Feb. 19 is exclusion day in Oregon schools. Children who have not been properly immunized will be sent home that day unless their parents have gotten a medical or what’s known as a nonmedical exemption from the state requirement.

In Oregon, that’s far too many kids. In fact, according to the Lund Report, which reports on Oregon medical issues, Oregon leads the nation in the percentage of kindergarteners whose parents have received nonmedical exemptions from state immunization laws.

Nonmedical exemptions, otherwise known as religious exemptions, are granted when a parent claims immunization violates a person’s “system of beliefs, practices or ethical values.” It’s an exemption big enough to drive a truck through, and far too many Oregon parents take advantage of it.

Overall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say, some 6.4 percent of Oregon’s kindergarteners are not properly vaccinated because of nonmedical exemptions, compared with less than 2 percent in 2001. Bend and Ashland, meanwhile, have a lower percentage of vaccinated children than most communities.

We cannot, as one wag suggested, simply round up all the unimmunized children in Bend schools and open a vaccination-free K-12 campus for them, unfortunately. And that means children in the schools they attend may be at greater risk for such diseases as whooping cough than they need be. It’s one thing to deny your own child the protection of vaccination, but if too many parents do that, they reduce protection for other children, including those who, because of illness, cannot be vaccinated safely.

Oregon lawmakers took a stab at the problem last year when they approved a bill that will require parents seeking nonmedical immunization exemptions to discuss the matter with their health care providers or watch an online educational video on the subject. Unfortunately, the law does not take effect until March 1, 10 days after exclusion day.

We’re hoping the change will persuade at least some parents that vaccination is worth the effort. Meanwhile, state officials should keep an eye on the numbers to see if that’s the case. If not, they should go back to the Legislature to tighten the rules still more.