The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report that revealed an increase in childhood vaccine exemptions.
“During the 2022–23 school year, coverage remained near 93% for all reported vaccines, ranging from 92.7% for DTaP to 93.1% for measles, mumps, and rubella and polio,” the CDC said. “The exemption rate increased 0.4 percentage points to 3.0%. Exemptions increased in 41 states, exceeding 5% in 10 states.”
According to the CDC, exemptions greater than five percent “limit the level of achievable vaccination coverage, which increases the risk for outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases.”
The state of Idaho had 12.1% of kindergarten children receive vaccine exemptions.
Utah granted exemptions for 8.1% of children, Arizona granted exemptions for 7.4% of children, and Hawaii granted exemptions for 6.4% of children.
The states with the lowest rates of exemptions included California, Connecticut, Maine, Mississippi, New York, and West Virginia.
The increase of vaccine exemptions comes as parents said they will not have their children receive the latest COVID-19 vaccine.
Only 13% of parents with children between the ages of 12 to 17 or 6 months to 4 years said their children will be vaccinated, according to a poll.
Twelve percent of parents with children between the ages of 5 to 11 reported the same.
Thirty-six to forty-one percent of parents responded that their children will not receive the vaccine, while about a quarter of parents involved in the poll said their children will probably not receive the latest vaccine.
