EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — As students return to school in both Rhode Island and Massachusetts, they're required by state law to have received a number of vaccines.

Even though Rhode Island has some of the highest vaccination rates in the country, doctors say there's a concerning trend emerging nationwide and in the Ocean State.

In the latest episode of 12 Health, anchor Shannon Hegy sat down with a local pediatrician and a doctor from the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH), both of them concerned over the rising theme of "medical freedom," championed by current Health and Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr. They say it's led to a rise in the number of parents requesting vaccine exemptions for their children.

Dr. Beth Lange, a pediatrician in East Providence, believ

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