How many vaccine exemptions are issued in South Mississippi?

During the 2015-16 school year, 25 students in Mississippi's six southern counties received medical vaccination exemptions from the Mississippi State Department of Health, officials there said.

It was the second-highest number of the department's nine districts across the state. District 5 -- which comprises Claiborne, Copiah, Hinds, Madison, Rankin, Simpson, Sharkey-Issaquena, Warren and Yazoo counties -- had 32 medical exemptions.

In South Mississippi, only one student was denied an exemption, Health Department of spokeswoman Liz Sharlot said. That was because the submitting physician had forgotten to put the medical reason on the form, forcing officials to send it back, she said.

Statewide, the number of medical exemptions has been growing. There were 155 during the 2015-16 school year. The year before saw fewer than 140 students receive medical exemptions and the previous year had fewer than 130.

This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 5:31 PM with the headline "How many vaccine exemptions are issued in South Mississippi?."