Key facts
- Kindergarten vaccination rates have seen a decrease across all vaccines.
- Non-medical exemptions for vaccines among kindergarteners increased by 17% in the past school year.
- The MMR vaccination rate dropped slightly to 92.4% nationally.
- Hundreds of measles cases have been reported, marking the worst year since 1991.
- President Trump issued an executive order suggesting a reduction in routine childhood vaccines and splitting the MMR vaccine.
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as health secretary, has continued to promote anti-vaccine narratives and altered CDC website content.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released data indicating a decline in U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates, coinciding with a record high in non-medical exemptions. Medical experts expressed concern, noting a decrease in immunizations across all vaccines and in more than half of the states compared to the previous year. At least 280,000 kindergarteners reportedly missed the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
Non-medical exemptions for kindergarten vaccines saw a significant 17% increase over the past school year, rising from 3.6% to 4.2% nationwide, marking the highest single-year rise ever. Experts like Dr. Paul Offit attribute this trend to confusion sown about vaccine safety and benefits, exacerbated by recent actions and statements from the White House.
President Donald Trump, in particular, made several unsubstantiated claims about vaccines, including their size and potential lethality when administered together, and suggested reducing the number of routine vaccines and splitting the MMR vaccine into three separate doses. These statements, made alongside Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his nominee for Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, and Dr. Heidi Overton, his nominee for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), have been criticized for contributing to vaccine hesitancy.
Kennedy, who leads the anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense, has continued to promote misinformation, including false claims about "aborted fetal debris" in vaccines and questioning the evidence that vaccines do not cause autism. He has also altered CDC website content and disbanded the agency's expert vaccine advisory committee, replacing it with ideologically aligned members.
Despite these concerns, the CDC stated that overall vaccination rates remain high, with a slight 0.1% drop to 92.4% for the MMR vaccine between the last two school years. However, low vaccination rates are concentrated in specific areas, contributing to the worst year for measles since 1991, with hundreds of cases reported. Local health officials are working to counter these trends, but note that federal confusion is undermining their efforts.