Preventing measles, polio and whooping cough is as simple as getting a shot, but fewer children are getting vaccinated, leaving some communities vulnerable to outbreaks of preventable diseases, doctors say.
The News4 I-Team looked at student vaccination rates as the new school year begins.
Doctors are sounding the alarm about an old disease that’s making a comeback: measles.
“As a pediatrician, I’m highly concerned. We should not have kids die from measles in 2025 and, so, it’s heartbreaking,” said Dr. Gabrina Dixon of Children’s National Hospital in D.C.
Measles cases hit a 33-year high in the U.S. this year. Three people have died and more than 1,300 others have fallen ill. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared measles eliminated in the U.S. 25 years ago.
“We can prevent this and the way to prevent it is with vaccination,” Dixon said.
Dr. William Moss and his team at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have been tracking the measles outbreak from the start in real time. He said the crisis we’re seeing is years in the making and that he worries it will only get worse if vaccination rates keep dropping and more jurisdictions loosen rules on vaccine exemptions for students.
“Those school entry vaccination requirements have been so critical to controlling vaccine-preventable disease in this country and protecting our children,” he said. “So, that’s where I’m concerned, is that we’re gonna see more permissible non-medical exemptions that will further undermine our ability to maintain sufficiently high vaccine coverage among our children.”
Doctors aren’t only worried about measles. The CDC says national kindergarten vaccination rates for required vaccines like measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) and diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP) have fallen from pre-pandemic levels of 95% to about 93%. The number of families opting out of vaccines for medical or religious reasons has increased.
Here’s what we found about vaccine rates for kindergarteners in the DC area
The I-Team checked vaccine rates for kindergarteners in our region last school year. Here’s what we found:
- Montgomery County: 95% and higher, with more than 1% of students with religious exemptions
- Prince George’s County: 95% and higher, with more than 1% of students with religious exemptions
- Loudoun County: 94%
- D.C.: 92.7%
- Arlington: 91.9%
- Fairfax County: 90.8%
- Alexandria: 83%
Why is vaccine skepticism on the rise and what do doctors say to do?
The I-Team asked Moss about why there’s an increase in vaccine skepticism.
“The COVID pandemic did play a role in undermining public trust among some people and communities,” he said. “And social media and the polarization within social media, where people get their information, who their trusted messengers are on vaccines – all of that has changed somewhat in the past, over the past five years or so. And then what we’ve seen now with the new administration is that some of the more stronger outspoken voices, the anti-vaccine voices, are now leading the institutions that are supposed to be protecting us against vaccine preventable diseases.”
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been one of the most outspoken critics of vaccines. In the past, he promoted debunked claims linking vaccines to disorders like autism – a claim doctors have repeatedly denied.
The I-Team reached out to HHS for a statement and they said: “Secretary Kennedy is not anti-vaccine — he is pro-safety, pro-transparency, and pro-accountability.”
“Vaccination remains the most effective way to protect children from serious diseases like measles and whooping cough, which can lead to hospitalization and long-term health complications,” the statement also said. (Read on to see their statement in full.)
The I-Team asked how long vaccine saturation lasts.
“This is something you have to continually work on,” Moss said. “This isn’t a one off thing where you achieve high measles vaccine coverage, you’re good to go, because there are continued, you know, children being born and growing up in the United States everywhere and they are susceptible to measles until they get vaccinated.”
Doctors are working to dispel misinformation with science and the mountain of evidence on the life-saving shots.
“There is no long-term side effects from the vaccine. It has been proven again and again to be a very effective vaccine. The counter of that, if you don’t get the vaccine and you do get measles, it can lead to death and we have seen that,” Dixon said. “And so what we do as doctors, as scientists, we always look at risk and benefit. And the benefits of the vaccine outweigh all the risks of getting measles.”
Two shots of the MMR vaccine offer a lifetime of protection from measles. There have been six cases in our area this year. All have been linked to travel. Doctors say we haven’t seen it spread to others because of high vaccination rates.
Here’s an HHS’s spokesperson’s full statement:
“Secretary Kennedy is not anti-vaccine — he is pro-safety, pro-transparency, and pro-accountability. For decades, he’s challenged a system that too often puts industry profits ahead of honest science. His advocacy has never been about opposing vaccines — it’s been about demanding that every medical product meets the highest standards of safety, backed by the gold standard of science. Americans deserve the truth when it comes to their health. He believes Americans deserve radical transparency so they can make informed healthcare decisions.
CDC released new data on vaccination coverage and exemption rates among kindergartners for the 2024–2025 school year. The data show the majority of U.S. children continue to receive routine childhood vaccinations, helping protect schools and communities from preventable diseases. The decision to vaccinate is a personal one. Parents should consult their healthcare providers on options for their families.
Vaccination remains the most effective way to protect children from serious diseases like measles and whooping cough, which can lead to hospitalization and long-term health complications.
CDC is committed to working closely with state and local partners by providing tools, resources, and data that help communities promote vaccine access and awareness. The agency will continue to track coverage rates nationwide and support gold-standard, evidence-based efforts that keep children safe and healthy.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
