Vaccine Exemptions For Kindergarteners Reach New High According to CDC

Traditionally, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) release vaccination rates for last year’s kindergarteners in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, its chief publication. But this week, in a perhaps unsurprising break with tradition, the agency — under the auspices of noted vaccine skeptic Robert Kennedy — the data was quietly released online, with no fanfare. Moreover, the statistics reveal that vaccine exemption rates for 2024-2025 kindergarteners rose to an all-time high — more than 4% on average, though that number varies wildly depending on the state.

First, some good news: an overwhelming majority of parents are still vaccinating their children overall. More than 92% of incoming kindergarteners are protected against diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) and almost 93% have received their MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) and polio vaccines.

The bad news: regardless, more than a quarter of a million kindergarteners (about 286,000) attended kindergarten without appropriate immunization. Exemptions increased in 36 states and DC, with 17 states reporting exemptions exceeding 5%. The Associated Press reports that medical exemptions held steady at about .2% of all children surveyed. The vast majority of vaccine exemptions were for non-medical reasons.

Over the past 20 years, vaccination rates overall have dropped. This was particularly pronounced during the pandemic, which interrupted routine vaccine schedules and were never fully course corrected. The broader trend, however, appears to be owed in large part to the anti-vaccine movement, spurred on by the likes of Andrew Wakefield in the early 2000s and exacerbated by anti-vaccination attitudes surrounding Covid-19.

As with vaccination, rates of exemptions run the gamut depending on location. In Idaho, for example, more than 15% of kindergarteners had one or more exemptions in 2024-2025. In Connecticut, a state that banned religious exemptions in 2021, non-medical exemptions were at a mere .1%.

“As pediatricians, we know that immunizing children helps them stay healthy, and when everyone can be immunized, it’s harder for diseases to spread in our communities,” said Susan J. Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in a statement. “At this moment when preventable diseases are on the rise, we need clear, effective communication from government leaders recommending immunizations as the best way to ensure children’s immune systems are prepared to fight dangerous diseases.”

But contrary to tradition, the CDC did not issue a statement on vaccination rates until prompted by news outlets, at which point they sent out an emailed statement.

“The decision to vaccinate is a personal one,” it read. “Parents should consult their health care providers on options for their families … Vaccination remains the most effective way to protect children from serious diseases like measles and whooping cough, which can lead to hospitalization and long-term health complications.”

While acknowledgement of the benefits of vaccination was included, it is a far cry from the full-throated encouragement and support of administrations past, which unequivocally endorsed vaccines for all who were medically able to receive them.

This decline in vaccination comes on the heels of — or amid — increased rates of multiple vaccine preventable diseases. This past cold and flu season, whooping cough reached a 10-year high. Currently, several measles outbreaks across the country have reached more than 1,300 cases, the most in more than 30 years. Twenty-five years ago, measles was considered eradicated in the U.S. as vaccination rates met or exceeded 95%, which is needed for herd immunity.