California vaccine exemptions tumble, bucking national trend
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The share of kindergarteners in California with vaccine exemptions continues to plummet, even as the national share is rising.
Why it matters: California's story reflects state legislative efforts over the last decade that have reversed a national trend toward vaccine skepticism that gained steam during the COVID-19 pandemic.
By the numbers: In 2014, 3.3% of California kindergartners had vaccine exemptions, compared with 2.1% nationwide.
- But the state's exemption rate among kindergartners hasn't exceeded the nation's as a whole since 2016, and now stands at just 0.1%, compared with 3.3% nationwide.
Flashback: The legislature began an often-contentious debate around vaccine exemptions that led in 2015 to the passage of SB 277, revoking nonmedical exemptions and transforming California from one of the most liberal states in allowing parents to opt out of vaccines to one of the strictest.
- In the aftermath of that change, medical exemptions surged, with a cottage industry popping up of doctors specializing in granting exemptions, causing the legislature to crack down on those practices with SB 276.
- Gov. Gavin Newsom signed that bill in 2019, and exemptions in the state fell from 0.6% that year to the current 0.1%.
The big picture: Childhood vaccinations have been stalling out globally, too, with 2.7 million more kids lacking immunization last year compared with pre-pandemic levels, according to the World Health Organization and UNICEF.
What's next: Outspoken vaccine critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been tapped to lead the Department of Health and Human Services in the incoming Trump administration, potentially boosting vaccine skepticism, as well as the risks associated with leaving kids unprotected from diseases like measles and polio.