Vaccine opt-outs rise again among Arkansas kids
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The rate of nonmedical exemptions for vaccines among Arkansas kindergartners saw a slight uptick in the 2024-25 school year, according to newly released data from the CDC.
The big picture: Vaccination coverage among American kindergartners decreased for all reported vaccines during the 2024-2025 school year.
- The drop coincides with measles cases hitting a 33-year high in the U.S., while Trump's Health Department secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., upends longstanding vaccine norms.
By the numbers: About 3.5% of kindergartners in Arkansas had nonmedical exemptions for vaccines in the 2024-25 school year, up from 3.4% the year before.
- The rate has continuously been trending upward. Just 1.2% of Arkansas kindergartners had a nonmedical exemption in the 2014-15 school year, according to the CDC.
- Medical exemptions in the state have held steady at about 0.1%, meaning 99.9% of children do not have a medical reason for not getting vaccinated.
Threat level: Roughly 92-94% of the population needs to be vaccinated against measles to avoid community spread, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.
- 89.6% of kindergartners in Arkansas had the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine in the last school year, according to the CDC.
The latest: Arkansas has had eight reported cases of measles this year as of June 17, according to the Arkansas Department of Health. The state previously hadn't had a case since 2018.