Childhood vaccine exemptions for personal or religious reasons hit new record, CDC finds

Read the original at NBC News ↗
Cite

Edwards, E. (2026, August 18). Childhood vaccine exemptions for personal or religious reasons hit new record, CDC finds. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/vaccine-exemptions-personal-religious-measles-cdc-rcna592960

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

NBC News · collected 2026-08-18 · by Erika Edwards

Quick Summary

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4.2% of kindergartners in the US, approximately 155,000 children, had at least one vaccine exemption during the 2025-26 school year, up from 3.6% the previous year. The majority of these exemptions were labeled as "non-medical", meaning parents opted out for personal or religious reasons rather than health concerns. This marks a trend that began during the COVID pandemic, with 41 states and Washington D.C. reporting increases in exemptions. Measles cases reached a 35-year high in 2026, with over 2,500 reported cases nationwide.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-08-18, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported a new record high in childhood vaccine exemptions, with 4.2% of kindergartners, or about 155,000 kids, opting out of vaccines for personal or religious reasons during the 2025-26 school year. This is up from 3.6% the previous school year and marks a trend that began during the COVID-19 pandemic. Forty-one states and Washington D.C. reported increases in exemptions, according to the CDC. The rise has been met with criticism from pediatricians and public health advocates, who worry about the potential for outbreaks of preventable diseases. This comes as President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week to reduce the number of recommended childhood vaccinations, which was widely criticized by experts.

Written for “Vaccination Exemptions Rise” on 2026-10-17, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Vaccination Exemptions Rise
Health · 2 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 17% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
National Post
⚖️ Leans strongly left 🔴 11% hedged 4 of 35 📰 publisher trust 60
“Both articles report on the CDC's data release showing a sharp increase in kindergarten students seeking vaccine exemptions during the 2025-26 school year.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
18
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
17%
3 of 18 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
95/100
NBC News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
2
Health
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-08-18 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

NBC News · 1452 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected
No corrections detected for this publisher. That may mean careful reporting, or simply that nothing has been checked.

Who wrote this

Erika Edwards
6 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Kennedy then suggested that the deaths may have been “fabricated,” and that Shapiro was seeking to profit from them politically.
🔮 “I would bet that this goes on for at least another three to six months,” said Dr. John Goldman, an infectious disease expert at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
🔮 “Maybe it’s going to come out that she died from something unrelated and it was just a coincidence” that she worked in an anti-plague lab, said Lisa Morici, a microbiologist and immunologist in the Tulane University School of Medicine.
🔮 Shapiro accused Kennedy of spreading falsehoods about vaccines, while Kennedy suggested the deaths may have been “fabricated” and that Shapiro was seeking to profit from them politically.
🔮 “If I were a betting person, I would expect 5,000-plus cases this year.”
🔮 The Pan American Health Organization is expected to make a decision on that in November.
Also by Erika Edwards
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 6 articles by Erika Edwards →

Topics

CDC D.C. Ohio U.S. the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Subjects

CDC ORG · 4× Ohio GPE · 2× D.C. GPE · 1× David Margolius PERSON · 1× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× Pennsylvania GPE · 1× U.S. GPE · 1× Utah GPE · 1× the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ORG · 1× the Cleveland Department of Public Health ORG · 1×

Narrative

Routine vaccination coverage for kindergartners dropped to 92% for the shot that protects against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough (DTaP), and 92.4% for the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccines.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-08-18
🔮 The Pan American Health Organization is expected to make a decision on that in November.

Claims (18 extracted, 3 hedged)

The number of parents in the U.S. choosing not to vaccinate their children rose dramatically in the last school year, according to data released Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. uncertain
number → choose → Control
All states require certain vaccines for children entering public school. asserted
states → require → school
During the 2025-26 school year, 4.2% of kindergartners, about 155,000 kids, had at least one vaccine exemption, up from 3.6% the previous school year. asserted
% → have → %
The vast majority of those exemptions were labeled as “non-medical,” meaning that parents or caregivers were opting out of the shots for personal or religious, rather than health, reasons. asserted
parents → label → reasons
Medical exemptions remained stable at 0.2%. asserted
exemptions → remain → %
Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to drive down the number of vaccines recommended for kids, a move that drew widespread criticism from pediatricians and public health advocates. However, the new data reflects a trend of families resisting school vaccine requirements that began during the height of the Covid pandemic. Forty-one states and Washington, D.C., reported increases in exemptions, according to the CDC. The rise is “disappointing, but not surprising,” said Dr. David Margolius, director of the Cleveland Department of Public Health. uncertain
Margolius → sign → Health
“It’s indicative of the lack of clear messaging at the national level about vaccines.” asserted
It → ’ → vaccines
Ohio’s vaccine exemption rate was at 5.7%, according to the CDC data, up from 4.7% the year before. uncertain
rate → accord → %
Routine vaccination coverage for kindergartners dropped to 92% for the shot that protects against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough (DTaP), and 92.4% for the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccines. asserted
that → drop → vaccines
That’s far lower than the 95% of the community that medical experts say need to be vaccinated against measles to prevent outbreaks. asserted
experts → ’ → outbreaks
This year marked a 35-year high in the nation’s number of measles cases. asserted
year → mark → cases
As of Monday, the country had logged 2,566 cases in 2026 alone, with ongoing outbreaks in several states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania and Utah. asserted
country → log → Ohio
The continued spread threatens the nation’s status of having eliminated measles from circulation achieved in 2000. asserted
spread → continue → 2000
The Pan American Health Organization is expected to make a decision on that in November. asserted
Organization → expect → November
Two doses of the MMR vaccine offer 97% protection against measles, usually for life. asserted
doses → offer → life
The number of kindergartners without a record of having both of those shots before school was about 280,000 last year, the CDC said. asserted
CDC → have → school
Nearly all people diagnosed with measles this year, 93%, were unvaccinated. asserted
people → diagnose → measles
In a statement to the media, the CDC said it “continues to encourage parents to discuss vaccination options with their doctors.” asserted
it → say → doctors
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