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Childhood vaccination rates have slowly but steadily declined in the United States since the COVID-19 pandemic started in late 2019. About 92.5 percent of kindergarteners received the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR) in the 2024-25 school year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). During the 2019-20 school year, it was 95 percent. While that may seem like a small difference, it means hundreds of thousands of school-aged kids are not protected from potentially serious infections like measles.
One significant factor is vaccine exemptions, sometimes claimed by caregivers who are hesitant about vaccines. Approximately 3.6 percent of kindergarteners had exemptions from state-required shots in the CDC research.
Staying up to date with your child’s immunizations is an important part of keeping kids—and their peers—safe from life-threatening infectious diseases. Here's the truth behind six of the most common immunization myths.
Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Preventi... + 17
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. SchoolVaxView: Vaccination Coverage and Exemptions among Kindergartners. July 31, 2025.
- DeStefano F, Shimabukuro TT. The MMR vaccine and autism. Annu Rev Virol. 2019;6(1):585-600.
- Hviid A, Hansen JV, Frisch M, et al. Measles, mumps, rubella vaccination and autism: A nationwide cohort study. Ann Intern Med. 2019;170(8):513-520.
- Andersson NW, Bech Svalgaard I, et al. Aluminum-Adsorbed Vaccines and Chronic Diseases in Childhood : A Nationwide Cohort Study. Ann Intern Med. 2025 Oct;178(10):1369-1377.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thimerosal and Vaccines. October 28, 2025.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Thimerosal and Vaccines. August 25, 2020.
- World Health Organization. Vaccines and Immunization. Accessed April 22, 2026.
- Moro PL, Perez-Vilar S, et al. Safety surveillance of diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis (DTaP) vaccines. Pediatrics. 2018;142(1):e20174171.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and Vaccines. Page last updated August 14, 2020.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Multiple Vaccinations at Once. December 20, 2024.
- American Academy of Pediatrics. Fact Checked: There Is No Link Between Vaccines and Sudden Infant Death. June 5, 2025.
- American Academy of Pediatrics. Fact Checked: Receiving Multiple Vaccines Does Not Overwhelm a Child’s Immune System. October 10, 2025.
- Glanz JM, Newcomer SR, et al. Association between estimated cumulative vaccine antigen exposure through the first 23 months of life and non-vaccine-targeted infections from 24 through 47 months of age. JAMA. 2018;319(9):906-913.
- National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. We The People… Have The Right To Be Vaccine-Preventable Disease Free. July 4, 2019.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About Estimated Flu Burden. February 25, 2026.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vaccines by Age. Accessed April 22, 2026.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pneumococcal Vaccine Recommendations. February 25, 2026.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Staying Up to Date with COVID-19 Vaccines. November 19, 2025.
