As the U.S. begins another school year, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that vaccination coverage among kindergarteners dropped last year.
During the 2025-2026 school year, coverage among U.S. kindergartners decreased for all reported vaccines from the year before, the CDC said in a news release this Monday. Vaccination ranged from 92.0% for diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) to 92.4% for measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR) and polio vaccine.
“Coverage with MMR, DTaP, poliovirus vaccine (polio), and varicella vaccine (VAR) decreased in more than half of states, compared with coverage the year before,” the CDC said.
In a statement, the centers noted that “overall vaccination rates among kindergarteners remained high,” with a 0.1% decline among children entering kindergarten. It also encouraged parents to discuss vaccination options with their doctors.
While the CDC highlighted the slight drop in kindergarten vaccinations, its data shows that vaccine exemptions have been increasing in recent years to reach a record high, as The Washington Post noted. U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is known for his skeptical stance regarding vaccines and controversial moves since he was appointed, including a significant change on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control website to include this statement: “The claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim.”
Even Bill Nye the Science Guy has commented on Kennedy’s vaccine stance. There have also been calls to remove Kennedy amid recent measles outbreaks.
Kaiser Family Foundation polling from this summer found that several vaccine myths are pervasive among the public. However, Pew Research Center data released last year found that “a majority of Americans (63%) are highly confident that childhood vaccines are effective at preventing serious illness."
“We should be worried, because we’re already seeing the consequences of declines in vaccination. All you have to do is look at measles,” said Jeanne Marrazzo, CEO of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), told the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy Research and Innovation Office, of the University of Minnesota, regarding the CDC data released this week. “The less we see people taking up vaccinations, the more we’re going to see these cases accumulate.”
