CDC Reports More Kindergartners Starting School Without Full Vaccination Coverage

On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new data showing 4.2% of kindergartners had an exemption for at least one required vaccine during the 2025-26 school year. This left about 157,000 new schoolchildren without full coverage for at least one state-mandated vaccine last school year, CDC data shows—nearly 20,000 more than the year before.

The share of students with a vaccine exemption is the highest on record and twice as high as it was a decade ago. Last school year, only 0.2% of exemptions were for medical reasons, a share that has held steady for years.

Exemptions increased in all but nine states, and nearly half of states report exemptions exceeding 5%, according to the CDC.

During the 2025-2026 school year, vaccination coverage among kindergartners in the states decreased for all reported vaccines from the year before, ranging from 92.0% for diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) to 92.4% for measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR) and polio vaccine. The new CDC data shows that the MMR vaccination rate among kindergartners fell only slightly last school year, from 92.5% to 92.4%, but that’s still well below the 95% coverage needed to provide herd immunity and prevent outbreaks, CNN reported.

Coverage with MMR, DTaP, poliovirus vaccine (polio), and varicella vaccine (VAR) decreased in more than half of states, compared with coverage the year before, CDC data showed. Additionally, the number of kindergartners attending school without documentation of completing the MMR vaccine series was about 280,000 during the 2025-2026 school year.

States are still reviewing the executive order signed by President Donald Trump, which aims to reduce the number of vaccinations recommended for children. However, many states, including those that follow federal guidance for vaccine policy and those that have broken from federal recommendations, say that it does not require any changes at the state level, CNN reported.