In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio. A top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.
Since Trump took office in 2025, the U.S. has recorded more confirmed measles cases than in the previous 20 years combined.
The share of U.S. kindergartners with exemptions from school vaccine requirements for the 2025-2026 school year rose to another record high, according to federal data posted Monday. The sharp increase from 3.6 to 4.2 percent seeking exemptions — about 155,000 students — extends a years-long erosion of childhood immunization rates as the country battles its worst measles resurgence in 35 years.
As exemptions increased, U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates fell slightly for all reported vaccines from the year before. Coverage for the major vaccines required for kindergarten — MMR (measles, mumps and rubella); DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus and acellular pertussis); poliovirus vaccine (polio); and varicella (chicken pox) — decreased in more than half of states for the second year in a row, the CDC said.
Via Claude:
For the 2025–26 school year, using the "Any Exemption" rate among kindergartners, these states had exemption rates of 5% or higher: [data missing for Montana]
| Rank | State | Exemption Rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Idaho | 17.5% |
| 2 | Utah | 12.7% |
| 3 | Oregon | 11.0% |
| 4 | Arizona | 10.6% |
| 5 | Nevada | 8.7% |
| 6 | Alaska | 8.6% |
| 7 | Wisconsin | 8.2% |
| 8 | North Dakota | 8.1% |
| 9 | Michigan | 7.7% |
| 10 | Oklahoma | 7.4% |
| 11 | Wyoming | 7.2% |
| 12 (tie) | South Dakota | 6.9% |
| 12 (tie) | Minnesota | 6.9% |
| 14 | Missouri | 6.3% |
| 15 (tie) | Pennsylvania | 6.0% |
| 15 (tie) | Hawaii | 6.0% |
| 17 | Florida | 5.9% |
| 18 (tie) | New Jersey | 5.7% |
| 18 (tie) | South Carolina | 5.7% |
| 18 (tie) | Ohio | 5.7% |
| 21 | New Hampshire | 5.4% |
| 22 | Washington | 5.3% |
| 23 | Texas | 5.2% |
| 24 | Georgia | 5.1% |
