Nearly 80% Of US Counties Saw Decline In Childhood MMR Vaccination Rates, Study Finds

ABC News (6/2, Kekatos, Pakanati) reports a study published in JAMA found that most US counties have seen a decline in childhood measles, mumps and rubella vaccination rates over the last five years. Researchers examined data “from 2,066 counties across 33 states between 2019 and 2024” and found “that 78% of the counties, or 1,614, reported a decrease in vaccination rates over that period.” They found “the average vaccination rate fell from 93.92% pre-pandemic to 91.26% post-pandemic,” a decline of about 3%. They noted that “just four states – California, Connecticut, Maine and New York – had an increase in county-level vaccination rates.” Meanwhile, CDC data show that “during the 2023 to 2024 school year, 92.7% of kindergartners received the MMR vaccine,” down from “93.1% seen in the previous school year and the 95.2% seen in the 2019 to 2020 school year, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.”