Technology and Science17 August, 20263 min read
U.S. Kindergarten Vaccination Rates Fall As Exemptions Reach All-Time High
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Kindergarten vaccination coverage declined in the 2025–2026 school year. Exemptions rose to 4.2% nationwide, about 155,000 children.
6 outlets told this the same way.
Exemptions hit 4.2%
U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates inched down again for the 2025-2026 school year as the share of children with exemptions rose to an all-time high, according to federal data posted Monday. The fraction of kids exempted from vaccine requirements increased to 4.2%, up from 3.6% the year before, which the AP estimated as 155,000 children nationally during the 2025-2026 school year. The CDC reported that 92.4% of 2025-26 kindergarteners got their required measles-mumps-rubella shots, down slightly from the previous year.
“The fraction of kids exempted from vaccine requirements rose to 4.2%, up from 3.6% the year before.”
The data also came as the U.S. experienced its worst year for measles since 1991, and the numbers indicated that more than a quarter of a million children entering kindergarten are susceptible to measles. In a statement, North Carolina Health and Human Services Secretary Dev Sangvai said, “Vaccines help keep our children and teens healthy and in the classroom.”
Policy turmoil and guidance
The exemption rise has been tied in the reporting to turmoil caused by federal health officials, with NBC Connecticut pointing to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a leading voice in the antivaccine movement before President Donald Trump put him in charge of federal health agencies.
NBC Connecticut also quoted Dr. James Campbell of the American Academy of Pediatrics saying, “The root cause of this is primarily because there’s so much chaos and confusion in vaccination recommendation systems in the last year or so,” as federal officials tried to revise and reduce childhood vaccination guidance.
The same reporting said Trump called for revamped childhood vaccination recommendations that promote his discredited theory that childhood shots should be spaced out into separate medical visits.
Ars Technica described the CDC’s release as showing that nationally only 92.4 percent of kindergartners were vaccinated with the MMR vaccine in the 2025–2026 school year, down from 92.5 percent last year.
Ars Technica added that medical exemptions have held steady over recent years at 0.2 percent, even as nonmedical exemptions rose.
Measles risk and uneven coverage
The CDC data described in the sources shows that vaccination coverage is not uniform across states, with exemptions increasing in 41 states and the District of Columbia, and KSL News reporting that 24 states reported exemptions exceeding 5%. KSL News said the CDC reported coverage ranged from 92% for the diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) to 92.4% for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) and the polio vaccine. KSL News also reported that the number of kindergartners attending school without documentation of completing the MMR vaccine series was about 280,000 during the 2025-2026 school year.
“Of these, 24 states reported exemptions exceeding 5%.”
In Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh City Paper reported that 60 Allegheny County schools are now below the herd immunity threshold and that as many as 40,000 Pennsylvania students aren’t fully vaccinated, while Allegheny County Medical Society executive director Sara Hussey said, “The childhood immunization schedule is built on decades of research, safety monitoring, and real-world experience protecting children and communities from serious, preventable diseases.” Pittsburgh City Paper further reported that at Harvest Baptist Academy in Natrona Heights, just 41.7% of the 24 kindergarteners had received the MMR immunization, and only 45.8% had received a polio vaccine, underscoring the localized stakes described in the CDC coverage data.