OPINION:
Classrooms across America are once again buzzing with eager students, dedicated teachers and the promise of growth. Yet, amid the excitement, a troubling trend shadows our return to normalcy: the rise of vaccine hesitancy. What once was a settled matter of science and community protection has become a political and cultural battleground with profound consequences for children’s health.
Across the country, vaccination rates are slipping while exemptions from school immunization requirements are climbing. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just 92.5% of kindergartners received the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in the most recent year surveyed, a decline from 95% in 2020.
That difference may seem small, but public health experts stress that 95% coverage is the critical threshold to maintain herd immunity. At the same time, vaccination exemptions among kindergartners rose from 2.5% in 2020 to 3.6% in 2024, with nonmedical exemptions — religious or philosophical objections — driving the increase.
The consequences are already visible. This year, the United States experienced its largest measles outbreak in more than 30 years, a startling reversal given that measles was declared eliminated in 2000. Still, declining vaccination rates are not limited to measles. Uptake of the pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine has also dipped, and the disease is resurging in communities nationwide. These are not abstract statistics; they translate into sick children, missed school days, vulnerable infants and, in severe cases, preventable deaths.
This erosion of public confidence in vaccines is not happening in a vacuum. Leadership matters, and today the nation’s top public health official is fueling skepticism rather than confronting it. Since assuming the role of secretary of health and human services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., long known for promoting vaccine conspiracy theories, has taken steps that undermine decades of scientific consensus.
Among his most concerning actions: Mr. Kennedy has dismantled the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, replacing respected experts with allies sympathetic to vaccine skepticism, and most recently fired the CDC director for reportedly refusing to rubber-stamp vaccine recommendations unsupported by evidence. He has failed to unequivocally endorse the measles vaccine in the middle of a national outbreak. He has canceled projects developing mRNA-based vaccines, despite their proven safety and success in saving millions of lives during the COVID-19 pandemic emergency.
He has also ordered the removal of thimerosal, a vaccine preservative exhaustively studied and found safe, from immunizations, reviving a baseless controversy that had long been put to rest.
These choices send a clear signal to parents: The government’s highest health authority does not stand firmly behind vaccines. It is little wonder that hesitancy is growing when misinformation is echoed at the very top. Parents, already inundated with online conspiracy theories and social media misinformation, are left without the trustworthy guidance they deserve.
This is deeply dangerous. Vaccines remain one of the most effective tools in modern medicine, credited with saving more than 154 million lives globally over the past 50 years. They undergo some of the most rigorous safety testing of any medical intervention. When parents opt out, it doesn’t put just their child at risk; it also endangers classmates, teachers and entire communities. Immunization is a collective responsibility, and its success depends on broad participation.
What we are witnessing is not simply a policy dispute; it is a failure of leadership with life-and-death consequences. Public health depends on trust, and trust is built by leaders who defend science, communicate clearly and place the welfare of children above politics. Right now, that is not happening.
As we navigate this school year, policymakers, educators and parents must demand better. We need leaders who amplify science, not skepticism. We need policies that strengthen, not weaken, the vaccination safety net that protects our schools. We also need to recognize that vaccine hesitancy is not a harmless personal choice but a public threat.
The safety of America’s children hangs in the balance. History has shown us what happens when vaccination rates fall: Disease spreads, lives are lost and communities suffer. We cannot afford to repeat those lessons. Under Mr. Kennedy’s leadership, families are being misled and children are being left vulnerable. It’s time to insist on a course correction.
When leaders fail to stand for science, it is our children who pay the price.
• Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S., was the 17th U.S. surgeon general. He is a laureate professor of public health at the University of Arizona.
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