Jen Fisher can only do so much to protect her son from the types of infections they might encounter at school. The rest is up to other students and parents in her hometown of Franklin, Tennessee, she said.
Fisher’s son Laurie, 12, has a congenital heart disease and has a weakened immune system. To protect herself, Laurie received all the vaccines recommended for children her age. But even if he’s vaccinated, the virus, which may just ignore other children, could make him sick and end up in the emergency room, Fisher said.
“We want everyone to get vaccinated so that diseases like measles and diseases that have basically been eradicated don’t come back,” Fisher said. “They can certainly have a very negative impact on Raleigh.”
For most of Laurie’s life, Fisher was comfortable in this environment. High rate of childhood vaccination Tennessee is a public health bright spot in a conservative state with poor health and the lowest life expectancy in the nation.
Mississippi and West Virginia, similarly conservative states with poor health and low life expectancy, have among the highest vaccination rates for kindergarteners in the nation, a seeming contradiction. However, this stems from the fact that childhood vaccination requirements are not always consistent. Other characteristics of the state were as follows: james colgrovea professor at Columbia University who studies factors that influence public health.
“State policies don’t map neatly to ‘red’ and ‘blue’ or one region to another,” Colgrove said.
Advocates, doctors, public health officials and researchers are concerned that this public health bright spot is fading in some states. Many states have recently reported an increase in the number of people refusing to vaccinate their children as Americans’ views change.
Percentage of kindergartners exempted from at least one vaccination during the 2023-24 school year Increased to 3.3%Forty states and Washington, D.C., reported increases, the highest on record, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Tennessee and Mississippi were also among the areas with increases. Nearly all exemptions nationwide were for non-medical reasons.
Vaccine advocates are concerned anti-vaccination message It could accelerate the growing “health freedom” movement that has been championed by leaders in states like Florida. Anti-vaccine momentum is likely to continue to grow with Donald Trump’s election as president and his proposal to nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Pediatricians in states with high exemption rates, such as Florida and Georgia, are concerned that lower immunization levels for kindergarteners could lead to a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles. He said there was. The Florida Department of Health reported non-medical exemption rates. 50% higher to children in some areas.
“Religious exemptions are huge,” he said. Dr. Brandon Chatania pediatric infectious disease physician in Orlando, Florida. “This makes it easier for these children to enter school without vaccines.”
In many states, religious exemptions are easier to obtain than medical exemptions, which require a doctor’s approval.
Over the past decade, California, Connecticut, Maine, and New York have removed religious and philosophical exemptions from their school vaccination requirements. West Virginia didn’t have them.
idaho, alaska, utah The exemption rate was the highest for the 2023-24 school year, according to the CDC. These states allow children to be exempted for religious reasons by providing a notarized or signed statement by the parent or legal guardian.
florida and georgiawhich reportedly has the lowest minimum immunization rates for kindergarteners, allows parents to exempt their children by submitting a form to their child’s school or daycare center.
Both states reported declines in coverage of the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, the most commonly administered vaccine in childhood. Georgia announced that the MMR penetration rate among kindergarteners has decreased from 93.1% in 2019-20 to 88.4% in 2023-24. CDC. Florida’s rate fell to 88.1% from 93.5% during the same period.
Dr. Andy Schoen, a pediatric infectious disease specialist in Atlanta, attributes Georgia’s declining rates to families lacking access to pediatricians. National policies regarding exemptions are also important, she said.
“There is a lot of data supporting the fact that vaccination rates are higher when personal belief exemptions are not granted,” she says.
In December, Georgia public health officials announced: words of advice The state recorded significantly more pertussis cases than the previous year. According to CDC dataGeorgia reported 280 cases in 2024, compared to 96 the year before.
Until 2023, Mississippi was one of the few states that allowed parents to opt out of their children’s vaccinations for medical reasons, but only with a doctor’s permission. This resulted in the highest vaccination rate in the nation as of the 2023-24 school year.
“This is one of the few things Mississippi has done well,” said Dr. Anita Henderson, a pediatrician who has practiced in the southern part of the state for nearly 30 years. On the health front, he said childhood vaccination rates are the state’s only “shining star.”
But in April 2023, things changed. ordered by a federal judge State authorities began granting religious exemptions. Mr Henderson said the ruling had given courage to many families.
“Because of this ruling, we are seeing increased skepticism, hesitancy to get vaccinated, and lack of confidence,” she said.
Since the court order granted religious exemptions, state officials have granted more than 5,000 religious exemptions, according to the state health department. Dr. Daniel EdneyState health officials said most of the requests come from “more affluent” residents living in “pockets” of the state.
“Most people listen to experts from their pediatricians and family physicians to help them stick to vaccination schedules, because that’s the best way to protect their children,” he said.
West Virginia’s vaccine law, which does not allow for non-medical exemptions, may also change soon, he said. Dr. Matthew Christiansenwho served as the state’s health officer until resigning in December.
A bill to expand the exemption passed the Legislature last year, but was vetoed by outgoing Republican Gov. Jim Justice. Governor-elect Pat Morrissey, a Republican, was a vocal music critic Mandate vaccines.
Christiansen said those who advocate personal freedom to refuse to vaccinate their children could ultimately reduce the ability of others to lead fulfilling lives. “For children to contract measles, mumps or polio and be paralyzed for life is a hindrance to their personal freedom and autonomy,” he said.
Anti-vaccine sentiment has been on the rise in Tennessee since the coronavirus pandemic. An organization, “Health Freedom Defenders,” wrote a draft of the letter Voters can send a letter to state lawmakers calling for the resignation of Tennessee’s medical director of vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization programs. The group said it showed she “does not respect the right to informed consent” of the public.
“They feel emboldened that this presidential administration seems to feel very strongly that a lot of these issues should be brought back to the states.” emily delicatdirector of the vaccine advocacy organization Tennessee Families for Vaccines.
Henderson, a Mississippi pediatrician, said that like many effective public health interventions, vaccines are ultimately a victim of their own success. She says most people have never seen a measles or polio outbreak, so they forget how dangerous these diseases are.
“Unfortunately, it may take these diseases to come back to raise awareness of the fact that they are dangerous, deadly, and preventable,” she says. “I hope that doesn’t happen.”
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