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As several area school districts start classes this week, there's been some recent disquieting developments concerning childhood vaccinations.
The Associated Press reported a week ago that U.S. kindergarten vaccination rates inched down again last year and the share of children with exemptions rose to an all-time high, according to federal data.
The fraction of kids exempted from vaccine requirements reached 4.2%, up from 3.6% the year before. That's an estimated 155,000 children nationally during the 2025-2026 school year, according to AP.
It's the fourth consecutive year the national average exemption rate has reached a record, and the vast majority are parents withholding shots for nonmedical reasons, AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe states in the article. Exemptions increased in 41 states and the District of Columbia.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 92.4% of 2025-26 kindergartners got their required measles-mumps-rubella shots, down slightly from the previous year. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the vaccination rate was 95% -- the level that makes it unlikely that a single infection will spark a disease cluster or outbreak, according to the AP article.
Vaccination rates also fell for polio, for the combination shot against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, and for the first dose of the vaccine against chickenpox.
The vaccination numbers were posted as the U.S. experiences its worst year for measles since 1991, AP noted.
"Experts point to turmoil caused by federal health officials. U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was a leading voice in the antivaccine movement before President Donald Trump put him in charge of federal health agencies. In the past 18 months, Kennedy and other federal officials have repeatedly tried to revise and reduce childhood vaccination guidance. Earlier this month, Trump called for revamped childhood vaccination recommendations that promote his discredited theory that childhood shots should be spaced out into separate medical visits," Stobbe wrote in the article.
In reaction to that new federal stance, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reaffirmed its recommendation of the immunization schedules developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and endorsed by 12 leading medical and health care organizations.
"We understand that shifts in federal guidance can create uncertainty for parents and physicians, so we want to provide clarity," Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, the state's chief medical executive, said in a news release.
Vaccine skepticism definitely grew during the COVID-19 pandemic, as the public debated getting the shots. The new vaccines were developed quickly and had no track record for use at that point.
But as the MDHHS notes, "combination vaccines, including the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine, have a long history of safety and effectiveness and can reduce the number of injections that children need."
Yet somehow the skepticism spread from just the COVID jab -- and the nation is seeing the results.
The U.S.'s elimination status for measles, achieved in 2000, is expected to end this fall after spikes in 2025 and this year, health experts warn.
According to the CDC, the U.S. had 2,777 confirmed measles cases this year as of Thursday. Among these, 2,761 measles cases were reported by 47 jurisdictions, including Michigan and Wisconsin.
That already exceeds the 2025 total of 2,289 confirmed measles cases, with four months remaining in the year.
Across the border, a measles outbreak in southwestern Wisconsin continues to grow -- from two cases earlier this month to a total of 41 confirmed cases and seven "probable" cases in Grant, Iowa and Lafayette counties, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services reported Friday. All but one have been unvaccinated, according to state data. Slightly more than half of the cases have been in children and teens, while 44% are in adults.
Childhood vaccination rates, including for measles, are at about 85% for incoming kindergartners in Wisconsin, state health officials added.
It could make a bad year even worse as students gather again for classes.
In Michigan, the MDHHS recommends parents contact their child's health care provider to request their immunization record. Records can also be requested through their local health department or MCIR.org/Public. Additionally, parents can look up their school's immunization and waiver rates on the MDHHS website before the school year starts.
"(As) Michigan records increases in measles, whooping cough and other vaccine-preventable diseases," the MDHHS advises, "now is the time for parents and caregivers to make sure that their children are up to date on vaccinations."