Vaccine Ignorance Is Curable, But Childhood Vaccination Rates Perilously Low

Two important points come out of Dan Santella’s report on vaccine refusal in South Dakota.

First, the obligatory one-woman’s-story lead-in actually enlightens us by showing the vaccine refuseniks can come to their senses:

Natasha Smith has seen her views on vaccines transform.

“I had been reading books about pregnancy and parenthood of toddlers, that sort of a thing, and the author of those books ended up veering into kind of an anti-vaccination realm, and I followed her,” Smith said. “I didn’t vaccinate my kiddos when they were little.”

And she wanted this to spread.

“I coached other parents on how to talk to their pediatrician about not vaccinating,” Smith said. “I coached other parents on how to work with the school district and get exemptions to the vaccines.”

The Sioux Falls mom who works for Sanford Health now feels entirely different.

“It took a lot of, I think, challenging preconceived beliefs and really challenging some of the information I thought to be true in order to arrive at the decision that I had made the wrong choice, that I needed to get them vaccinated,” Smith said [Dan Santella, “How Vaccine Hesitancy Can Become Conviction in SD,” KELO-TV, 2025.11.04].

Santella doesn’t explain what information or experience led Smith to change her mind. But if we can change Smith’s mind, we can change the minds of other refuseniks.

And we’d better get to it, because—second big point—the growing number of vaccine refuseniks is pushing us toward the threshold where herd immunity breaks down and disease breaks out:

Per data from the South Dakota Department of Health, rates for required childhood vaccinations in South Dakota have dropped in recent years while religious exemptions for shots have risen. Kindergarteners in South Dakota have four required vaccines and for the 2014-2015 school year, rates were either 97% or 95%. But since then, there has been an overall decline. For the 2024-2025 school year, these rates are at 89% or 90%.

Sixth graders in South Dakota have two required vaccines. Similarly, rates have dropped; what was once 96% in 2016-2017 is now 89% in 2024-2025.

…Still, there is a notable difference between 90% and a higher rate.

“Once our vaccine rates drop down to 85 or 90%, that societal protection starts to wane quite a bit, and we’ll start seeing a lot more disease after that as well,” Kooima said [Santella, 2025.11.04].

Usually a 90% majority is enough to make anything happen. But public health requires an even stronger consensus. Turn off TikTok and trust your doctor: get your shots, and get your kids shots!