{"id":261946,"date":"2026-01-28T14:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T14:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/261946\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T14:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T14:15:11","slug":"thousands-more-n-j-kids-are-skipping-vaccines-see-how-your-county-compares","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/261946\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands more N.J. kids are skipping vaccines. See how your county compares."},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"ZNFXKOEOJVEO5F7N72WPHFECAM\">Vaccination rates among New Jersey children continue to fall as religious exemptions rise, a trend that public health experts say may contribute to the resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"EZV47YHO3VHYBFBA4MAJGKXCEA\">Data from the state Department of Health shows 24,962 kids skipped vaccines for religious reasons during the 2024-25 school year, a nearly 25% increase from the previous year. The number represents just 5% of all pre-K, kindergarten, first grade, sixth grade and transfer students in the state. However, it\u2019s nearly triple what it was a decade ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"AKTCG2WSJRFBFPCWBUO3CW7LWM\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.datawrapper.de\/_\/xWJto\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.datawrapper.de\/_\/xWJto\/\">If the chart above is not showing, you can see it here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"L3KUBRHKF5EAVMTVUYN4SVLRLA\">New Jersey\u2019s religious exemption rate among kindergartners of 4.6% is even higher than the U.S. median of 4%. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"7Y475ZMMSVH2BPMLZTTWWC2VLE\">New Jersey is one of 29 states that allow exemptions for religious reasons, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/health\/state-non-medical-exemptions-from-school-immunization-requirements\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/health\/state-non-medical-exemptions-from-school-immunization-requirements\">National Conference of State Legislatures<\/a>. Four\u202fstates \u2014 California, Connecticut, Maine and New York \u2014 do not allow any type of non-medical exemption.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"H5CRMWWUJRG4BC7MVREP2UJKEU\">Under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nj.gov\/health\/cd\/documents\/imm_requirements\/religious_exemption.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nj.gov\/health\/cd\/documents\/imm_requirements\/religious_exemption.pdf\">New Jersey law<\/a>, a parent or guardian can submit a written, signed request for exemption from mandatory immunization due to religious beliefs. They don\u2019t need any other documentation, such as proof of membership in a religious organization. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"6KEE42GGEZCQDGCEZNFS7XNF3E\">The state also allows exemptions for medical reasons, but that makes up a smaller portion of unvaccinated school children \u2014 .2% during the 2024-25 school year. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"HF4Z2UYU3JFPTMOLU32EKLZT2U\">Medical and religious reasons are the only acceptable grounds for skipping mandatory immunization requirements in New Jersey schools and daycares. The law states that requests \u201cbased on philosophical, moral, secular, or more general reasons\u201d are not permitted. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"KL6JN4ZJ65FM5LQDY3YWR7OY6U\">The trend toward increasing vaccine exemptions could put New Jersey at increased risk for outbreaks. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"RQGLM5XWOZHZJAGHS6XRDAYDAY\">A <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/41533386\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/41533386\/\">recent study<\/a> published by the JAMA Network found an increase in non-medical exemptions to childhood vaccination requirements from 2010 to 2024, which may contribute to resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"ECLEFN3PVBANHKZT3AOQXTPHRY\">Measles, for example, is highly preventable but has made a resurgence. In 2025 the United States reported a total of 2,255 measles cases, the most since 1991, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 93% of cases were among people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"ABMDEDEVFFGPTER647PGAMG32Y\">New Jersey has already lost its herd immunity to measles, putting unvaccinated people, especially children, more at risk. The CDC says more than 95% of people in a community need to be vaccinated for most people to be protected through herd immunity. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"C2OWN357UVB2RG5D6KVMIJUEKY\">In New Jersey, just 92.8% of kindergarteners received the MMR vaccine for the 2024-25 school year, down from 93% the previous year. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"LA2QCKP3U5BKBFAEEF3IHCBQBE\">The state reported a total of 11 measles cases in 2025, up from seven cases the previous year. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"VEMZF72ZMJHIZMYZY4SWVPSPAI\">Here is a county-by-county breakdown of how many school children have been granted exemptions from vaccines:<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"N7P35WZALNBS3KVQVZULG7KJKQ\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.datawrapper.de\/_\/1mWXn\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.datawrapper.de\/_\/1mWXn\/\">If the chart below is not showing, you can see it here. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vaccination rates among New Jersey children continue to fall as religious exemptions rise, a trend that public health&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261947,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-261946","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}