Kindergarten vaccination rates declining: CDC data explained
Every vaccine the CDC tracks among kindergartners declined again in the 2025-2026 school year, extending a slide in kindergarten vaccination rates that shows no sign of leveling off. Coverage for DTaP fell to 92.0%, while MMR and polio held at 92.4%, according to CDC SchoolVaxView data. CDC described the national change as a 0.1-percentage-point decline in a statement released two days ago, while also saying overall coverage remains high, according to CDC's newsroom statement.
Both descriptions are accurate. Neither one tells a parent whether the specific school their child is about to attend meets state requirements, or how it stacks up against the building down the road.
That gap matters most right now, while families across the country gather immunization records ahead of kindergarten enrollment deadlines. A national percentage in the low 90s doesn't describe any single classroom.
What the 2025-2026 kindergarten vaccination rates show, and what they leave out
Coverage decreased for every vaccine CDC reports among kindergartners this year, ranging from 92.0% for DTaP to 92.4% for MMR and polio, per SchoolVaxView. Varicella coverage is included among the vaccines that declined nationally, according to the same data.
For comparison, the most recent school year with a detailed state-by-state CDC breakdown is 2022-2023, when national coverage sat near 93% across MMR, DTaP, polio, and varicella, with DTaP at 92.7% and MMR and polio at 93.1%, per CDC's MMWR report. That puts current coverage at a lower endpoint than 2022-2023, though the materials reviewed for this article don't include figures for the 2023-2024 or 2024-2025 school years. The shape of the decline between those two points isn't established by the data available.
CDC flagged the direction of travel before this week's release. Last fall, the agency noted that kindergarten vaccine rates were on a continuing downward trend, per a CDC release from October 2025. This week's numbers confirm that pattern held for another year, even as the agency's own framing emphasizes that coverage remains high in absolute terms.
A single-year decline of 0.1 percentage points sounds modest on its own. A multi-year drop from roughly 93% toward 92% describes the same broad trend from a different angle, and it's the second framing that matters more to a parent weighing whether a child's school is keeping pace with state requirements.
Why declining kindergarten vaccination rates don't describe every school
National averages average away exactly the differences that matter to an individual family. Coverage for MMR, DTaP, polio, and varicella declined in more than half of U.S. states in 2025-2026 compared with the year before, according to SchoolVaxView. That's not a handful of outlier states dragging down a stable national number; it's a pattern spread across a majority of the country.
The last year with detailed state-level figures, 2022-2023, showed a similar spread. Coverage fell in 29 states for MMR, 31 states for DTaP, 28 states for polio, and 25 states for varicella compared with the year before, per CDC's MMWR report. That data serves as historical context here, not a current state-level snapshot, since the 2025-2026 release reviewed for this article doesn't break out the same state-by-state numbers.
Exemptions tell a related but separate part of the story. The national school vaccine exemption rate reached 3.0% in 2022-2023, up from 2.6% the year before and the highest rate ever recorded in the United States, per CDC. Exemptions increased in 41 states that year, exceeding 5% of kindergartners in 10 of them. No 2025-2026 exemption figures appear in the materials reviewed for this article, so current local exemption levels aren't established by this reporting.
Put together, the state and exemption data from 2022-2023 show why one national figure is a poor stand-in for local conditions, even in a year when detailed numbers exist. A school in a state with a low exemption rate and stable coverage looks nothing like a school in one of the states where more than 5% of kindergartners hold an exemption. Both could sit inside the same national average.
What to check before your enrollment deadline
Kindergarten immunization requirements are set by state law, not by CDC, and the specific vaccines, dose counts, and accepted exemption categories vary from state to state. Parents can confirm their state's current requirements directly with their state health department rather than relying on a national figure to estimate local rules.
A short list of questions worth asking before an enrollment deadline:
- Which vaccines and how many doses does your state require for kindergarten entry, and has that list changed since an older sibling enrolled?
- Which immunization records and exemption forms does your specific school or district accept, and in what format?
- Does the district or state health department publish school-level vaccination or exemption data, and if so, where?
- Is conditional or provisional enrollment available while records are still being collected, and what is the deadline for completing them?
Questions about the recommended vaccine schedule, catch-up doses, or a child's individual medical history belong with a pediatrician. Questions about required documentation, enrollment deadlines, and exemption procedures belong with the school, district, or state health department, since those offices, not CDC, hold the authority to answer them.
National kindergarten vaccination coverage remains above 90%, and every vaccine CDC tracks declined again in 2025-2026 compared with the year before. What that figure can't do is confirm whether one particular school meets its state's requirement, or how its local exemption rate compares to the rest of the state. That's a separate check, and it's one families can make now, before enrollment paperwork is due: contact the school or district directly and ask whether it publishes school-level vaccination or exemption data.