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 diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) to 92.4% for both measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) and polio vaccines. Coverage for MMR, DTaP, polio, and varicella fell in more than half of states relative to the prior year, and approximately 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 2019-2020. 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 the 2019-2020 school year, which is considered prepandemic, the exemption rate was 2.5%. This shows a 1.7% increase in exemptions over the past 6 years (Table).^2-9

Although 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. The aforementioned exemption rates are tracked as a separate statistic from vaccination coverage numbers, so this means even more children are not being 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 MMR vaccination over the past several years, demonstrating the inverse relationship between decreased preventive immunizations and 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 with 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 This is with 4.5 months of the calendar year left and kids going back to school.

Check back for more expert commentary on this news. 

References

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

2. Seither R, McGill MT, Kriss JL, 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. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7003a2

3. Seither R, Laury J, Mugerwa-Kasujja A, Knighton CL, Black CL. 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. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7116a1

4. Seither R, Calhoun K, Yusuf OB, 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. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7202a2

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. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7245a2

6. Seither R, Yusuf OB, Dramann D, et al. Coverage with selected vaccines and exemption rates among children in kindergarten — United States, 2023-24 school year. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2024;73(41):925-932. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm7341a3

7. Kellner S. US kindergarten vaccination rates decline again. Healio. 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. August 19, 2025. Accessed August 18, 2026. https://respiratory-therapy.com/public-health/pediatrics/pediatric-care/kindergarten-vaccination-rates-dropped-in-2024-25/

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

10. Measles cases set 35-year U.S. record with months to go in 2026. Vision Monday. 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