The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that kindergarten vaccination rates went down in the 2025-2026 school year and vaccine exemption rates boosted to record highs.

Federal data revealed that the vaccine exemption rate for kindergartners rose to 4.2%, up from 3.6% the year before, which impacts approximately 155,000 children nationwide.

The data also noted that exemptions increased in 41 states and Washington, D.C., and the majority are parents withholding shots for nonmedical reasons, according to the Associated Press. 

The decrease in vaccinations spanned all different shots, including the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the polio vaccine. The number of kindergartners attending school without proving they had completed the MMR vaccine series was about 280,000 during the 2025-2026 school year, per the CDC.

The report comes after President Donald Trump signed an order last week that reduced the number of childhood vaccine recommendations to 11 and recommended administering the MMR vaccine as separate shots across different visits.

President Trump also directed the nation’s health department to improve vaccine research.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.