Tennessee sees slight rise in childhood vaccination exemptions

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Slightly more Tennessee parents have opted out of getting their children vaccinated, according to CDC data . That decision potentially impacts public health as the first measles case has hit the state since 2019.

According to health officials , the infected Tennessee resident recently traveled internationally. In addition, the individual was not vaccinated, which is becoming a slightly more common trend among youth across the country since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to CDC data.

“Unfortunately, we see a significant number of people who are not vaccinated against measles, and a surprising percent of people who feel the vaccine is worse than the disease, and that the vaccine causes autism, both of which simply are not true,” dean of the College of Public Health at East Tennessee State University and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Appalachian Health , Dr. Randy Wykoff , said.

CDC data indicated that the number of childhood vaccine exemptions in Tennessee increased by 0.8 percentage points during the 2022-2023 school year compared to the previous school year.

While the Volunteer State’s 2022-2023 kindergarten immunization rate hasn’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels, CDC data still reported that it was above the national average. Tennessee came in at at 95.4 percent compared to an estimated 93 percent nationwide.

“In order to keep measles from coming back, you need to have a certain percentage of people immunized against it. Some people say 95 percent or so,” Dr. Wykoff said. ” The challenge with any vaccine is they’re not 100 percent effective, so even if you vaccinated everybody, you’d have a small number of kids where it didn’t take.”

Wykoff encouraged people to avoid questionable websites that make claims about healthcare and consult a trusted, qualified medical professional for health information.

“Vaccines are one of the things that we can do to actually promote health and prevent disease,” Wykoff added.

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