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3w ago

CDC: Kindergarten Vaccine Exemptions Reach Record 4.2% as Coverage Falls

Local immunity gaps now threaten measles control, risking a Pan American Health Organization reassessment of U.S. elimination status.

A sign reading "Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations" is displayed next to a bust of Benjamin Franklin, during an event with U.S. President Donald Trump to sign an executive order regarding vaccine flexibility, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 10, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 10: Jayme Leagh Franklin with the The Conservateur (L), stands behind U.S. President Donald Trump (R), as he holds up a signed executive order calling for childhood vaccine shots to be spaced out into separate visits during an event in the Oval Office of the White House on August 10, 2026 in Washington, DC. During his second term, Trump has urged Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to investigate further research on vaccines. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
A healthcare worker puts a band-aid on a child's arm after receiving a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at a clinic at Hazel Park High School in Hazel Park, Mich., on Nov. 8, 2021.
FILE - Dr. Jessica Early holds a vial of the combination measles, mumps and rubella vaccine at Prisma Health Pediatrics in Greer, S.C., March 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Mary Conlon, File)

Overview

  • The CDC reported on Monday that exemptions for one or more school vaccines rose to 4.2% in the 2025–26 school year, about 155,000 kindergarteners, while national MMR coverage fell to 92.4% and DTaP to 92.0%.
  • Exemption rates increased in 41 states and Washington, D.C., and about 280,000 kindergartners lacked documentation of having completed the two-dose MMR series, creating concentrated pockets of susceptibility.
  • The vast majority of new exemptions were nonmedical for personal or religious reasons while medical exemptions held steady at about 0.2%, and 24 states reported exemption rates at or above roughly 5%, a level that raises outbreak risk.
  • Public-health experts and pediatric groups attribute part of the trend to recent federal policy moves and messaging changes, including a presidential executive order on vaccine scheduling that critics say has sown confusion about recommendations.
  • Lower vaccination rates increase the chance of local outbreaks and strain hospitals and health departments, and the surge in U.S. measles cases this year has put the country's 2000 elimination designation at risk of review by regional health authorities.