Number Of Vaccinated Students Falls In US As Exemptions Rise

The number of vaccinated children entering school rose last year as the number receiving exemptions rose.

Those findings come from new estimates released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Vaccination coverage among kindergartners in the U.S. decreased for all reported vaccines from the previous year.

Coverage with MMR, DTaP, poliovirus vaccine (polio), and varicella vaccine (VAR) decreased in more than 30 states, compared with coverage the year before.

During the 2023-2024 school year, exemptions from one or more vaccines among kindergartners in the U.S. increased to 3.3% from 3.0% the year before. Some states reported exemptions exceeding 5%.

Around 127,000 kindergartners had exemptions nationally last year.

The vaccination rate was 95% a few years ago but has dropped to 92.7% last year.

The CDC also reported that there have been 12 measles outbreaks in the United States so far this year. A majority of the cases involved children and nearly 90% of them were unvaccinated.

More than half of all measles cases this year have required hospitalization.

While someone with two doses of the MMR vaccine is 97% effectively covered but breakthrough infections can occur, especially in communities experiencing an outbreak.

There has been a slow rise in cases of vaccine-preventable diseases like measles and whooping cough.

The CDC previously reported that vaccination rates among children under the age of 2 have also dropped.