Utah vaccine exemption rate rises to No. 2 in nation
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Utah now has the nation's second highest rate of vaccine exemptions for kindergartners, as the state's share of fully immunized children continues to drop.
Threat level: Utah's kindergarten vaccination rates have long fallen below the 95% needed for herd immunity against highly contagious illnesses — and kids are about to return to school amid a measles outbreak.
- As of fall 2024, just 88.6% of Utah kindergartners were up to date on their measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccines, per new CDC data. Whooping cough was at 88.1%.
Meanwhile, whooping cough is spreading in southwest Utah, health officials announced last week.
What we're watching: Kindergarten vaccination rates in parts of Utah are dropping toward the 80% herd immunity threshold for polio, per the latest data from the state health department.
- More than 19% of kindergartners in southwest Utah were not fully vaccinated for polio, with nearly 15% in the central counties.
Go deeper: When Utah jubilantly embraced the polio vaccine
The big picture: Anti-vax sentiments — once considered a liberal trend — gained ground on the political right amid hostility toward COVID prevention measures.
- A Gallup poll last year found that 69% of respondents viewed childhood vaccines as "extremely" or "very" important, down from 94% in 2001 — a drop researchers attributed to those who lean Republican.
By the numbers: More than 10% of Utah kindergartners obtained immunization waivers last fall, up a full percent from the previous year.
- Only Idaho had a higher rate of exemptions, at 15.4%.
The intrigue: Of the 10.3% of Utah kindergartners who sought exemptions, just 0.3% were for medical reasons.
- About 85% were for "personal" reasons, with "religion" accounting for another 12.5%.
Catch up quick: A 2022 Axios analysis of Utah immunization data by ZIP code showed exemptions after 2020 largely spiked in politically conservative areas.
Caveat: Vaccine waivers are far more common among online students, covering more than half of the state's nearly 1,500 online kindergartners.
- Of the 44,000 in-person kindergartners, 9% had exemptions, up from 7.9% a year before. Another 1% were out of compliance — neither vaccinated nor exempt.
Flashback: Trump cut more than $30 million in Utah childhood immunization funding in April.
Zoom in: Salt Lake County's exemption rate was the lowest of any local health district in the state at 5.5%.
- Only in Tooele County did exemptions decline.
The latest: Health officials had identified 11 measles patients in Utah as of Thursday.
Zoom out: Nationally, 3.6% of kindergartners obtained exemptions last year, up from 3.3% the year before.