The number of US kindergartners starting school without being fully immunized continues to rise. According to data released Monday by the CDC, vaccination rates have declined again, with exemptions reaching a record high for the 2025-2026 school year.
This marks the fourth consecutive year that the national average exemption rate has reached a new record. The number of parents in the U.S. choosing not to vaccinate their children rose dramatically in the last school year, with the vast majority withholding shots for nonmedical reasons.
Families continue to forgo protective shots despite outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses. In releasing this information, the CDC did not publish a full report and instead simply put the data online.