Opting out of childhood vaccines is becoming more common across most of the United States, leaving larger shares of the population vulnerable to preventable diseases like measles. What’s driving the trend: nonmedical reasons for exemptions — often described as religious or personal beliefs.
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/01/14/health/vaccine-exemptions-county-risk-measles-vis
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Patches of low vaccination in the US are becoming bigger, riskier holes
**Opting out of childhood vaccines is becoming more common across most of the United States, leaving larger shares of the population vulnerable to preventable diseases like measles**, which is continuing its record-breaking spread across the country.
Exemption rates for vaccines that are typically required to attend school have increased in more than half of US counties since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to new research published Wednesday in the medical journal JAMA.
**What’s driving the trend: nonmedical reasons for exemptions — often described as religious or personal beliefs**. However, exemptions for medical reasons – among those who are immunocompromised, for example, or those who have a severe allergy to a vaccine component or – have remained stable.
“The science behind immunizations has not changed in the past five years,” said Dr. Jesse Hackell, a pediatrician in New York. He is the lead author of a policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics that says that nonmedical exemptions to school immunization requirements should be eliminated.
“What has changed is the politics and the misinformation behind the discussion,” Hackell said. “But the science about the immunizations — that they’re safe, that they’re effective, that they reduce disease, that they reduce morbidity and mortality – there are no changes in that science.”
For those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2843870?guestAccessKey=310c24bc-8a41-42b2-9d62-9cc5824b4882
I hope the absolute worst for everyone who follows social media personalities and politicians over medical professionals and peer reviewed data.
What’s really driving the trend: idiots and disinformation.
Man, we were getting close to rendering measles extinct. Not anymore I suppose. Oh well.
……
This is really really bad if they thought falling birthrates was a problem then this is just a catastrophe waiting to happen…..
This is what happens when people get their science and news solely from social media especially Facebook.
Religious or personal beliefs that result in the death of others should be banned
this is what happens when kids have not been taught to read properly since the 90s. teens and adults can’t read properly let alone assess sources of information for accuracy. Sold A Story is a good resource for understanding why literacy is in the toilet and part of the reason why we are where we are.
It’s been at least two generations since widespread disease was common, so people have forgotten how bad it can be. That allows ignorance to creep in. A good wave of a plague would be good to remind people.
I often think of how civil liberties are going to survive in the era of the internet and the general intellect of the population. I don’t think they’re compatible
I was watching an old episode of ER and a kid with measles comes in. All the doctors are shocked and discussing it and said “the kid is unvaccinated? Is the mom a fringe conspiracy theorist or something?” Literally. Nowadays I bet they wouldn’t bat an eye at a parent like that. Sad
They’ll be feeling super smarter when their whole family somehow gets tuberculosis in 2026.
Uneducated and propagandized beliefs*
That people are idiots? Don’t follow trends instead of tried and true science
Stupid , thats what we call non medical reasons to let diseases kill people.
Oh well, when “god calls their child home to heaven” then maybe they can worry about all the kids in the foster system.
Might be not be a popular opinion but most people are too stupid to be left alone on their own and need to do told what to do.
This is just idiotic to read about. The distrust of professionals has eroded so much over the years is why we’re at this juncture…I blame social media algorithms.
And there is an extremely easy solution. Unfortunately it isn’t going to be a politically popular one, which means until many,many millions are dying and dead from diseases common hundreds of years ago it won’t be implemented.
It’s so weird that religious adherence is going down and yet somehow it remains a commonly cited reason to not participate.
Isn’t the disinformation age a wonderful time to be alive?
Those last four words could have been replaced with “stupidity.”
What’s driving the trend: **stupidity**
FIFY
Dipshits and social media frauds and hacks looking to make money off stupid fearful people.
It’s a race. Will the republicans kill more Democratic voters with their anti abortion and anti women’s healthcare crusade or will more of their voters die from their anti science and anti vax nonsense?
It’s being driven by the anti-science set seizing upon willfully ignorant, easy to exploit parents.
Sadly parental fear is being used to manipulate parents into acting against their children’s best interest because somehow, it eludes those parents they personally benefited from childhood vaccinations.
Natural selection. Fortunately, these intellectually limited individuals will ensure that their genetic structure is not passed on. The sooner the better.
People who have common sense aren’t going to have kids right now, you are seeing it across the globe. So that leaves you with people who are having children who lack common sense.
(Talking broadly obviously not everyone having children is brain dead)
My opinion: This has very little to do with _actual_ religious or personal beliefs. What we’re seeing here is what happens when _divisive politics_ erode the trust of the people in their government through lies, sensationalism and hyperbole. When people stop trusting the institutions that are supposed to be put in place to protect them because politicians on both sides of the aisle are accusing the other side of being evil and oppressive, the people can’t figure out who to trust anymore so they stop trusting EVERYONE. When that happens, we all lose. Welcome to the future. This will get worse before it gets better.
The thing driving this trend is an understandable (though obviously misguided) mistrust of a brazenly criminal government and pharmaceutical industry. If we want people to trust the government and doctors, then they need to be provided with doctors and government worthy of their trust.
Anti-vaccine content shared on American social media has been traced back to propaganda farms that originate in countries like Russia and Vietnam.
Bloomberg uncovered a handful of m a g a accounts that were registered in Russia that had millions of American followers who believed these fake influencers were real people
We really are living in the stupidest timeline.
The real reason: idiocy.
Ah yes the natural selection method is what this is called.
Darwin doing his thing.
Bill Gates will be so sad when polio comes raging back. I probably should start an iron lung business.
Stupid is as stupid does.
I feel bad for the kids, because they are the one’s who will suffer. Plus the immune deficient who will also suffer.
But don’t feel bad for the parents. If you fall for what the snake oil salesman is selling, you deserve what you get.
I really respect the people I encounter who tell me they or their kids are unvaccinated
It makes it so easy to cut them out of my life