00:02It's back to school time for millions of kids, and new CDC data shows exemptions from routine childhood vaccines have
00:11hit an all-time high.
00:12The rate of kindergartners with at least one vaccine exemption reached 4.2% during the 2025-26 school year,
00:20nearly double the 2.2% rate five years ago.
00:24And the vast majority of those exemptions were for non-medical reasons.
00:29Measles vaccination also continues to slip from 95% before the pandemic to 92.4% now.
00:37That's below the level doctors say is needed to maintain herd immunity and comes during the worst year for measles
00:44cases in the U.S. since 1991.
00:47Vaccination rates also fell slightly for polio, DTaP, and the first dose of the chickenpox vaccine.
00:53Dr. David Margolius, director of the Cleveland Department of Public Health, calls the trend concerning.
00:59But it's not clear how much of the increase is from parents who oppose routine vaccines,
01:04and how much is from families facing other barriers to getting children their vaccinations.
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