Religious exemptions for child vaccinations in SC have quadrupled in last decade
More parents across South Carolina have opted out of required immunizations for their children using religious exemptions over the last decade, state health department data shows.
Religious exemptions, which exclude children whose parents are opposed to vaccinations for religious reasons from certain immunization requirements, have quadrupled statewide since 2015. In Spartanburg County, where the nation’s largest outbreak of measles is happening, religious exemptions jumped from 950 students (less than 2% of total student population) during the 2015-16 school year to nearly 5,500 students (almost 10%) this school year.
South Carolina requires students enrolled in both public and private schools be vaccinated for a number of diseases such as Hepatitis A and B, chickenpox and the measles.
There are two main ways around that requirement – a medical exemption or a religious one. Homeless students, representing a small portion of all students, are also exempt from the requirement. A religious exemption only requires a signed and notarized form from the parent who objects to certain vaccines for religious reasons.
As religious exemptions have jumped substantially over the last decade, the percentage of students receiving required immunizations has continued to dive — in 2015, just under 97% of students across South Carolina had all their required vaccinations but by 2025 that had dropped to 93%. Some hotbeds of the outbreak are schools with low rates of vaccination, state health data shows.
The department collects and publishes data on how many students have received their required vaccinations on an online database that is updated each school year.
Here are the vaccination numbers for the top five largest counties in South Carolina:
Greenville
Between the 2015-16 and 2025-26 school years in Greenville County, home to the state’s largest school district, the percentage of students that had their required vaccinations dropped from just shy of 98% to 92% and the number of students with religious exemptions jumped from 1,371 to 5,165. The county added 11,000 students to its population in that time.
Most of the schools with the lowest vaccination rates in Greenville were private schools. Calvary Christian School in Greer had less than half its student population with required immunizations and one of the area’s largest private schools, Bob Jones Academy, saw just over 76% of its students with required vaccinations at the start of this school year.
Horry
Between the 2015-16 and 2025-26 school years, Horry County, one of the state’s largest growing counties and home to Myrtle Beach, saw the percentage of students that had their required vaccinations drop from 96% to a little under 93% and the number of students with religious exemptions jump from 346 (less than 1% of the population) to 2,162 (more than 4%).
Private schools largely topped the list for lowest percentage of students vaccinated in Horry County. One of the area’s largest private schools, Calvary Christian School in Myrtle Beach, had around 71% of students vaccinated at the beginning of the school year.
Richland
In the Midlands, between the 2015-16 and 2025-26 school years, the state capital’s percentage of students that had their required vaccinations dipped from around 95% to 92%, as the number of religious exemptions continues to climb. Less than 1% of the student population had religious exemptions in 2015-16. This year, that percentage is closer to 3%.
The two public schools in the county that had the lowest percentages of students with required vaccinations were Carolus Online Academy at around 68% of students vaccinated and Dreher High School, with around 75% of its 1,100 students having immunizations.
Charleston
Between the 2015-16 and 2025-26 school years, Charleston County saw the percentage of students that had their required vaccinations drop from 97% to 93% and the number of students with religious exemptions jump from 604 (around 1% of the student population) to 2,057 (more than 3%).
The schools that ranked among the lowest for percentage of students with required vaccinations were largely private. Aside from a small, preschool with around a dozen students, Sundrops Montessori School in Mount Pleasant was the lowest ranked with 66% of its 63 students having required vaccinations.
Spartanburg
Spartanburg, the epicenter of the measles outbreak, had less than 89% of students with required immunizations for the 2025-26 school year. That number had dropped from more than 97% during the 2015-16 school year. Religious exemptions more than doubled, from 2% of the county’s student population receiving religious exemptions to almost 10%. Between 2015-16 and 2025-26, religious exemptions jumped by more than 4,500 students.
Global Academy of SC, a public charter school that was the site of early measles cases in early October, had the lowest percentage of students vaccinated at the beginning of the 2025-26 school year with just 21% of students having required vaccinations. Another school that saw early cases, Fairforest Elementary, had only 82% of students with required vaccinations at the beginning of this school year.
This story was originally published February 16, 2026 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Religious exemptions for child vaccinations in SC have quadrupled in last decade."
