As Iowa students return to school, vaccine hesitancy is noticeably increasing. There is a six percent of Polk County's public school students not fully vaccinated, which is up from the three percent in 2020. Changes in the auditing process, now conducted earlier in the school year, have highlighted this issue. Many unvaccinated students are either seeking religious exemptions or are not yet fully compliant. The Polk County Health Department is set to conduct another audit soon after Labor Day to address these concerns and ensure student safety.