Vaccination rates for kids drop across Arizona
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The battle against infectious diseases like the flu and measles has taken a hit with sinking vaccination rates for children in Arizona and nationwide, per new data collected and analyzed by the Washington Post.
Why it matters: Vaccination rates for school-age children have plunged in hundreds of counties as chaos reigns over vaccination schedules, potentially setting the stage for more, larger measles outbreaks following a brutal 2025 in Arizona.
- The new figures offer stark evidence of the extent of the backlash that began during the pandemic against public health mandates.
The big picture: Only 815 counties have reached the herd immunity threshold of at least 95% of their students vaccinated, the data show. That threshold is the vaccination rate multiple public health authorities say is necessary to contain the virus' spread.
Zoom in: Statewide, Arizona's childhood vaccination rate dropped to 89% from 93% pre-pandemic, the Washington Post reports.
- Yavapai and Mohave counties had the lowest rates with 79.1% and 79.8% respectively.
- Only Yuma and Santa Cruz counties hit the herd immunity threshold.
How it works: In Arizona, parents need only submit a "personal beliefs" form to their kid's school for their child to be exempted from vaccine requirements.
- The form includes information about the risks of preventable childhood diseases but does not require any description or proof of the parent's personal beliefs.
State of play: Plunging vaccination rates contributed to a spike in measles cases last year, and set the U.S. up to to lose its coveted elimination status for the first time in decades.
- A measles outbreak along the Arizona-Utah border began last August and continues to plague Mohave County.
- The Arizona Department of Health Services has reported 220 cases since August.
Zoom out: The decline in childhood vaccination rates comes as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Trump have moved to overhaul U.S. policy regarding vaccine schedules.
- In September, Kennedy's advisers voted to shift how the combined measles, mumps and rubella shot is distributed to children. His handpicked advisory panel also voted to limit access to a combined shot for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella, the virus that causes chickenpox.
- In December, that same panel voted to end the decades-old federal recommendation that all infants receive the hepatitis B vaccine at birth.
What we're watching: Trump has since called on health officials to review all of the U.S. childhood vaccination recommendations, and to align them closer with other nations.