Overview
- Vaccination coverage among kindergartners in the 2024–25 school year fell to between 92.1% for DTaP and 92.5% for MMR, below the 95% level needed to prevent outbreaks.
- Exemptions for one or more vaccines reached 4.1% of incoming kindergartners, the highest rate on record, with increases reported in 36 states plus the District of Columbia and 17 states exceeding 5%.
- The United States has confirmed more than 1,333 measles cases in 2025, marking the worst outbreak since 2000 and disproportionately affecting unvaccinated children and teens.
- The American Academy of Pediatrics issued an updated policy statement on July 28 urging the elimination of nonmedical exemptions for routine childhood vaccines to rebuild community immunity.
- Public health experts attribute the decline to growing hesitancy fueled by COVID-19 misinformation, varied state exemption laws and vaccine skepticism linked to HHS leadership under Robert F. Kennedy Jr.