines last year — varicella (chicken pox), measles, mumps and rubella, hepatitis A, meningococcal and tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis vaccines. This is because the school exempted just over 18 percent of its seventh grade class for religious reasons, which was the highest religious vaccine exemption rate in the state that school year.
Representatives from Greenwich Catholic School declined to comment on this matter and the superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Bridgeport, which Greenwich Catholic School is a part of, could not be immediately reached for comment.
Greenwich Catholic School had this 18 percent religious vaccine exemption rate the same school year that the state’s ban on religious exemptions took effect. Students who received religious exemptions before the April 28, 2021 deadline can still attend school unvaccinated.
On Jan. 28, 2020, before this ban took effect, the Connecticut Conference, the public policy office of the Catholic Church in Connecticut, wrote a statement about the possibility of the state eliminating the religious exemption office when it comes to vaccines. It was posted on the Diocese of Bridgeport’s
website.
“The Catholic Church encourages the use of vaccines, and our Connecticut Catholic schools require mandatory vaccinations,” according to the statement.”The Church recognizes the conscientious objection to certain vaccines that use human fetal cell lines, but the use of such vaccines is not immoral according to Church guidance. That is, there is no religious teaching against the
use of these vaccines for Catholics . ... In general, the Conference maintains that all religious exemptions should be jealously guarded. Any repeal of a religious exemption should be rooted in legitimate, grave public health concerns.”
Other schools still had some seventh graders unvaccinated for religious reasons last school year, including middle schools in the Greenwich public school district, according to the data.
Central Middle School had just over 2 percent of its seventh graders unvaccinated
due to religious reasons. Eastern Middle School had around 1 percent and Western Middle School also had just over 2 percent.
However, since the ban on religious vaccine exemptions, Jessica Wieneke, school nurse supervisor for Greenwich Public Schools, said in a statement that the district has only received vaccine exemptions from families for medical reasons.
“That can range anywhere from history of severe reaction to a vaccine to being immunocompromised,” Wieneke said.
District-wide, GPS saw a slight increase in vaccine exemptions from the 2019-20 school year to the 2022-23 school year. In the 2019-20 school year, the exemption rate was 2.05 percent and two years later, it was 2.23 percent. This is in line with what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported since, in the 2021-22 school year, vaccine exemption rates increased in 41 states.
However, statewide, vaccine rates among new kindergartners have increased over the past two years, exceeding pre-pandemic levels,
according to the Department of Public Health. During the 2022-23 school year, more than 97 percent of the state’s kindergartners were vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella. This is an increase from the 95.7 percent rate the year before.
But for Greenwich Academy, the school’s vaccine rate continues to be high, “without any material difference in pre and post-pandemic vaccination rates,” according to a statement from the school’s health and wellness team. Last school year, Greenwich Academy had a 100 percent vaccination rate among its seventh grade class.
While families can still send in an exemption for their child to remain unvaccinated for serious medical reasons, Wieneke said mandating vaccines helps keep school communities safe.
“According to the CDC, school vaccination requirements help safeguard children and adolescents by making sure they are protected when they get to school, where potential for vaccine-preventable disease transmission is higher,” Wieneke said.