(Radio Iowa) – Many Iowa schools start classes in less than two weeks and what used to be a fall rite of passage — getting kids updated on their shots — is happening less frequently, and is more often the subject of debate. Natoshia Askelson, a professor in the University of Iowa College of Public Health, says the topic of vaccination has become embroiled in partisan politics and misinformation, while new legislation makes it easier for families to skirt requirements.

“In the state of Iowa, we have a religious exemption which is very interesting because there are actually no religions that don’t believe in the power of vaccines,” Askelson says. “This exemption, you can now get without having to have your signature notarized, so it’s really become an exemption of convenience.”

Prof. Natoshia Askelson (UI photo)

Some 3.6% of Iowa children are using that religious exemption now, according to Askelson, which equates to 19,000 unvaccinated students in schools statewide.

The UI recommends all incoming students be vaccinated against a host of ailments. “Meningitis is something that we worry about. We’ve had a meningitis outbreak on our campus before,” Askelson says. “We also want to be thinking about things like the HPV vaccine that maybe they didn’t get because it wasn’t required for school, but it’s going to prevent them from getting six different types of cancer as they grow older.”

She also recommends students be up-to-date on the Tdap shot, for tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis, as well as MMR, for measles, mumps and rubella.

The cause and effect should be simple to understand, Askelson says, stressing that vaccines protect children from short-term and long-term health issues. “That’s really going to insure that kids are going to be healthy. They’re going to make it through four years of college. They’re going to launch into adulthood fully protected,” Askelson says, “and you’re not going to have to come to the University of Iowa and sit beside your child while they’re in the hospital, or bring them back home because they’ve been quarantined because they’re unvaccinated against measles and we have a measles outbreak.”

It’s important for all students — from elementary to high school to college — to get vaccinated, she says, and advises families to contact their healthcare provider to get up to date to protect themselves. “From the top down, we need strong leadership who supports evidence-based science, who understands the difference between hoaxes and people trying to take advantage of vulnerable populations,” Askelson says. “We need everyone to be on board with how science is doing the best it can to keep us safe.”

She says her biggest vax-related fear is a measles outbreak that forces widespread quarantines. Measles can cause serious illness, and in rare cases, death.