As the U.S. grapples with record-high cases of measles, school is right around the corner, and there are fewer and fewer kids vaccinated against the disease.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)<\/a> backs that up \u2014 once as high as 96.3%, the percentage of Minnesota kindergarteners with the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, was 86.5% for the 2024-25 school year.<\/p>\n State numbers from the Minnesota Department of Health reflect that as well, with a continued drop for this past school year (2025 \u2013 26): 85.75%.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Minnesota Academy of Family Physicians (MAFP) says the drop in vaccination rates and the increase in measles cases is a direct correlation.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s concerning and frustrating,\u201d MAFP president-elect Dr. Shannon Neale said about the ongoing measles outbreak.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe really want to head off any kind of problem in the school year when kids are congregating together,\u201d Dr. Neale added. \u201cThe advice is to just get your child vaccinated.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat is the number one way to protect them from measles. [There\u2019s] really not anything else other than keeping them quarantined in their bedroom, which nobody\u2019s going to want to do. So, vaccination is key.\u201d<\/p>\n As for why immunization rates are dropping, Dr. Neale points to declining confidence in the medical field and more specifically vaccines.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen them start dropping, particularly since COVID. I think just the trust in vaccines has been eroding,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n For some, that trust hasn\u2019t been strong for quite some time. Like for Wayne Rohde, whose twin sons recieved the MMR vaccine at 13 months \u2014 one was just fine, but he says the other had a severe reaction.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c[He was] later diagnosed with encephalopathy and encephalitis, which is brain injury, and then he lost his speech a couple years later, and he regressed skills,\u201d Rohde said about his son. \u201cSo he lives with us in our home, but he\u2019s nonverbal, and he\u2019s depending on us for care.\u201d<\/p>\n Following that, he co-founded the Vaccine Safety Council of Minnesota<\/a> and now advocates for other families who\u2019ve experienced injuries from vaccines and urges them to ask questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDoctors need to be completely honest with the parents, tell everything. \u2018Here\u2019s the pros and the cons, the risks and benefits,\u2019 and then they can make the decision what\u2019s best for them,\u201d Rohde said.\u00a0<\/p>\n That conversation is welcomed by the academy; Dr. Neale says now is the time to have those talks, \u201cWhether it\u2019s a pediatrician, a family physician, advanced practice clinician, having a conversation with them about vaccines is critical.\u201d<\/p>\n According to MDH<\/a>, Minnesota has had at least 17 confirmed cases of measles this year; last year there were 26 total.\u00a0<\/p>\n It says the state currently doesn\u2019t have an outbreak of measles but is still concerned with the case numbers and is tracking a trend.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese cases were all infected in the United States, particularly in Minnesota, and that\u2019s different from what we have seen with most of our measles cases in the past. They typically have occurred when unvaccinated persons, you know, travel somewhere,\u201d Jayne Griffith, MDH senior epidemiologist, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n MDH\u2019s advice is to make sure your family is up-to-date on vaccines.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe MMR vaccine is very safe. It is very effective. You know, one dose provides about 93% protection against getting measles, and two doses provide 97% effectiveness. And again, it\u2019s a very safe vaccine,\u201d Griffith said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFor Related Stories:\u00a0Measles<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ben Henry<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0CDC<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Children<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Minnesota Department of Health<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Vaccines<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the U.S. grapples with record-high cases of measles, school is right around the corner, and there are…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":790086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[156583,13897,151,97,9572,217283,10650],"class_list":["post-790085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ben-henry","tag-cdc","tag-children","tag-health","tag-measles","tag-minnesota-department-of-health","tag-vaccines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}