Five West Chester Area School District elementary schools fell below the 95% kindergarten measles vaccination threshold during the 2025-26 school year.
The gaps were first reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer in an investigation by Maddie Hanna and Sarah Gantz, as covered by MyChesCo. The findings land as Chester County confronts 91 confirmed measles cases, part of a statewide outbreak that has reached 1,286 cases, 247 hospitalizations and five deaths, according to the Reading Eagle.
Penn Wood Elementary had the lowest rate at 87.5%. Of its 64 kindergartners, 56 were vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), five had philosophical exemptions and four attended without compliant immunization records, according to state data the Inquirer examined.
Westtown-Thornbury Elementary dropped from 100% MMR coverage two years earlier to below 92%, with seven kindergartners holding religious exemptions. Glen Acres and East Goshen elementary schools also saw year-over-year declines. A fifth school was not identified in the reporting.
Superintendent David Christopher disputed whether the state figures reflect current conditions. He told the Inquirer that school nurses contacted families to collect missing documentation and that some students received vaccinations after the data was compiled. Christopher maintained that every campus now exceeds 95% when students across all grade levels are counted.
"We're really talking about a pretty small percentage of students in the district," Christopher said.
The district has not released those numbers. Christopher's claim uses districtwide, all-grade averages, not the kindergarten-specific rates the state data tracks. The CDC notes that local vaccine coverage can vary widely and that pockets of unvaccinated people can sustain outbreaks even in states with high overall rates.
René Najera, director of public health at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, cautioned in the Inquirer's reporting that even rates above 95% do not eliminate transmission risk. "You could have a population with 96% vaccinated, and still have a roaring infection go through," Najera said.
Chester County health officials told the Inquirer that students and employees exposed to measles who cannot demonstrate immunity may be excluded from school for 21 days. Oxford Area High School closed for one day on Oct. 9 after a reported case so administrators could verify employee records.
Christopher acknowledged the district is still working to track employee vaccination status. The district set up a secure online portal for staff to submit records, but Christopher could not provide the Inquirer with a count of how many had done so.
Of Chester County's 12 public school districts the Inquirer contacted, only West Chester agreed to an interview. Pennsylvania permits medical, religious and philosophical exemptions from school immunization requirements. State health officials began publishing school-level vaccination data this summer.
The district has not announced when, or whether, it will release updated kindergarten figures.
