The U.S. will likely lose its measles elimination status. Here's what that means

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2. . For some reason, somebody decided that you can apply for a religious exemption and anyone that applies for this can ge

.............."It's absolute insanity," Smith said. "She was totally dehydrated. We have laws on our books that require vaccinations. For some reason, somebody decided that you can apply for a religious exemption and anyone that applies for this can get it."

And it's not just religious exemptions; most states allow parents to get some form of nonmedical exemption to school vaccination requirements, either for philosophical or personal reasons or religious ones.


A growing trend nationwide

The new JAMA study found the rate of nonmedical exemptions has risen steadily in the majority of U.S. counties, and this trend has accelerated since the pandemic......

In most states, even if the overall vaccination rate is high, there are pockets with higher rates of these nonmedical exemptions, says Dr. Nathan Lo, a physician-scientist with Stanford University and one of the study's authors.


"When you think about infectious disease outbreaks, it only takes a really small pocket of under-vaccinated individuals to create and sustain an outbreak," Lo says..................