Time was when fear of needles seemed to be the reason some avoided vaccinations, even as most others embraced the personal and public-health values of protection against preventable diseases. But times have changed, unfortunately.

The COVID-19 pandemic has seeded an anti-vaccination attitude that continues to fester, fueled by misinformation and misguided conspiracy theories. Alarmingly, that attitude is not only over the relatively new COVID shot, but also has affected uptake of immunizations long established to be safe and effective. Most notably, it’s affected school-aged children.

On Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the percentage of U.S. kindergartners exempted from school-vaccination requirements has hit its highest level ever: 3%. Worse, Hawaii saw the largest jump, with the exemption rate here rising to 6.4%, nearly double the year before.

“We have observed that there has been misinformation/disinformation impacting people’s decision to vaccinate or not via social media platforms,” the state Department of Health (DOH) said in a statement.

That means it’s time for schools, public-health officials and pediatricians to vigorously renew efforts to get more of Hawaii’s keiki protected against wholly preventable childhood illnesses, such as mumps, measles and chickenpox.

It’s sobering to realize that measles, for instance, is so infectious that an estimated 95% of the population needs to be vaccinated in order to stop it from spreading. Aside from exemptions for true medical or religious reasons, all others have a community responsibility to help guard against disease outbreaks.

Hawaii’s declining school-vaccination rates increase the risk of more school absenteeism and the spread of communicable diseases in classrooms, underscores the University of Hawaii-Manoa’s Nancy Atmospera-Walch School of Nursing.

In a September update, the school noted a recent DOH report showing a 18.7% rise, over the previous school year, of Hawaii students without routine vaccinations for preventable illnesses, such as measles and mumps; in 2019-2020, pre-COVID, it was only 3.44%.

The nursing school is among those that have worked, laudably, to increase student immunizations and provide better access: Together with the Department of Education, the “Hawaii Keiki: Healthy and Ready to Learn Program” has partnered with Vaccines for Children, a federally funded program, to provide vaccines at no cost to eligible children who may not otherwise be vaccinated. Clinics have been held in the Aiea-Moanalua-Radford and the rural Kau-Keaau-Pahoa areas. More such initiatives are needed — and not just for the keiki. Adults, too, should heed the timely call to protect oneself, and others, with vaccinations that could be life-saving.

With the holidays right around the corner, the CDC is encouraging all — particularly older people and children — to get their COVID, flu and/or RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) shots as soon as possible.

“We know when we get to Thanksgiving, people are going to travel, they’re going to gather, and that’s when viruses spread,” said CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen. “Right now is the best time for folks to protect themselves so they can build up those antibodies ahead of the holiday.”

A few weeks ago, the CDC was estimating that only about 3.6% of the U.S. population, about 12 million, had gotten the updated COVID vaccine since it became available in early October. Remember, this is a new bivalent formula incorporating a recent COVID strain, to expand effectiveness against getting seriously ill. When it come to flu-shot uptake, there’s better news: More people, by far — 16 million — have gotten their annual flu vaccine, and those rates are similar to the last two years.

Just a few short years ago, too many people were dying or getting severely ill from the mysterious and dreaded COVID-19. Many decades ago, it was an influenza pandemic, as well as measles and mumps fears. Science — in the form of tested, safe and effective vaccines — changed all that, for the better. Allow them to work.