Utah's vaccine exemptions spiked amid measles outbreak
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Utah's kindergartners had the nation's second highest rate of vaccine exemptions last year.
Why it matters: Utah's waiver rate grew faster than in any other state — despite an active measles outbreak as kids returned to school in fall 2025, per CDC data released this week.
By the numbers: Close to 13% of Utah's kindergartners had immunization waivers last fall, second only to Idaho's.
- That's a 2.4% jump from 2024.
- Meanwhile, measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination rates fell to 87.2%.
Threat level: Utah's kindergarten MMR coverage has fallen below the 95% needed for herd immunity since 2014 — which now accounts for every grade in K-12 schools.
- Accordingly, several schools appeared on the state's weekly lists of possible transmission sites as measles spread to more than 700 Utahns since last July, leading to complications including sepsis, shock and pneumonia.
The intrigue: Last year marked the sharpest decline in MMR coverage since hostility toward the COVID-19 vaccine solidified anti-vax sentiment as a conservative identity marker.
Zoom in: In southwest Utah, home to the highest number of measles diagnoses, exemptions shot from 19% to 27% of kindergartners last year, per state data.
Zoom out: San Juan County was the only local health department that saw exemptions fall last year.
- Meanwhile, the share of "adequately vaccinated" kindergartners rose in Salt Lake, San Juan and Wasatch counties, as well as in the Southeast region, which includes Carbon, Emery and Grand counties.
- Between the lines: Vaccine rates and waiver rates can both increase if a region has fewer unvaccinated kids who didn't get permanent exemptions.
The big picture: Measles isn't the only disease where herd immunity is compromised, exposing those who can't be vaccinated due to age, allergies or other medical needs.
- Whooping cough, like measles, requires more than 90% to be vaccinated for herd immunity, but statewide immunization rates for kindergartners were even lower than for measles.
- Polio protection requires 80% to 85% — a threshold missed in Utah's southwest and central regions, as well as in the northeast Tri-County area, based on the share of kindergartners who lacked records of those vaccines.