Vaccination coverage among U.S. kindergarten students declined again during the 2025-2026 school year, while the share of children receiving exemptions climbed to a record 4.2%, marking the fourth consecutive year of record-high national exemption rates.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Vaccination rates among U.S. kindergarten students continued to decline during the 2025-2026 school year as the percentage of children receiving exemptions reached a new national high, according to federal data released Monday.
The latest figures show that 92.4% of kindergarten students were covered by the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine during the most recent school year.
That was down slightly from 92.5% during the previous year and considerably below the 95.2% coverage recorded during the 2019-2020 school year.
At the same time, vaccine exemptions continued moving in the opposite direction.
The national exemption rate among kindergarten students reached 4.2% during the 2025-2026 school year, up from 3.6% one year earlier.
The increase was even more pronounced compared with the 2020-2021 school year, when 2.2% of kindergarten students had exemptions.
The latest increase marked the fourth consecutive year in which the national exemption rate reached a record high.
Most parents seeking exemptions are doing so for nonmedical reasons, according to the federal data.
The figures illustrate a longer-term shift in vaccination patterns among children entering kindergarten.
MMR coverage has fallen from 95.2% in 2019-2020 to 92.4% in 2025-2026, a decline of 2.8 percentage points over that period.
Exemptions, meanwhile, have nearly doubled from the 2.2% level recorded in 2020-2021 to 4.2% during the most recent school year.
The trends mean fewer kindergarten students are entering school with the vaccinations included in federal coverage measurements while a growing share are being excused from vaccination requirements.
Although the year-over-year decline in MMR coverage was relatively small, the broader multiyear trend shows vaccination rates remaining below their pre-pandemic level while exemptions continue setting new records.
The latest federal figures therefore extend two patterns that have developed over several years: declining kindergarten vaccination coverage and steadily increasing reliance on exemptions, most of them for reasons unrelated to medical conditions.
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