Kindergarten MMR vaccine coverage still below ideal rate to prevent outbreaks: CDC
The Hill · C · trust 62/100
Comments: by Joseph Choi - 08/17/26 4:56 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Joseph Choi - 08/17/26 4:56 PM ET Comments: Link copied NOW PLAYING Vaccination coverage for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) among kindergarteners in the U.S. remains below the ideal rate needed to best prevent widespread outbreaks, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with the number of exemptions going up.
The CDC on Monday released the latest figures on vaccine coverage among kindergarteners during the 2025-26 school year, finding that 92.4 percent of students had received the MMR vaccine.
The ideal rate required to prevent widespread outbreaks is considered to be 95 percent. The U.S. has been steadily falling away from this coverage rate since the 2019-20 school year, when the coverage rate was 95.2 percent. Since then, the rate has remained below 94 percent.
This figure is not a significant drop when compared to the previous school year, when 92.5 percent of children received the MMR vaccine. Vaccine exemptions, however, noticeably rose from 3.6 percent to 4.2 percent, with 41 states and Washington, D.C., reporting increases.
Among states reporting increases, 24 reported exemptions exceeding 5 percent.
These figures come as the U.S. deals with the worst outbreak of measles it has seen in more than 30 years. As of the most recent update from the CDC, 2,566 measles cases have been reported in the U.S. this year from across 47 jurisdictions.
Infectious disease experts have warned that measles requires only a small pocket of undervaccinated communities to grow out of control.
Last week, President Trump signed an executive order calling for the MMR vaccine to be split across different doses administered at separate visits. Apart from there being no monovalent vaccines available to individually prevent measles, mumps and rubella, critics have argued this would likely reduce immunization compliance as families would need to schedule more visits and afford more co-pays.
Read the original at The Hill →
Open in TruthVane →