Vaccinations are becoming an increasingly political issue rather than scientific fact as time goes on. Where there had been a steady increase in acceptance, there is now a noticeable and growing fear surrounding vaccinations across the United States. With an abundance of fear mongering everywhere around us, on social media, through the news, and even from government officials, it can be hard to look past the jumble of misinformation to find actual facts. I have found it best to simply provide some information about vaccination rates and their effect on disease in recent years gathered from surveys to make this topic more accessible.
Vaccination rates are decreasing, that’s inarguable. There are some concerning numbers, including in Idaho, whose exemption rates nearly doubled from 7.6% of students in 2019-2020 to 14.3% of students in 2023-2024. Similar trends, although not quite as drastic, have appeared throughout many states. It is also important to note that a vast majority of exemptions are non-medical. Additionally, medical exemptions have actually decreased in amount since the 2019-2020 school year where it sat at 0.3%. The number now sits at 0.2% while the non-medical exemptions are steadily rising from 2.2% in 2019-2020 to 3.1% now.
Although the general trend is a decrease in vaccination rates, there are a few states who have experienced an increase in vaccination rates. In Maine there was a noticeable decrease in exemption rates, falling from 5.9% in the 2019-2020 school year to 1.0% in the 2023-2024 school year. There are several others who have followed a similar trend, though significantly less than those who have experienced increasing exemptions.
These decreasing vaccination rates are negatively reflecting on the population. In late January leading into February of 2025 a measles outbreak started to grow in West Texas, specifically around counties with low vaccination rates. There have also been other measles outbreaks reported in several states including Alaska, California, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Kentucky. This is in addition to the 16 outbreaks of measles in 2024, which was an increase of 12, compared to the 4 measles outbreaks in 2023. There have been increasing numbers of illnesses that had previously been close to eradicated within the general population that are now returning. Just recently a child died due to the Texas measles outbreak, the first death relating to measles in the United States since 2015.
Although there has been a lot of fear mongering, especially recently, around vaccinations, it is hard to deny the facts. As vaccination rates go down, rates of sickness and disease go up. It may be hard to get through to someone who is fearful, but I recommend at least trying to show some statistics or factual information to friends and family who may be open to it. I myself have personally experienced seeing something on social media and getting nervous, only to later research it and later realize it had been exaggerated, taken out of context, or was simply a lie. It’s okay to be initially unaware, but it’s important to do your own research rather than gathering your information off of a TikTok video. That being said, please feel free to do some research on this topic yourself and form your own opinion.
Works Cited
Shastri, Devi, and Amanda Seitz. “A Texas child who was not vaccinated has died of measles, a first for the US in a decade.” The Associated Press, 2025, https://apnews.com/article/measles-outbreak-west-texas-death-rfk-41adc66641e4a56ce2b2677480031ab9. Accessed 10 March 2025.
Williams, Elizabeth, and Jennifer Kates. “Childhood Vaccination Rates Continue to Decline as Trump Heads for a Second Term.” KFF, 2025, https://www.kff.org/policy-watch/childhood-vaccination-rates-continue-to-decline-as-trump-heads-for-a-second-term/#:~:text=Data%20collected%20and%20aggregated%20annually,2024%20school%20%20year%2C%20%20down%20%20from. Accessed 10 March 2025.