Chickenpox outbreak in Westfield schools underscores declining vaccination rates

WESTFIELD — In the last week, five people in the city’s schools came down with chickenpox.

School staff are contact tracing and unvaccinated students who were in contact with someone sick have to quarantine for two weeks, said Fawne StPierre, the school district’s health and safety supervisor.

There’s a growing number of people in the city schools who have not had at least one vaccine the state requires. Some schools in Westfield top the state for the highest percentage of students with a vaccine exemption, meaning they have cited a medical or religious reason for not being immunized.