1,300 Bergen Students Were Not Vaccinated Last Year, State Records Show

More than 1,300 Bergen County students were not vaccinated for religious reasons in the 2015-16 school year, information from the state health department shows.

Of the students, 902 were preschoolers, 220 were kindergartners, 79 were first-graders, 129 were sixth-graders, and 37 were transfers, records show.

The 1,376 students are 2.5 percent of the more than 54,600 who were enrolled in Bergen County last school year.

Of New Jersey’s 21 counties, Hunterdon had the highest percentage of religious exemption requests, 4.8 percent, and Hunterdon had the lowest, 0.9 percent.

Under the state’s religious exemption policy, parents and guardians may submit a signed document acknowledging that, “immunization interferes with the free exercise of the pupil’s religious rights.”

Editor's note: The state vaccination numbers were first published in an article posted on NJ.com.

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com

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