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WUWM's Emily Files reports on education in southeastern Wisconsin.

1 in 5 MPS students fully vaccinated against COVID, with large disparities among schools

Parent seating down with their child on their lap.
Emily Files
/
WUWM
Cassandra Sherrill-Patterson took her grandson, 6-year-old King, to get his second vaccine shot at Hopkins-Lloyd Community School.

MPS leaders are considering relaxing COVID-19 protocols to keep students learning in-person. But one concern holding them back is low vaccination rates among students.

Just one in five MPS students is fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

That’s according to Wisconsin Immunization Registry data MPS provided to WUWM via an open records request. It shows about 28% of students age 5 and up have received one shot, and just 21% are fully vaccinated.

The data isn't perfect, but it is the first snapshot of student vaccination rates shared by MPS. The numbers are likely somewhat higher by now, because the data is about a month old — from Jan. 21.

MPS Chief Academic Officer Jennifer Mims-Howell provided this explanation for how the district compiles the data:

"The process of vaccinations being recorded in WIR from the local vendors can take time, then the integration into our student information system is not automated," Mims Howell says. "When we start an integration, this may take more than a week for all schools to complete. By then, the data can be several weeks old."

Of the traditional MPS schools, those with the lowest vaccination rates are predominately Black and low-income. Hopkins-Lloyd Community School, Riverwest School, and Metcalfe School have 0% fully vaccinated rates or close to zero.

Independently-run charter schools that are authorized by MPS register some of the lowest vaccination rates in the data as well. But leaders of Milwaukee College Prep and Carmen Schools of Science and Technology dispute the data.

According to Milwaukee College Prep, at least 8% of students across their four campuses are fully vaccinated.

Carmen spokesman Michael Nguyen said the charter network tracks individual students' vaccinations by manually pulling data from the Wisconsin Immunization Registry, and is seeing much higher numbers than those included in the data from MPS.

"For instance, Carmen High School of Science and Technology, South has 220 students who are fully vaccinated (58.5%), and 239 students who have had at least one dose (63.5%). This is a higher percentage than the reported 0.3%," Nguyen said.

The non-charter MPS schools with the highest vaccination rates have substantial white populations and lower numbers of economically disadvantaged students. Reagan High School tops the list, with 73.1% of students fully vaccinated, followed by Maryland Avenue Montessori (70.2% fully vaccinated) and Fernwood Montessori (68.7% fully vaccinated).

MPS high schools and middle schools generally have higher vaccination rates than elementary schools. The Pfizer vaccine has been approved for children 12-15 since May 2021. Children ages 5-11 started getting vaccinated in November. Kids under 5 are still not eligible for the vaccine.

In the city of Milwaukee overall, just 14% of 5-11 year-olds are fully vaccinated.

The high schools with the highest vaccination rates are Reagan, Rufus King (60.6% fully vaccinated), Milwaukee School of Languages (52.1% fully vaccinated) and Audubon (51.5% fully vaccinated).

Vaccination differences among MPS schools reflect racial disparities of pandemic

Wisconsin's Department of Health Services notes that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted racial inequities in healthcare access and health outcomes. Vaccination rates are another example.

"Individual choice is not what keeps these communities from being as healthy as possible," the DHS website says. "In fact, structural racism and social factors often create barriers and obstacles for many people. Health is influenced not just by your access to quality health care services, research shows it is also impacted by where you work, where you live, how much money you earn, and how much education you have."

Black Wisconsinites make up 7% of the population but have received 4.5% of vaccinations.

In Milwaukee, about 39% of Black residents are vaccinated, compared to 52% of Latinos and 56% of whites.

Vaccine clinics held at schools

To encourage vaccination, MPS has offered a $100 gift card incentive and held vaccine clinics at schools.

One recent vaccination event was at Hopkins-Lloyd Community School in the 53206 zip code. Cassandra Sherrill-Patterson was there with her grandson, 6-year-old King, who was getting his second shot.

"He’s the last in the family to get vaccinated," Sherrill-Patterson says. "One of the reasons is I’m sickly and I don’t want to get corona. I’m starting radiation tomorrow for breast cancer, and my immune system is going to be down. So we wanted to make sure everyone in the house was vaccinated."

Sherrill-Patterson’s grandson goes to Marvin Pratt Elementary, where about 5% of students are fully vaccinated, according to the data provided by MPS.

Sherrill-Patterson says the low vaccination rates worry her.

"They try to do social distancing but it doesn’t always work, especially with first graders," she says. "So I hope and I feel that some of the parents will come around and get their kids vaccinated."

The vaccination rate is even lower at Hopkins-Lloyd, the school holding the vaccine clinic. The immunization registry data shows 5% of students have one dose of the vaccine, but 0% are fully vaccinated.

Hopkins-Lloyd interim principal Yvonne Perry says the school has sent emails, texts, and fliers letting families know about vaccination opportunities.

"First of all we take into consideration it’s a parent choice," Perry says. "And we’re disseminating the information and having the conversations about the importance of vaccinations. But once again we have to really keep in mind, it’s parental choice."

MPS aims to increase vaccinations as it considers relaxing restrictions

This school year, MPS has closed school buildings if 3% or more of staff and students test positive for COVID. The students then learn virtually for 10 days.

Last week, the school board shortened the virtual learning time period to five days. But it didn't relax the 3% threshold to trigger a school shutdown. School board members says they want a more robust COVID-19 testing regime and increased vaccination rates in order to relax restrictions further.

"The vaccination rates really need to be higher," says MPS Board President Bob Peterson. "The health of our students, staff and families is dependent on everyone being vaccinated ... I recognize that this is a personal decision of each family but because we're in a pandemic, it is a decision that affects our entire community."

MPS has yet to announce what additional steps it will take to further encourage student vaccination. The district requires employees to be vaccinated, unless they have an approved medical or religious exemption.

Have a question about education you'd like WUWM's Emily Files to dig into? Submit it below.

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Emily is WUWM's education reporter and a news editor.
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