Vaccine exemption rate for kindergarteners reaches record high: CDC

Exemptions from routine vaccines among U.S. kindergartners increased to a record high 4.2% during the 2025-26 school year, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released on Monday.

This is up from 3.6% compared to the previous school year. During the 2020-21 school year, the exemption rate was 2.2%.

The majority of exemptions were for non-medical reasons, CDC data shows.

Amid a record-breaking year of measles cases, the percentage of kindergartners who received the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine inched down to 92.4%, below the 95% rate seen pre-pandemic and the threshold doctors say is needed to maintain herd immunity.

Rates for the varicella, or chickenpox, vaccine fell from 94% to 93.4% during the 2025-26 school year. However, rates for two doses inched up from 92.1% to 92.2%.

Vaccination rates for the DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis) vaccine, or the DTP or DT vaccine, fell slightly from 92.1% during the 2024-25 school year to 92% during the 2025-26 school year while hepatitis B vaccination rates held steady from the previous school year.

"It is concerning," Dr. David Margolius, director of the Cleveland Department of Public Health and chair-elect of the Big Cities Health Coalition, told ABC News. "Looking back has been representative of a trend of childhood vaccination rates declining for some time."

It's unclear whether the increase in exemptions is because more parents oppose routine childhood vaccines, or if they're opting for non-medical exemptions because they have barriers that make it difficult to vaccinate their children.

Maroglius said he believes it's both, noting that during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, many people were "separated" from their usual source of care.

"Here in Cleveland, it feels like [people are] just starting to be reunited with ... their regular pediatricians," he said. "And that had taken a couple of years because everything that happened during the pandemic was so jarring for that relationship and for folks' experiences. But I do think there's just more apathy and confusion out there toward these vaccine-preventable illnesses."

The data showed that Idaho had the highest exemption rate -- both medical and non-medical -- during the 2025-26 school year at 17.5% followed by Utah, Oregon, Arizona and Nevada.

Meanwhile, California, New York and West Virginia each had the lowest exemption rates of 0.1% followed by Connecticut and Maine.