Washington D.C. – The Washington Post reports “the share of U.S. kindergartners with exemptions from school vaccine requirements for the 2025-2026 school year rose to another record high … as the country battles its worst measles resurgence in 35 years.” Among the alarming data released by the CDC today: only 92.4 percent of students had received the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine when “the ideal rate required to prevent widespread outbreaks is considered to be 95 percent.”
The revelations come a week after Donald Trump signed a fact-free, fear-inciting executive order demanding the MMR vaccine be broken up over several extra doctor visits based on widely debunked autism risks, even as Trump’s own CDC website still notes the pointlessness of the move: “No published scientific evidence shows any benefit in separating the combination MMR vaccine into three individual shots.”
Trump’s dangerous decree that doctors warn will fan further vaccine hesitancy and confusion among parents follows months of baseless anti-vax actions, propaganda, and fishing expeditions from the Trump administration, which escalated within hours of RFK Jr. being sworn in as health secretary.
“Connect the dots. Donald Trump and RFK Jr. frequently spew anti-vax lies to a national audience, parents get needlessly freaked out, exemptions surge, vaccination rates plummet, outbreaks of preventable diseases shatter records, kids die. Trump’s allergy to science and reality is its own deadly virus,” said Brad Woodhouse, President of Protect Our Care.
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