For the third year in a row, kindergarteners nationwide have fallen short of the 95% vaccination rate, and the vaccine exemption rate has reached an all-time high of 3%. According to a new study led by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention..
For a decade before the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination rates for U.S. kindergarteners hovered around the target of 95%. However, amid the medical crisis, vaccination rates dropped to 94% in the 2020-2021 school year, then to 93% in the 2021-2022 school year. For the 2022-2023 school year, the overall coverage rate remained at about 93%, but the exemption rate rose to 3% from 2.6% the previous year. The current exemption rate is the highest ever recorded in this country.
The study, published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, included data reported from 49 states and the District of Columbia. Montana did not report vaccination data to the CDC.
More than 90% of reported exemptions are not for medical purposes. This meant that children were exempt from life-saving or routine immunizations for religious or personal reasons, rather than medical necessity. Non-medical exemptions accounted for approximately 100% of the increase in exemptions last year.
Perhaps most troubling, the increase in exemption amounts is happening across the country. Forty states reported a percentage point increase in exemption amounts between the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years. Currently, a total of 10 states have exemption rates above 5%, which would be the standard for protecting against the spread of dangerous infectious diseases even if all non-exempt kindergarteners in a state could be vaccinated.95 % cannot be achieved. , an infectious disease that can be prevented by vaccines. In the previous year, he had an exemption rate higher than hers in only four states, and the year before that, he had only two states.
Given current vaccination and exemption rates, approximately 250,000 kindergarten children in the United States are at risk of contracting measles and other serious infectious diseases.
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Some states saw significant increases in exemption amounts in the last year alone. Hawaii tops the list with a 3 percentage point increase in exemptions year-over-year, with 6.4 percent of kindergartners in the state receiving vaccine exemptions. Idaho ranked second with an increase of 2.3 percentage points, giving it an astonishing 12.1 percent exemption rate.
Other states reporting high exemption rates include Arizona (7.4%), Oregon (8.2%), Utah (8.1%), and Wisconsin (7.2%).
Regarding specific vaccines, coverage of the two-dose MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella) across the United States ranges from a low of 81.3 percent in Idaho to a high of 98.4 percent in Mississippi. For polio, vaccination rates across the country ranged from a low of 81.8 percent in Idaho to at least 98.4 percent in Mississippi. Measles and polio have emerged in the United States in recent years, threatening outbreaks in areas where vaccination is inadequate. For both MMR and polio coverage, 13 states reached 95 percent or higher, while 12 states and DC were below 90 percent.
Overall, Idaho had the lowest vaccination rate of any state, hovering around 81% with an exemption rate of 12.1%. Mississippi had the highest tax rate, at over 98.4%, with an exemption rate of just 0.2%.
The study’s authors highlighted the alarming rise in exemptions across the country, but admitted they don’t know why more parents are choosing exemptions. “It is unclear whether this reflects a true increase in anti-vaccination opposition or whether parents are choosing non-medical exemptions due to barriers to vaccination or convenience,” the researchers wrote. writing. But whatever the driver, the COVID-19 pandemic appears to have been the catalyst for a decline in routine childhood vaccination rates.
A better understanding of what drives exemptions could help improve vaccination rates in the future, but in the meantime, the authors say It points out the strategies that were used. These include enforcement of school vaccination requirements, school-based vaccination clinics, reminder and recall systems, and follow-up of under-vaccinated students.
