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Vaccination rates among Colorado kindergartners stayed stubbornly low during the 2024-2025 school year, new CDC data shows.

Why it matters: The stagnation comes as U.S. measles cases reach a 33-year high, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. challenges long-standing vaccine norms ahead of the start of school.

By the numbers: 4.2% of Colorado kindergartners were exempt from one or more vaccines — unchanged from last year and above the national average of 3.6%.

Colorado's goal for herd immunity is 95% coverage for core vaccines like MMR, which protects against measles, mumps and rubella.

Last school year, Colorado kindergartners' MMR coverage was 88%, Polio was 87.6% and DTaP was 87.4%. Only Hepatitis B topped 90%.

The big picture: Vaccine exemptions rose in 36 states and Washington, D.C., underscoring national concerns about a resurgence of avoidable diseases.

Colorado kindergartners' vaccine rates lag in 2025

Vaccination rates among Colorado kindergartners stayed <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="stubbornly low" data-vars-click-url="https://link.axios.com/click/40979129.6257/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYXhpb3MuY29tL2xvY2FsL2RlbnZlci8yMDI0LzA4LzEzL2NvbG9yYWRvLWNoaWxkaG9vZC12YWNjaW5hdGlvbi1yYXRlcy0yMDI0P3V0bV9zb3VyY2U9bmV3c2xldHRlciZ1dG1fbWVkaXVtPWVtYWlsJnV0bV9jYW1wYWlnbj1uZXdzbGV0dGVyX2F4aW9zbG9jYWxfZGVudmVyJnN0cmVhbT10b3A/600a1412c7007c4fabd64e25B3b40d006" data-vars-content-id="2774d3ec-4237-4e09-bc44-6e656312f9d2" data-vars-headline="Colorado kindergartners&#x27; vaccine rates lag in 2025" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://link.axios.com/click/40979129.6257/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYXhpb3MuY29tL2xvY2FsL2RlbnZlci8yMDI0LzA4LzEzL2NvbG9yYWRvLWNoaWxkaG9vZC12YWNjaW5hdGlvbi1yYXRlcy0yMDI0P3V0bV9zb3VyY2U9bmV3c2xldHRlciZ1dG1fbWVkaXVtPWVtYWlsJnV0bV9jYW1wYWlnbj1uZXdzbGV0dGVyX2F4aW9zbG9jYWxfZGVudmVyJnN0cmVhbT10b3A/600a1412c7007c4fabd64e25B3b40d006" target="_self">stubbornly low</a> during the 2024-2025 school year, new CDC data shows.Why it matters: The stagnation comes as U.S. measles cases reach a <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="33-year high" data-vars-click-url="https://link.axios.com/click/40979129.6257/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYXhpb3MuY29tLzIwMjUvMDcvMDcvbWVhc2xlcy1jYXNlcy1oaWdoLWVsaW1pbmF0ZWQtdXM_dXRtX3NvdXJjZT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX2NhbXBhaWduPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXJfYXhpb3Nsb2NhbF9kZW52ZXImc3RyZWFtPXRvcA/600a1412c7007c4fabd64e25Bba6f5c60" data-vars-content-id="2774d3ec-4237-4e09-bc44-6e656312f9d2" data-vars-headline="Colorado kindergartners&#x27; vaccine rates lag in 2025" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://link.axios.com/click/40979129.6257/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYXhpb3MuY29tLzIwMjUvMDcvMDcvbWVhc2xlcy1jYXNlcy1oaWdoLWVsaW1pbmF0ZWQtdXM_dXRtX3NvdXJjZT1uZXdzbGV0dGVyJnV0bV9tZWRpdW09ZW1haWwmdXRtX2NhbXBhaWduPW5ld3NsZXR0ZXJfYXhpb3Nsb2NhbF9kZW52ZXImc3RyZWFtPXRvcA/600a1412c7007c4fabd64e25Bba6f5c60" target="_self">33-year high</a>, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. challenges long-standing vaccine norms ahead of the start of school.

News

Denver-area homeless advocates are pushing back against President Trump's new executive order encouraging involuntary civil commitment of people experiencing homelessness.

Why it matters: The order calls on local governments to use a controversial practice that puts people with mental health disorders into treatment without their consent, raising civil liberty concerns.

Driving the news: The order Trump signed Thursday seeks to put homeless individuals into "long-term" institutions for treatment to "restore public order," the administration says.

It directs officials to determine whether federal resources can be used to ensure that those "with serious mental illness" are not released into the public solely because government facilities lack enough beds to hold them.

The other side: The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, in a statement Thursday, called the order "harmful" and suggested it "cruelly" targets the unhoused.

The coalition blamed the federal government's failure to invest in housing solutions and slammed — as a violation of privacy — the order's directive to collect and share health data with law enforcement.

The Metro Denver Homeless Initiative, which oversees the annual point-in-time count, issued a statement Friday saying it would review the order's "potential implications" for the unhoused and for service providers.

The Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition on Friday issued a statement condemning the order, saying it "stokes division and creates hate and fear towards people without housing."

What they're saying: "The disorder in our nation is that we do not have homes affordable and accessible to everyone in our communities nor adequate healthcare for all," Colorado Coalition for the Homeless president and CEO Britta Fisher said in a statement to Axios Denver.

State of play: Colorado law allows short- and long-term involuntary civil commitment — but under specific circumstances, such as someone posing an immediate danger to themselves.

Alexis Whitham, a spokesperson for the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, said using involuntary holds has "never been common practice" for the unhoused in the metro area. 

Context: Involuntary civil commitment has historically been used as a preventative method to confine people with mental health disorders before they harm themselves or others.

It most frequently affects vulnerable groups such as LGBTQ+, people of color and people with disabilities, according to several studies.  

What's next: The state's Behavioral Health Administration, which oversees involuntary holds, is evaluating how the order will apply to Colorado, a spokesperson for the state agency tells us.

Homeless groups blast Trump's civil commitment order

The order calls on local governments to use a practice that puts people with mental health disorders in treatment without their consent, raising civil liberty concerns.

Illustration of cardboard shaped like a speech bubble.

Denver-area homeless advocates are pushing back against President Trump&#x27;s new executive order encouraging <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="involuntary civil commitment" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2025/07/25/civil-commitment-trumps-homelessness-policy" data-vars-content-id="931b6c07-85a6-49c6-b10e-618a52caaafc" data-vars-headline="Homeless groups blast Trump&#x27;s civil commitment order" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2025/07/25/civil-commitment-trumps-homelessness-policy" target="_self">involuntary civil commitment</a> of people experiencing homelessness.Why it matters: The order calls on local governments to use a controversial practice that puts people with mental health disorders into treatment without their consent, raising civil liberty concerns.

Josephine Walker

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