Vaccine rate for kindergarteners drops in last school year, including in Massachusetts

BOSTON - Fewer kindergarten children are getting their routine vaccines nationally and the number has also dropped here in Massachusetts.

Last school year, 2023-24, vaccination rates among kindergartners in the U.S. fell from the year before, just short of 93% for all reported vaccines including tetanus, pertussis, and measles. That's down from a 95% vaccination rate pre-pandemic, the level needed for herd immunity to prevent disease outbreaks and clusters.

While vaccination rates are declining, exemptions have risen to an all-time high of 3.3%. This disturbing trend is likely responsible for the measles outbreaks and rise in whooping cough cases and the uptick in other vaccine-preventable infections.

Only a handful of states do not allow religious or personal exemptions including Maine, New York, and Connecticut. Massachusetts is not one of them. Here, religious exemptions are still allowed even though no major religion opposes vaccination. And while our vaccination rates, overall, remain high, they are slowly falling due to certain schools and certain areas that have woefully low compliance.

In:
• Vaccine
• Children

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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