'We are sweating': Missouri kindergarten vaccination rates fall below immunity threshold [View all]
The percentage of kindergarten students in Missouri vaccinated against diseases like measles and whooping cough is dropping each year as more parents turn in non-medical exemptions prior to their child’s first day of school.
Only 90% of Missouri kindergarten students were immunized against measles, mumps and rubella last year, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. That’s down from 94.6% five years prior. Some counties have rates nearing 75%.
According to the CDC and World Health Organization, a community needs a vaccination rate of at least 95% to be adequately protected from measles outbreaks.
“We are sweating,” Dr. Laura Morris, a University of Missouri Health Care family medicine physician and liaison to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, told The Independent. “There are a couple of diseases that are very infectious that require really high rates of vaccination to provide herd immunity.”
https://missouriindependent.com/2025/08/26/we-are-sweating-missouri-kindergarten-vaccination-rates-fall-below-immunity-threshold/
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