Just one week after Donald Trump made misleading statements about vaccines—including claiming that some injections "look like the size of a soda bottle"—the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the latest data on vaccination rates among kindergarteners in the United States.
The CDC's official announcement downplayed the changes: a brief three-sentence statement said "overall vaccination rates among kindergarten children remain high." However, medical experts immediately found reasons for concern in the trends.
Widespread Decline and Record Exemptions
Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and physician at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), was blunt: "There has been a decrease in immunization rates across all vaccines. There is a decrease in more than half of the states compared to the previous year. There are at least 280,000 kindergarten children who did not receive the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine."
Additionally, non-medical exemptions for kindergarten vaccines rose by 17% during the last school year—the largest annual increase ever recorded—going from 3.6% to 4.2% nationally.
Pediatricians, local health officials, and vaccine experts like Offit described these data as evidence of how the current administration has sown confusion about vaccine safety and benefits, leading to depressed vaccination rates and more parents choosing not to vaccinate their children.
Key Data
- MMR Coverage: 92.4% (down 0.1%)
- Non-medical exemptions: 4.2% (record)
- Children without MMR: at least 280,000
- Exemption increase: +17% in one year
The Impact on Public Health
The picture is not entirely bleak. The vast majority of American parents still vaccinate their children. CDC data showed vaccination only fell 0.1% between the last two school years, standing at 92.4% for the MMR vaccine.
However, parents who refuse vaccination are not evenly distributed. Low rates are often concentrated in certain regions, such as Idaho or Ohio. The United States is experiencing its worst measles year since 1991, with hundreds of cases in Utah and South Carolina.
Dr. David Margolius, director of the Cleveland Department of Public Health, offered an encouraging example: "In Cleveland, a couple of years ago, the percentage of kindergarteners up to date on their vaccines was 68%. This last school year we reached 76%. We are doing the work." But he added: "The federal government is causing more and more confusion, and that is washing away the effects and the work we are all trying to do."
The Context: Vaccines Save Millions of Lives
Vaccines have saved millions of lives worldwide. Widespread measles vaccination alone is credited with saving 59 million lives between 2000 and 2024, according to the World Health Organization. Before mass vaccination in the United States in the mid-20th century, measles killed approximately 500 people per year.
Despite this, vaccines have been attacked for decades by known activists who link them to rising autism rates. Autism has been linked to some infections, parental age, and genetics, but as a complex spectrum disorder, experts argue there is no single cause, according to CHOP.
Trump and Kennedy: Confusion from the White House
The peak of recent confusion came directly from the White House. On August 10, President Trump signed an executive order calling for fewer vaccines, surrounded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his new FDA nominee, Dr. Heidi Overton. On that occasion, Trump linked vaccines to autism (without evidence) and spoke of doses "the size of a soda bottle" (a falsehood). He claimed his statements were backed by "gold standard" science (they are not).
The executive order calls for reducing the number of vaccines children routinely receive from 17 diseases to 11, and administering the MMR vaccine as three separate doses. Trump said: "We have the MMR, hopefully it will be split. We want them to be three separate vaccines given at separate times," and added without evidence: "Together, there could be a possibility that they are quite lethal, and separately they seem not to be at all."
Beyond the obvious logistical barriers for parents of newborns, there are legal and manufacturing barriers. Pharmaceutical companies have not produced separate measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines for decades, and doing so would require re-engineering the supply lines of some of their least profitable products.
Kennedy's Role and Historical Disinformation
The MMR vaccine has been a target of attacks since 1998, when discredited former physician Andrew Wakefield published studies in The Lancet linking it to autism. His studies fell apart and were retracted. Investigative journalist Brian Deer revealed that Wakefield patented a measles vaccine months before publishing his study.
Kennedy, now Secretary of Health, previously led the anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense, a nonprofit that was one of the most prolific in spreading false claims about vaccines. His salary in 2023 at that organization was $325,056 (while on leave for his presidential campaign) and $510,515 in 2022, according to tax filings. Additionally, he earned $1.5 million in "referral fees" from law firms leading vaccine injury cases, according to ethics disclosures published by Politico.
Dr. Mysheika Roberts, commissioner of the Columbus, Ohio public health department, noted: "The first concern with MMR is usually autism." Roberts was scheduled to serve on the CDC advisory committee before being fired by Kennedy in June 2025.
Kennedy has continued his anti-vaccine work as Secretary of Health, often under the banner of "gold standard" science. He falsely claimed the MMR vaccine contained "aborted fetal remnants" and, during the measles outbreak in Texas in 2025, recommended vitamin A supplements, leading to children being hospitalized for liver dysfunction.
Kennedy modified the CDC website to claim that "the assertion that vaccines do not cause autism is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that childhood vaccines cause autism." In reality, studies have examined this claim and, in large population studies across multiple countries, found no evidence to support it.
He also dissolved the CDC advisory expert group and replaced it with a group ideologically aligned with him. The recommendations of that group are now subject to litigation.
Furthermore, changes in federal recommendations have made it difficult to obtain certain vaccines, such as the COVID-19 vaccine, leading a pregnant physician to sue the HHS for being unable to obtain the vaccine.
Expert Opinion
Dr. Offit was highly critical: "If we had a Secretary of Health who was a real Secretary of Health instead of an anti-vaccine activist and science denier, they would stand before the American public and say: 'Vaccinate your children, please vaccinate your children.'"
He also denounced that Kennedy "is waging a war against vaccines because he believes there is an epidemic of chronic disease in this country. He believes vaccines are a major cause of that epidemic and, therefore, will do everything possible to reduce vaccines." Offit recounted that Kennedy told him that when he meets a parent on a trail, he tells them: "Don't vaccinate your child."
The current situation reflects a deep challenge for American public health, with consequences that could be felt worldwide.