Why Measles Cases Are Up: US Childhood Vaccine Rates Drop, Immunization Exemptions Increase

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the latest childhood vaccination numbers and they continue to show another drop in immunization rates. During the 2025–2026 school year, vaccination coverage among US kindergartners declined across all reported vaccines compared with the previous year, ranging from 92.0% for DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis) to 92.4% for both MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) and polio vaccines. Coverage for MMR, DTaP, polio, and varicella (VAR) fell in more than half of states relative to the prior year, and roughly 280,000 kindergartners attended school that year without documentation of having completed the MMR vaccine series.¹

Coverage has fallen every single year since the pandemic began, dropping nearly 3 percentage points for MMR and DTaP alike since 2019-20. This suggests thousands more children across the US remain unprotected against vaccine-preventable diseases. What stands out even more about the most recent year is the exemption rate, which jumped more sharply than in any prior year at 4.2%. This is up from the previous year which was 3.6%. In 2019-2020 school year, which is considered prepandemic, the exemption rate was 2.5%. This shows a 1.7% increase in exemptions over the last 6 years (Table). ^2-9

While this statistic shows small decreases in immunization rates, there are millions of children being included in the survey, thus leaving thousands of children across the US unprotected. And the aforementioned exemption rates are tracked as a separate statistic from vaccination coverage numbers, so this means even more children are not getting vaccinated.

This suggests years of misinformation and disinformation campaigns are leading to more families opting out of vaccinating against childhood-preventable diseases.

Measles: A Microcosm of Decreased Vaccination Rates

The CDC’s vaccine tracker, SchoolVaxView, shows the trend of decreased measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine over the last several years demonstrating the inverse relationship between decreased preventative immunizations leading to marked increases in measles. In 2017-2018, the immunization rate for the MMR vaccine was 95.0%. In 2025-2026, the immunization rate for that vaccine was down to 92.4% showing a 2.6% decrease.¹ It is important to note that in order to reach community-wide herd immunity, a local vaccination rate for a highly-contagious infectious disease such as measles needs to be 95% or greater.

This is in a year when there are a very high number of measles cases in the US. The Johns Hopkins University measles tracker counted 2295 cases as of late July, edging past the 2289 cases reported for the full year of 2025 and marking the highest annual total since measles was declared eliminated in the country in 2000.¹⁰ And this is with 5 months of the calendar year left and kids going back to school.

Check back for more expert commentary on this news. 

References

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vaccination coverage and exemptions among kindergartners. SchoolVaxView. CDC. Updated August 17, 2026. Accessed August 18, 2026. https://www.cdc.gov/schoolvaxview/data/index.html

2.Seither R, et al. Vaccination coverage for selected vaccines and exemption rates among children in kindergarten — United States, 2019–20 school year. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2021;70(3):75-82.

3.Seither R, et al. Vaccination coverage with selected vaccines and exemption rates among children in kindergarten — United States, 2020–21 school year. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2022;71(16):561-568.

4.Seither R, et al. Vaccination coverage with selected vaccines and exemption rates among children in kindergarten — United States, 2021–22 school year. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2023;72(2):26-32.

5.Seither R, Yusuf OB, Dramann D, Calhoun K, Mugerwa-Kasujja A, Knighton CL. Coverage with selected vaccines and exemption from school vaccine requirements among children in kindergarten — United States, 2022–23 school year. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2023;72(45):1217-1224.

6.Coverage with selected vaccines and exemption rates among children in kindergarten — United States, 2023-24 school year. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Published October 17, 2024. Accessed August 18, 2026. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/73/wr/pdfs/mm7341a3-H.pdf

7.Kekatos M. US kindergarten vaccination rates decline again. Healio. Published August 1, 2025. Accessed August 18, 2026. https://www.healio.com/news/pediatrics/20250801/us-kindergarten-vaccination-rates-decline-again

8.Kindergarten vaccination rates dropped in 2024-25. Respiratory Therapy. Published August 19, 2025. Accessed August 18, 2026. https://respiratory-therapy.com/public-health/pediatrics/pediatric-care/kindergarten-vaccination-rates-dropped-in-2024-25/\

9. US kindergarten vaccine coverage falls, CDC says. CNBC. Published August 17, 2026. Accessed August 18, 2026. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/17/us-kindergarten-vaccine-falls-cdc.html

10. Vision Monday Staff. Measles cases set 35-year US record with months to go in 2026. VisionMonday. Published July 22, 2026. Accessed July 23, 2026. https://www.visionmonday.com/eyecare/health-watch/article/measles-cases-set-35year-us-record-with-months-to-go-in-2026