The percentage of American kindergartners vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella has slipped further, falling below the level public health officials say is generally needed to prevent measles outbreaks, according to newly released federal data.
Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s SchoolVaxView program for the 2025-2026 school year show that 92.4% of kindergartners nationwide had completed the MMR vaccine series. That represents a decline from the previous school year and leaves the national rate below the 95% level that health experts generally cite as necessary for community immunity against highly contagious measles.
According to the CDC, approximately 280,000 kindergartners across the country do not have documentation indicating that they completed the MMR series.
The decrease was not limited to the MMR vaccine, with federal figures showing declining coverage for other routine childhood vaccinations as well.
The CDC reported that vaccination rates fell from the previous year for every vaccine included in its data, extending a downward pattern that the agency has observed since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The national vaccination rate for polio was also 92.4%, while coverage for DTaP — the vaccine protecting against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis — stood at 92%.
More than half of the states recorded declines during the school year in vaccination rates for each of four major vaccines: MMR, DTaP, polio and varicella.
Meanwhile, vaccine exemptions among kindergartners continued to rise. The percentage of children receiving exemptions from at least one required vaccine climbed to 4.2%, compared with 3.6% during the previous school year.
The CDC found that exemption rates increased in 41 states as well as Washington, D.C. Twenty-four states now have exemption rates exceeding 5%.
Altogether, approximately 155,000 kindergartners received an exemption from at least one required vaccination during the 2025-2026 school year.
The statistics were assembled through the Immunization Services Division of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, using vaccination and exemption information submitted by individual states.
Public health authorities have repeatedly expressed concern that declining MMR vaccination rates could leave more communities susceptible to measles outbreaks.
Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, a designation meaning that the virus was no longer spreading continuously within the country.
This year, however, the United States has experienced its highest number of measles cases in more than 30 years, with outbreaks concentrated largely in communities where vaccination rates are lower.
Officials say the combination of national MMR coverage falling below 95% and increasing exemption rates presents particular concerns because clusters of unvaccinated children can remain vulnerable to outbreaks even when a state’s overall vaccination rate is comparatively high.
The CDC recommends that children receive two doses of the MMR vaccine before entering kindergarten, in addition to recommended vaccinations against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, polio and varicella.
Every state permits medical exemptions from school vaccination requirements, while most states also allow exemptions based on religious beliefs or personal objections.
The CDC’s SchoolVaxView data page containing the latest figures was updated Aug. 17.
{Matzav.com}
