Do Vaccination Rates in Santa Barbara County Create a Public Health Risk?

Findings 5 findings

F1

The lack of County-wide childhood vaccination data for homeschooled children means that County Health knowledge of community immunity levels is incomplete.

F2

The lack of County-wide childhood vaccination data for adults means that County Health knowledge of community immunity levels is incomplete.

F3

The Sheriff’s Office has not determined childhood vaccination rates of inmates in County jails, potentially placing the inmates and staff at risk.

F4

There is no program in place at the County’s jails to provide childhood vaccinations to unvaccinated inmates, increasing risk for the inmates and staff.

F5

There is no procedure in place at the County’s jails on when or how to isolate unvaccinated inmates, increasing potential risk of a disease outbreak in the jails.

Recommendations 5

R1

The Grand Jury recommends that the County Board of Supervisors require County Health to study and estimate childhood vaccination levels of homeschooled children in the County.
R2

The Grand Jury recommends that the County Board of Supervisors require County Health to study and estimate childhood vaccination levels of adults in the County.
R3

The Grand Jury recommends that the Sheriff’s Office collect data during health intake screenings at the County’s jails to determine childhood vaccination rates.
R4

The Grand Jury recommends that the Sheriff’s Office implement a program to administer required childhood vaccinations to unvaccinated inmates.
R5

The Grand Jury recommends that the Sheriff’s Office develop and enforce a procedure on when and how to isolate unvaccinated inmates.

Conclusions 1

CL1

Vaccination rates against childhood diseases have decreased in many communities in the United States. As a result, there has been a disturbing trend of new outbreaks of dangerous diseases across the County. In the overall Santa Barbara County population, the vaccination rates against childhood diseases are unknown. If the numbers of vaccinated individuals have fallen below herd immunity thresholds, our County is also at risk of outbreaks. The Jury recommends that County Health carry out studies to determine childhood vaccination rates. These studies should focus upon adults, and be inclusive of diverse populations, including 2024-2025 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury 13 immigrants and migrant workers. In addition, the Jury recommends that two particular at-risk populations require special attention: children who are receiving home schooling, and inmates in the County jails.

Commendations 7

CM1

The lack of County-wide childhood vaccination data for homeschooled children means that County Health knowledge of community immunity levels is incomplete.
CM2

The lack of County-wide childhood vaccination data for adults means that County Health knowledge of community immunity levels is incomplete.
CM3

The Sheriff’s Office has not determined childhood vaccination rates of inmates in County jails, potentially placing the inmates and staff at risk.
CM4

There is no program in place at the County’s jails to provide childhood vaccinations to unvaccinated inmates, increasing risk for the inmates and staff.
CM5

There is no procedure in place at the County’s jails on when or how to isolate unvaccinated inmates, increasing potential risk of a disease outbreak in the jails.
CM6

The 2024-25 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury commends the County of Santa Barbara Health Department for its work in achieving high vaccination rates among children in public and private schools.
CM7

The 2024-25 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury commends the Santa Barbara County Probation Department for its work in monitoring and achieving high vaccination rates in incarcerated youths. FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Finding 1: The lack of County-wide childhood vaccination data for homeschooled children means that County Health knowledge of community immunity levels is incomplete.

Agency Responses 2

Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.

Board of Supervisors

August 19, 2025 • 5 pages • 10 responses • Score: 0 (+3, 4, -3) View Details ▾

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10 responses to findings and recommendations

F1

The lack of County-wide childhood vaccination data for homeschooled children means that County Health knowledge of community immunity levels is incomplete.

Response: Agree Score: +1

The lack of County-wide childhood vaccination data for homeschooled children means that County Health knowledge of community immunity levels is incomplete. The Board of Supervisors agrees. Unlike children enrolled in school, homeschooled children are not mandated to report vaccine status and therefore vaccination rates in this population of children are unknown. This is consistent across California.

R1

The Grand Jury recommends that the County Board of Supervisors require County Health to study and estimate childhood vaccination levels of homeschooled children in the County.

Response: Will Not Implement

Score: -1

The Grand Jury recommends that the County Board of Supervisors require County Health to study and estimate childhood vaccination levels of homeschooled children in the County. To be implemented by December 1, 2025. <b>This recommendation will not be implemented.</b> There is no feasible method to reliably study and estimate childhood vaccination levels of homeschooled children. In an effort to address the Grand Jury's recommendation, County Health reviewed the estimated number of homeschooled children and assumed they were all unvaccinated in order to represent a "worst case scenario." In such...

F2

The lack of County-wide childhood vaccination data for adults means that County Health knowledge of community immunity levels is incomplete.

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

The lack of County-wide childhood vaccination data for adults means that County Health knowledge of community immunity levels is incomplete. The Board of Supervisors disagrees partially with an explanation. The Board agrees that currently there is no reliable database for countywide childhood vaccination data for adults. However, this does not mean that the knowledge of community immunity levels is incomplete. The California Immunization Registry (CAIR) began mandating data entry of all vaccines since January 2023, therefore as residents age into adulthood, childhood vaccine rates within adult...

R2

The Grand Jury recommends that the County Board of Supervisors require County Health to study and estimate childhood vaccination levels of adults in the County.

Response: Will Not Implement

Score: -1

The Grand Jury recommends that the County Board of Supervisors require County Health to study and estimate childhood vaccination levels of adults in the County. To be implemented by December 1, 2025. This recommendation will not be implemented. There is no reliable method to estimate childhood vaccination levels in adults. The only feasible method would be through a countywide survey where individuals are asked to provide or recollect their childhood immunization records. However, recollection is unreliable and insufficient to infer community immunity and it is unlikely that adults maintain th...

F3

The Sheriff’s Office has not determined childhood vaccination rates of inmates in County jails, potentially placing the inmates and staff at risk.

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

, inmates are screened on intake for communicable diseases. While it is impossible to eliminate all risk of disease transmission in jails, especially from asymptomatic persons, the risk is substantially reduced through intake screening, active surveillance, prompt isolation of symptomatic persons, and quarantining for exposed patients as needed. Recommendation 4 The Grand Jury recommends that the Sheriff's Office implement a program to administer required childhood vaccinations to unvaccinated inmates. To be implemented by December 1, 2025. This recommendation will be implemented. The Board ...

R3

The Grand Jury recommends that the Sheriff’s Office collect data during health intake screenings at the County’s jails to determine childhood vaccination rates.

Response: Will Implement

Score: +1

The Grand Jury recommends that the Sheriff's Office collect data during health intake screenings at the County's jails to determine childhood vaccination rates. To be implemented by December 1, 2025. This recommendation will be implemented. The Board agrees with this recommendation and County Health recommends that the intake process and initial heath assessment at the County Jails include questions about childhood vaccination rates or indicators of being vaccinated, such as attending elementary school in California or serving in the military (both mandates for childhood vaccination). Accordin...

F4

There is no program in place at the County’s jails to provide childhood vaccinations to unvaccinated inmates, increasing risk for the inmates and staff.

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

There is no program in place at the County's jails to provide childhood vaccinations to unvaccinated inmates, increasing risk for the inmates and staff. The Board of Supervisors disagrees partially with an explanation. The Board agrees that there is no program to provide childhood vaccinations to inmates but disagrees that this places the inmates and staff at risk. As indicated in the response to finding 3, inmates are screened on intake for communicable diseases. While it is impossible to eliminate all risk of disease transmission in jails, especially from asymptomatic persons, the risk is su...

R4

The Grand Jury recommends that the Sheriff’s Office implement a program to administer required childhood vaccinations to unvaccinated inmates.

Response: Will Implement

Score: +1

The Grand Jury recommends that the Sheriff's Office implement a program to administer required childhood vaccinations to unvaccinated inmates. To be implemented by December 1, 2025. This recommendation will be implemented. The Board supports offering catch-up vaccinations to unvaccinated incarcerated persons in accordance with the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and based on identified risk factors. County Health is presently working with the contracted jail medical provider to implement a vaccination program in the jails consistent with the above guidelines. The Sheriff Of...

F5

There is no procedure in place at the County’s jails on when or how to isolate unvaccinated inmates, increasing potential risk of a disease outbreak in the jails.

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

There is no procedure in place at the County's jails on when or how to isolate unvaccinated inmates, increasing potential risk of a disease outbreak in the jails. The Board of Supervisors disagrees partially with an explanation. The Board agrees that there is not a specific procedure in place for isolating unvaccinated inmates, but disagrees that this increases a potential risk for disease outbreaks. The Sheriff's Office has established protocols for isolating inmates who exhibit signs and symptoms of infectious disease.

R5

The Grand Jury recommends that the Sheriff’s Office develop and enforce a procedure on when and how to isolate unvaccinated inmates.

Response: Will Not Implement

Score: -1

The Grand Jury recommends that the Sheriff's Office develop and enforce a procedure on when and how to isolate unvaccinated inmates. To be implemented by December 1, 2025. This recommendation will not be implemented. Isolating otherwise healthy individuals can negatively impact mental health and can increase the risk for suicide in incarcerated persons. The Sheriff's Office has established protocols for isolating inmates who exhibit signs and symptoms of infectious disease. Isolating incarcerated persons solely because they are unvaccinated would potentially violate these individuals' rights.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff

July 29, 2025 • 4 pages • 7 responses • Score: +1 (+2, 4, -1) View Details ▾

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7 responses to findings and recommendations

R1

The Grand Jury recommends that the County Board of Supervisors require County Health to study and estimate childhood vaccination levels of homeschooled children in the County.

Response: Will Implement

Score: +1

Will be implemented. The Sheriff's Office will work with its contracted healthcare provider to inquire about an individual's immunization history and/or status. This should include direct inquiries about prior immunizations, as well as indirect evidence of vaccination such as attending elementary school in California or serving in the military (both have mandates for childhood vaccination). Vaccine eligibility will be determined based on age, medical condition and/or risk factors, in accordance with the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) g...

F3

The Sheriff’s Office has not determined childhood vaccination rates of inmates in County jails, potentially placing the inmates and staff at risk.

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

Disagree partially, with an explanation. The Sheriff's Office agrees that it has not determined childhood vaccination rates of inmates in County jails. The Sheriff's Office disagrees that not capturing this data places inmates and staff at risk. There have been no recorded cases of measles, chicken pox, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, or polio in at least the last nine years, we did have one case of whooping cough and, in surveying a number of long-term employees, there is no recollection of any such cases in the past thirty years. While there was one probable case of whooping cough in December of...

R3

The Grand Jury recommends that the Sheriff’s Office collect data during health intake screenings at the County’s jails to determine childhood vaccination rates.

Response: Will Implement

Score: +1

Will be implemented. The Sheriff's Office will work with its contracted healthcare provider to inquire about an individual's immunization history and/or status. This should include direct inquiries about prior immunizations, as well as indirect evidence of vaccination such as attending elementary school in California or serving in the military (both have mandates for childhood vaccination). Vaccine eligibility will be determined based on age, medical condition and/or risk factors, in accordance with the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) g...

F4

There is no program in place at the County’s jails to provide childhood vaccinations to unvaccinated inmates, increasing risk for the inmates and staff.

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

Disagree partially, with an explanation. The Sheriff's Office agrees that no formal program exists to provide childhood vaccinations (e.g., MMR, Tdap, varicella, polio, etc.) to unvaccinated inmates. The Sheriff's Office believes that not providing childhood vaccinations to unvaccinated inmates does not significantly increase risk for the inmates and staff, since only one possible instance of a disease in this category appears to have been identified at the Santa Barbara Jail system in decades. <b>

R4

The Grand Jury recommends that the Sheriff’s Office implement a program to administer required childhood vaccinations to unvaccinated inmates.

Response: Requires Analysis

Score: 0

Requires further analysis, with an analysis completion date of fewer than 6 months after the issuance of the report The Sheriff's Office recognizes the potential public health benefits of administering childhood vaccinations to unvaccinated inmates, but requires further analysis to determine the feasibility, resource requirements, and costs of such a program. Furthermore, it is challenging to identify individuals who did not receive childhood vaccinations, and even if inmates who were not immunized can be identified, they cannot be forced to vaccinate. The Sheriff's Office recognizes the impor...

F5

There is no procedure in place at the County’s jails on when or how to isolate unvaccinated inmates, increasing potential risk of a disease outbreak in the jails.

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

Disagree partially with an explanation The Sheriff's Office disagrees partially with the finding that there is no procedure in place for isolating inmates. While there is no specific procedure targeting the isolation of unvaccinated inmates based solely on their vaccination status, the Sheriff's Office has established protocols for isolating inmates who exhibit symptoms of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19. For example, during the COVID-19 outbreaks beginning in 2020, symptomatic inmates were promptly isolated in designated areas to prevent disease spread, and testing was conducted to iden...

R5

The Grand Jury recommends that the Sheriff’s Office develop and enforce a procedure on when and how to isolate unvaccinated inmates.

Response: Will Not Implement

Score: -1

Will not be implemented. The Sheriff's Office will not implement this recommendation as prolonged isolation can negatively impact an individual's mental health and is a known risk factor of suicide by incarcerated persons. An incarcerated person who lacks childhood vaccinations may be more susceptible to illness, but their lack of immunization does not indicate they are infectious and require isolation. The Sheriff's Office supports the use of least restrictive housing and concludes that the potential harms of isolating unvaccinated but asymptomatic individuals without a known exposure to an i...