Brown professor: RI vaccine exemptions have ticked up, but not by much

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Across the U.S., childhood vaccination rates for the 2024-25 school year fell for the fifth year in a row.

That’s according to data published by the CDC.

Vaccine coverage for shots that protect against measles, polio, chickenpox, whooping cough and hepatitis B have now been under 95 percent.

That’s the threshold many experts consider herd immunity.

Exemptions increased nationwide to 3.6 percent, compared to 3.3 percent the previous school year.

Doctor Carla Martin, a clinical assistant professor of medical science at Brown University, said that although vaccine exemptions have increased in Rhode Island, they haven’t done so by significant amount.

According to CDC data, exemptions increased in 36 states, with 17 states reporting exemption rates exceeding five