Record share of kindergartners missed required vaccines last year as Trump executive order takes aim at state mandates

Record Share of Kindergartners Missed Vaccines

Healfromzero.com – CDC figures released Monday confirm that a record share of kindergartners missed at least one state-mandated immunization during the 2025-26 school year. Roughly 157,000 newly enrolled schoolchildren entered classrooms without full coverage for one or more required shots — nearly 20,000 more than the prior year. The 4.2% exemption rate marks the highest figure on record and is double what it stood at a decade ago.

Federal Push to Reshape State Vaccine Rules

The surge in exemptions arrives alongside a sweeping executive order signed by President Donald Trump last week. The directive instructs the Department of Justice, the Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Human Services to link federal funding to state compliance with new vaccine guidelines. Its stated goal is to “maximize parental choices over vaccinations for their children,” urging states to “provide religious and medical exemptions” and to “give parents more information and options.”

Despite the federal language, the constitutional authority to set and enforce school-entry immunization requirements remains with the states. All fifty states mandate certain vaccines for attendance, and every one permits a medical carve-out. The overwhelming majority also recognize non-medical grounds — typically labeled religious or personal-belief exemptions — and utilization of those provisions has climbed to unprecedented levels. Only four states (California, Connecticut, Maine, and New York) do not currently allow non-medical exemptions.

Of last year’s exemptions, just 0.2% were medical, a share that has remained flat for years. Exemptions rose in every state except nine, and nearly half of states now report rates above 5%, according to the CDC. The measles-mumps-rubella vaccination rate among kindergartners slipped marginally from 92.5% to 92.4% — still well short of the 95% threshold needed for herd immunity.

State Responses and Legal Challenges

State health departments have largely pushed back on the notion that the order mandates immediate change. “Federal recommendations do not change the requirements in Texas,” the Texas health department told CNN by email. Dr. Puthiery Va, director of the Maine CDC, issued a statement reaffirming that vaccines remain free through the state’s Immunization Program and that Maine’s school and child-care immunization rules are “unchanged by federal actions to date.”

Courts, however, have already moved. Mississippi began permitting religious exemptions in 2023 following a federal court order, and a parallel effort in West Virginia is now under legal challenge. Both states previously ranked among the highest-performing in childhood coverage under some of the nation’s strictest statutes. Public-health researchers warn that continued erosion of non-medical exemptions could translate directly into more outbreaks. “If more and more parents choose not to vaccinate their children for non-medical reasons, we will no doubt see a rise in disease outbreaks,” said Dr. William Moss, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins.

Any alteration to state exemption statutes must pass through state legislatures, most of which will not reconvene until January. Until then, the gap between federal rhetoric and state law remains the defining feature of the current policy landscape.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the new executive order override state vaccine mandates? No. States retain constitutional authority over school-entry immunization requirements. The order directs federal agencies to tie funding to compliance with new guidelines, but it does not itself repeal or amend state law.

How many kindergartners were exempted last year? Approximately 157,000 children — representing 4.2% of the kindergarten cohort — held an exemption for at least one required vaccine in the 2025-26 school year, the highest share ever recorded by the CDC.

Which states still allow non-medical (religious or personal-belief) exemptions? All states except California, Connecticut, Maine, and New York. New York eliminated its religious-exemption option in 2019 after a series of measles outbreaks.

What MMR coverage level is needed for herd immunity? Public-health authorities cite 95% as the threshold. The kindergarten MMR rate last year was 92.4%, below that mark.