Hello and welcome to the Osterholm Update, a podcast on COVID-19 and other infectious diseases with Dr. Michael Osterholm. Dr. Ostrome is an internationally recognized medical detective and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, or CIDRAP, at the University of Minnesota. In this podcast, Dr. O.

O. Strom draws on nearly 50 years of experience investigating infectious disease outbreaks

to provide straight talk on the latest infectious disease and public health threats. I'm Chris

Dahl, reporter for Sidrap News,

and I'm your host for these conversations. Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the

Osterholm Update podcast. According to data posted by the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention last week, vaccination rates among children entering kindergarten

continues to fall in the United States. To cite one example, the percentage of children who received

the measles, mumps, and rebella, or MMR vaccine, fell to 92.5% in the 2024-25 school year. That's down

from 92.7% the previous year, and from 95.2% in 2019-2020.

And it's not just the MMR vaccine. Uptake of the diphtheria, tetanus, and accellular

pertussis or D-Tap vaccine, and the varicella and polio vaccines also fell last year.

Meanwhile, the percentage of U.S. kindergartners seeking exemption from one or more

vaccines rose from 3.3% to 3.6%, hitting a new high for the fourth straight year. At this moment,

when preventable diseases are on the rise, we need clear, effective communication from government

leaders recommending immunizations as the best

way to ensure children's immune systems are prepared to fight dangerous diseases.

American Academy of Pediatrics President Susan Cressley said in the statement that implied

that we are not currently getting that type of communication from federal officials.

What kind of challenges are declining U.S. childhood vaccination rates going to pose in

coming years?

That's among the topics we'll be discussing on this August 7th episode of the podcast.

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