Washington schools not required to track teacher vaccine records

Hundreds of students across Washington worked to get in compliance with the state’s new vaccination law last year, but no one is tracking whether teachers are vaccinated.

Starting last July, lawmakers removed the personal and philosophical exemption for the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Now students must either get vaccinated or claim a medical or religious exemption. Non-compliant students may be excluded from school.

Although health officials highly encourage people to get vaccinated if they work around chidren and young people, there are no precise numbers on educator vaccination records, because there's no mandate to track it. The Washington State Department of Health said there wasn't a real incentive for schools to keep track of teacher vaccination records without that changing.

The Washington Education Association, which represents public school employees, said every single district in the state would need to be individually contacted to get an idea of the local policy involving teachers.l

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