'We are sweating': Missouri kindergarten vaccination rates fall below immunity threshold
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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