Protective vaccination rates falling out of reach in US; exemptions hit record

Enlarge / A child getting a vaccination on February 19, 2021, in Bonn, Germany. (credit: Getty | Ute Grabowsky)

For the third consecutive year, kindergartners across the US have fallen short of reaching the protective threshold of 95 percent vaccination coverage, and vaccine exemptions have reached an all-time high of 3 percent, according to a new study led by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the 10 years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination coverage among US kindergartners hovered around the target of 95 percent. But amid the health crises, vaccination rates slipped to 94 percent in the 2020–2021 school year, then to 93 percent in the 2021–2022 school year. For the 2022–2023 school year, overall coverage remained around 93 percent, but exemptions rose to 3 percent, up from 2.6 percent in the previous year. The current exemption rate is the highest ever recorded for the country.

The study, published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, included reported data from 49 states and the District of Columbia. Montana did not report vaccination data to the CDC.