Childhood vaccination rates continue to drop: CDC data

Childhood vaccination rates are continuing to drop, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

For the 2024-2025 school year, kindergartners' vaccination rates in the U.S. decreased for all vaccines from the prior year, ranging from 92.1% for diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) to 92.5% for measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR) and polio vaccine, the CDC said Thursday.

Vaccination rates for MMR, DTaP, polio, and varicella decreased in more than half of states, compared with coverage the year before.

A total of about 286,000 kindergartners attended school during the 2024-2025 school year without documentation of completing the MMR vaccine series, which is a two-shot vaccine.

Exemptions from one or more vaccines among kindergartners increased to 3.6% during the 2024-2025 school year from 3.3% the year before. There was an increase in exemptions in 36 states and Washington, D.C., with 17 states reporting exemptions exceeding 5%. A total of about 138,000 kindergartners were exempted from one or more vaccines was about 138,000 during the 2024-2025 school year.

A vaccine advisory panel in June announced that it would examine the immunization schedules for children and adolescents, The New York Times reported.

Health and Human Services Department spokesman Andrew Nixon said in a statement that the CDC was committed to making vaccines accessible and raising efficacy awareness, while emphasizing that “the decision to vaccinate is a personal one.”

The MMR vaccination rates have been at 95% for years, which is the level needed to stop the disease from spreading in a community. The vaccination coverage during the 2020-21 school year dropped to 93.9%, and has continued to decline.