{"id":146599,"date":"2025-09-15T21:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T21:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/146599\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T21:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T21:56:09","slug":"childhood-vaccination-rates-are-backsliding-across-the-u-s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/146599\/","title":{"rendered":"Childhood vaccination rates are backsliding across the U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"

Some children have compromised immune systems or illnesses that prevent them from getting vaccines. Increasingly, however, families are citing \u201creligious\u201d or \u201cpersonal\u201d reasons for forgoing vaccination. <\/p>\n

That kind of excuse has been repeatedly encouraged by Kennedy, who says vaccination is a \u201cpersonal choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

HHS has notified schools and clinics that receive federal money from the Vaccines for Children Program, which provides free shots for uninsured or underinsured kids, that they would be required to recognize any \u201creligious and conscience-based exemptions to vaccine mandates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill Winfrey, vice president of policy and strategic initiatives at Saint Louis Integrated Health Network \u2014 a nonprofit that works to tackle health disparities \u2014 believes doubts about vaccine safety sown by the \u201cmost trusted health officials in the country\u201d are partly to blame. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn a situation of doubt, it\u2019s just easier to be inactive. It\u2019s easier to say, \u2018Well, if there\u2019s any question, I\u2019m just not going to do it,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For most of the nearly 20% of kindergartners who haven\u2019t had their full schedule of shots, their families have never requested an exemption; the children are simply inadequately immunized.<\/p>\n

‘Measles can be deadly’<\/p>\n

Kimberly Jones, a mother of five living in a vibrant, diverse area south of St. Louis\u2019 downtown area, was careful to make sure her four older children were fully vaccinated. Any shot their pediatrician recommended, she had the children get them on schedule. They were all healthy.<\/p>\n

Her view on vaccines, however, changed when her youngest child, 4-year-old Za\u2019riyah, stopped meeting typical developmental milestones around the time the little girl got her first MMR shot in 2023.<\/p>\n

\"KimberlyKimberly Jones with her youngest child, 4-year-old Za\u2019riyah. Jones has become increasingly skeptical of vaccines in recent years.Jason Kane \/ NBC News<\/p>\n

Za\u2019riyah\u2019s since been diagnosed with autism. Though there\u2019s no scientific evidence linking the MMR vaccine to disorders like autism, Jones, 44, said the dramatic increase in autism spectrum disorder diagnoses<\/a> over the past two decades makes her question whether the shots have changed somehow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI no longer trust any vaccines, old or new,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

Boleyjack of Saint Louis Public Schools said more parents have shared their worries about autism and vaccines in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI usually just use my own personal story to say, \u2018You know what? I have a child with autism. I strongly do not believe that his autism was caused from immunization,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s no research to back it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some have changed their minds. Others haven\u2019t. \u201cAnd that\u2019s fine,\u201d she said. \u201cI just want them to have accurate information.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boleyjack\u2019s goal for the coming school year is to hit an 80% vaccination rate within the public schools \u2014 still far below herd immunity, but an improvement \u2014 by educating parents and increasing school-based access to vaccines and general health care. <\/p>\n

\u201cMeasles can be deadly,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s what\u2019s scary about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘Do you have a gun in your home?’<\/p>\n

For St. Louis parents Emily Pratt, 39, and her husband, Ryan Pratt, 41, the declining vaccination rates are a cause for alarm. <\/p>\n

\"PenelopePenelope, left, and Lucy Pratt outside their house in St. Louis.Bryan Birks for NBC News<\/p>\n

Their young daughter, Lucy, has a rare autoimmune disease called juvenile dermatomyositis, or JDM, that leaves her almost defenseless against even minor illnesses. She\u2019s on medication to suppress her overactive immune system from attacking her body.<\/p>\n

That means Lucy has little to no ability to fight off even a common cold. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have four kids. If one of them brings a cold home, they\u2019re better in three days,\u201d Emily Pratt said. But Lucy \u201chas a cold for two weeks. She gets sicker than typical kids.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some children have compromised immune systems or illnesses that prevent them from getting vaccines. Increasingly, however, families are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":{"0":"post-146599","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-healthcare"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}