Health
Childhood Vaccination Rates Were Falling Even Before the Rise of R.F.K. Jr.
After years of holding steady, American vaccination rates against once-common childhood diseases have been dropping.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Share of U.S. kindergartners
vaccinated against …
Nationwide, the rate of kindergartners with complete records for the measles vaccine declined from around 95 percent before the pandemic to under 93 percent last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Immunization rates against polio, whooping cough and chickenpox fell similarly.
Average rates remain high, but those national figures mask far more precipitous drops in some states, counties and school districts.
In those areas, falling vaccination rates are creating new pockets of students no longer protected by herd immunity, the range considered high enough to stop an outbreak. For a community, an outbreak can be extremely disruptive. For children, measles and other once-common childhood diseases can lead to hospitalization and life-threatening complications.
Prepandemic is the average of 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 data, though not all years were available for all states. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Delaware (in 2024) report the rate of students who have completed all required vaccines, not just the measles series. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Change in kindergarten measles vaccination rates
Immunization rates fell in most states early in the pandemic, and continued to fall in the years that followed.
States, not the federal government, create and enforce their own vaccine mandates, but the incoming Trump administration could encourage anti-vaccine sentiment and undermine state programs. The president-elect’s nominee for health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has spread the false theory that vaccines cause autism, among other misinformation.
But immunization rates had been falling for years before Mr. Kennedy’s recent political rise.
There are now an estimated 280,000 kindergartners without documented vaccination against measles, an increase of some 100,000 children from before the pandemic.
“These pockets are just waiting for an introduction of measles,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “It’s trouble waiting to happen.”
Why rates are falling
As the pandemic strained trust in the country’s public health system, more families of kindergartners formally opted out of routine vaccines, citing medical, philosophical or religious reasons. Others simply didn’t submit proof of a complete vaccination series, for any number of reasons, falling into noncompliance.
The shifts in exemptions mostly fall along political lines. In states that supported Mr. Trump for president in November, the number of students with official exemptions have increased on average (rising everywhere but West Virginia). Exemption rates rose in a few states that supported Vice President Kamala Harris — including Oregon, New Jersey and Minnesota — but stayed relatively flat or fell in most.
Includes medical and nonmedical exemptions. Montana was excluded due to lack of data. Wyoming is missing data for 2017-18. Delaware is missing data for 2019-20. West Virginia and Illinois are missing data for 2020-21. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Share of kindergartners with a vaccine exemption
The pattern for noncompliance looks different: The rate of children with no vaccination record shot up in both red and blue states.
Not all children with missing records are unvaccinated. Some are in the process of getting their shots, delayed because of the pandemic, and others just never submitted documentation. Schools are supposed to bar out-of-compliance students from attending, but whether they do varies from state to state and school to school.
Montana was excluded due to lack of data. Wyoming is missing data for 2017-18. Delaware is missing data for 2019-20. West Virginia and Illinois are missing data for 2020-21. Alaska is missing data for 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Share of kindergartners with no recorded vaccination, and no exemption
Surveys reveal a new and deep partisan division on this issue. In 2019, 67 percent of Democrats and Democratic leaners told Gallup that childhood immunizations were “extremely important,” compared with 52 percent of their Republican counterparts. Five years later, the enthusiasm among the Democratic grouping had fallen slightly to 63 percent. For Republicans and G.O.P. leaners it had plunged to 26 percent.
Today, 31 percent of Republicans say “vaccines are more dangerous than the diseases they were designed to protect.” Just 5 percent of Democrats say the same.
“There seems to be a divide in terms of people’s feelings about science and skepticism towards the government,” said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive for Michigan. “I think some of those divisions are becoming apparent in vaccination rates.”
Lawmakers in numerous states have tried to roll back school vaccine mandates, but most changes have been minor: Louisiana required schools to pair any mandate notifications with information about exemption laws; Idaho allowed 18-year-old students to exempt themselves; and Montana stopped collecting data from schools on immunizations.
But there are a few places where state-level policy changes, or lack thereof, appear to have had a direct effect on rates.
In Mississippi, which had long held the country’s highest kindergarten measles vaccination rate, a federal judge ordered the state to allow religious objections; the state’s vaccination rate fell. In contrast, West Virginia’s governor vetoed a bill that would have loosened school vaccine policy; the state now has the highest rate.
Rates rose in Maine and Connecticut, two states that eliminated nonmedical exemptions during the pandemic. They also rose in Alabama, according to C.D.C. data, though the state declined to comment on why.
Vulnerable pockets
Epidemiologists say that when vaccination rates slip under 90 percent for measles, outbreaks become significantly harder to contain. At some point below that, spread becomes almost inevitable if measles is introduced.
There are thousands more schools with vaccination rates below 90 percent compared with just five years ago, according to a New York Times analysis of detailed data from 22 states.
*Texas counts districts, not individual schools.
Most states publish measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine rates, but several publish only how many students complete all mandated shots. Most states exclude schools with small numbers of students. Most states publish rates for kindergartners only; for several states, however, these rates represent entire schools. New York data excludes N.Y.C. public schools. Source: state governments.
Change in share of schools with vaccination rates below 90 percent
Schools with falling rates can be found in red and blue states, in large urban districts and in small rural ones.
Measles vaccination rates dropped from 83 percent to 75 percent in Yavapai County in Arizona; from 93 percent to 78 percent in Pacific County on the coastline of Washington; from 97 percent to 93 percent in Union County, N.J., just outside New York City — places that span the political spectrum.
These numbers capture vaccination rates only for kindergartners, often partway through the school year, so they include students who may have finished their vaccine series later or will go on to finish it. And across the U.S., most students remain protected against childhood diseases.
But high rates nationally don’t help places no longer protected by herd immunity, as evidenced by recent outbreaks of childhood diseases. Measles and whooping cough cases both climbed last year; polio partly paralyzed a man in New York in 2022.
Growing anti-vaccine sentiment is only part of the public health challenge. In the Minneapolis public schools, completion rates for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine among kindergartners dropped from around 90 percent to 75 percent. The district’s exemption rate barely moved; instead, far more students had incomplete vaccination records.
Few of those students’ families are strongly anti-vaccine, said Luisa Pessoa-Brandao, director of public health initiatives with the Minneapolis Health Department. Some are immigrants who moved into the district recently, missing either shots or records. Others missed regular doctor visits during the pandemic and got out of the habit of preventative care.
“I think we’re going to be catching up for a while,” Ms. Pessoa-Brandao said.
While vaccination rates were dropping in Minneapolis, they climbed in neighboring St. Paul Public Schools, from around 91.4 percent to around 93 percent, according to state data.
The district attributed the rise to strict new procedures started in 2021, including letters and phone calls to families in their native languages; more vaccines available on district grounds; and monthly compliance reports — an extra mile that not every district is able or willing to go.
There are still parents who opt out. But during a measles outbreak last year, a few changed their mind, said Rebecca Schmidt, the St. Paul district’s director of health and wellness.
“The fear of measles,” she said, “is sometimes greater than the ease” of getting an exemption.
Data for all 50 states
Kindergarten measles vaccination rate
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For some years in some states, the rate represents a complete vaccine series, not just the measles vaccine.
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Feeling lonely may take a toll on older adults’ memory — but it may not speed up cognitive decline, according to a new study.
Researchers from Colombia, Spain and Sweden analyzed data from more than 10,000 adults ages 65 to 94 across 12 European countries and found those who reported higher levels of loneliness did worse on memory tests at the start of the study, according to research published this month in the journal Aging & Mental Health.
Over a seven-year period, however, memory decline occurred at a similar rate regardless of how lonely participants felt.
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“The finding that loneliness significantly impacted memory, but not the speed of decline in memory over time was a surprising outcome,” lead author Dr. Luis Carlos Venegas-Sanabria of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at the Universidad del Rosario said in a statement.
Loneliness may be linked to memory performance in older adults, a new study suggests. (iStock)
“It suggests that loneliness may play a more prominent role in the initial state of memory than in its progressive decline,” Venegas-Sanabria said, adding that the findings highlight the importance of addressing loneliness as a factor in cognitive performance.
The findings add to debate about whether loneliness contributes to dementia risk. While loneliness and social isolation are often considered risk factors for cognitive decline, research results have been mixed.
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The study looked at data from the long-running Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), which tracked 10,217 older adults between 2012 and 2019. Participants were asked to recall words immediately and after a delay to measure memory performance.
Social isolation and loneliness could play a surprising role in cognitive health among seniors. (iStock)
Loneliness was assessed using three questions about how often participants felt isolated, left out or lacking companionship.
About 8% of participants reported high levels of loneliness at the outset. That group tended to be older, more likely to be female and more likely to have conditions such as depression.
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Researchers found that those with higher loneliness had lower scores on both immediate and delayed memory tests at baseline. Still, all groups — regardless of loneliness level — experienced similar declines in memory over time.
The results suggest loneliness may not directly accelerate the progression of memory loss, though it remains linked to poorer cognitive performance overall.
Researchers look at a brain scan at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
Experts warn, however, that the findings should not be interpreted to mean loneliness is harmless.
“The finding that lonely older adults start with worse memory but don’t decline faster is actually the most interesting part of the paper, and I think it’s easy to misread,” said Jordan Weiss, Ph.D., a scientific advisor and aging expert at Assisted Living Magazine and a professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.
“It likely means loneliness does its damage earlier in life, well before people show up in a study like this at 65-plus,” Weiss told Fox News Digital.
By older age, long-term social patterns may already be established, making it harder to detect when the effects of loneliness first took hold, an aging expert says. (iStock)
He suggested that by older age, long-term social patterns may already be established, making it harder to detect when the effects of loneliness first took hold.
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“By the time you’re measuring someone in their late 60s, decades of social connection patterns are already baked in,” he said.
Weiss, who was not involved in the research, added that loneliness may coincide with other health conditions, and noted that participants who felt more isolated also had higher rates of depression, high-blood pressure and diabetes. The link, he said, may reflect a cluster of health risks rather than a direct cause.
“While they can go hand-in-hand, it’s not clear that loneliness contributes to dementia,” a psychotherapist says. (iStock)
Amy Morin, a Florida-based psychotherapist and author, said the findings reflect a broader pattern in research on loneliness and brain health, and that the relationship may be more complex than it appears.
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“The evidence shows there’s a link between loneliness and cognitive decline but there’s no direct evidence of a cause and effect relationship,” she said. “So while they can go hand-in-hand, it’s not clear that loneliness contributes to dementia.”
Morin added that loneliness, which can fluctuate, may not be the root of the problem, but rather a symptom of other underlying mental or physical health issues.
Researchers suggested screening for loneliness be incorporated into routine cognitive assessments as one way to support healthy aging. (iStock)
She said staying socially and mentally engaged is crucial for overall brain health.
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“It’s important to be proactive about social activities,” Morin said. “Joining a book club, having coffee with a friend, or attending faith-based services can be a powerful way to maintain connections in older age.”
The researchers also suggested screening for loneliness be incorporated into routine cognitive assessments as one way to support healthy aging.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers for comment.
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Research continues to uncover new details on how fasting may help extend life.
A new study published in the journal Nature Communications investigated how intermittent fasting can boost longevity in small worms often used in aging research.
Researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas compared worms that were fed normally to those that underwent a 24-hour fast in early adulthood and were then fed again, according to a press release.
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The scientists measured a variety of factors, including stored fat, gene activity related to fat metabolism and lifespan.
The results showed that the life-boosting benefit did not depend on the fasting itself but on the body’s behavior after eating again.
Experts say sustainability is key when choosing a long-term weight-loss strategy. (iStock)
Study lead Peter Douglas, associate professor of molecular biology and a member of the Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine at UT Southwestern, suggested that these discoveries “shift the focus toward a neglected side of the metabolic coin – the re-feeding phase.”
“Our data suggest that the health-promoting effects of intermittent fasting are not merely a product of the fast itself, but are dependent on how the metabolic machinery recalibrates during the subsequent transition back to a fed state,” he said.
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“Our findings bridge a gap between lipid metabolism and aging research,” he added. “By targeting aging, the single greatest risk factor for human disease, we move beyond treating isolated conditions toward a preventive model of medicine that enhances quality of life for all individuals.”
Lauri Wright, director of nutrition programs at the University of South Florida’s College of Public Health, called this a “high-quality” study that adds an “important nuance to how we think about fasting and longevity.”
Intermittent fasting typically involves limiting meals to an eight-hour daily window or fasting every other day. (iStock)
The benefits of the refeeding phase after fasting were “especially interesting,” Wright, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.
“The researchers showed that longevity was linked to the body’s ability to turn off fat breakdown after fasting, allowing cells to restore energy balance,” she reiterated.
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“From a scientific standpoint, that’s a meaningful shift because it suggests fasting is not just about burning fat, but about metabolic flexibility.”
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Fasting may support longevity through triggering metabolic switching, enhancing cellular repair and stress resistance and improving markers like insulin sensitivity, research shows.
Limitations and cautions
Although this study provides “important insight” on the power of refeeding, Wright noted that the findings should be approached with caution, as the study was done on worms and cannot always be translated to humans.
“Additionally, it explains how a process might work in a controlled lab condition rather than real-world eating behaviors,” she added as a limitation. “Finally, the study is short-term and doesn’t give us the long-term translation on lifespan outcomes.”
The review found intermittent fasting was barely more effective than doing nothing, according to the study authors. (iStock)
Wright cautioned that fasting is “not a magic solution for longevity, and how you eat overall matters more than when you eat.”
“I advise, first and foremost, to focus on diet quality, including a variety of fruits and vegetables, healthy fats and minimally processed foods,” she said.
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For those who are considering fasting, it’s better to stick with a moderate plan — like a 12- to 14-hour overnight fast — rather than going to extremes, Wright said. After fasting, she recommends focusing on well-balanced meals.
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Several groups of people should be cautioned against fasting, according to Wright, including those with diabetes who are on insulin or hypoglycemic medications, those who are pregnant or breastfeeding, anyone with a history of eating disorders and older adults at risk of malnutrition.
Anyone considering intermittent fasting should consult with a doctor before starting.
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