CDC reported kindergarten vaccination coverage for the 2024-2025 school year fell to about 92.5%, down from 93% the prior year and below the 95% threshold public health officials use to prevent measles outbreaks.
The share of kindergartners with a vaccine exemption rose to 3.6% in 2024-2025, the highest level ever recorded by the CDC.
The U.S. logged more than 1,300 measles cases in 2025, the highest annual total since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000, according to CDC surveillance data.
All 50 states require certain vaccines for school entry, but every state allows medical exemptions, 44 allow religious exemptions, and 15 allow philosophical exemptions.
West Virginia and Mississippi historically had the strictest school mandates with no religious exemptions, though West Virginia's Republican governor moved in 2025 to loosen those rules by executive order.