A group of High Desert and San Bernardino County-based schools has been repeatedly listed on the low kindergarten vaccination rates “watch list.”
California officials have audited and red-flagged 428 public schools because more than 10% of kindergartners or seventh-grade students were not fully vaccinated last school year.
An additional 80 schools did not report their vaccination information to the state, according to a January 2026 report by EdSource.
The number of schools on the state vaccination audit list is lower than in the previous two years, but 110 of the campuses made the list for at least three years, the report stated.
“Having fewer schools on the audit list this year doesn’t necessarily mean more students are being vaccinated,” EdSource stated. “In 2023-24, the most recent year student vaccination data is available, vaccination rates for kindergartners dropped by nearly half a percentage point to 93.7%.”
The percentage of virtual and on-campus kindergarteners in San Bernardino County without all required vaccines in 2025 attended the following schools:
Other High Desert-based schools mentioned in the report include:
What types of vaccines are required?
California Department of Public Health officials said families are required to provide their child’s immunization record before starting pre-kindergarten or a licensed child care program.
State law requires various age levels receive total immunization against the following childhood diseases:
Vaccination exemptions
Although school students attending virtual and nonclassroom-based schools are not subject to state immunization requirements, the schools are still required to maintain immunization records for those students.
Additionally, California offers exemptions for children in special education, home-based private schools, and students with medical exemptions.
In 2015, the state Legislature added additional oversight to medical exemptions, requiring that the California Department of Public Health review exemptions at schools with an immunization rate of less than 95%, or if a doctor has written more than five exemptions in a year.
In the three years prior to the 2024-25 school year, 62 schools — seven charter and 55 traditional public schools — lost some funding because students were admitted to school without vaccinations, according to the California Department of Education.
“California’s still in a good place in terms of the protections that we have,” said Catherine Flores Martin, executive director of the California Immunization Coalition. “A dip in California can be a couple hundred students, and that’s a lot of students, but compared to the rest of the nation we are ahead.”
To see the full report, visit edsource.org.
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: High Desert schools make state’s low vaccination rate ‘watch list’
Reporting by Rene Ray De La Cruz, Victorville Daily Press / Victorville Daily Press
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