Year in review: 2024 Public Health

A focus on declining COVID-19 and Flu vaccine rates.

Vaccinations

CDC expects the fall and winter virus season will likely have a similar or lower peak number of combined hospitalizations from COVID-19, influenza, and RSV compared to last year. However, peak hospitalizations from all respiratory viruses remain likely to be much higher than they were before the emergence of COVID-19.'

Influenza and COVID-19 vaccination rates continue to decline, marking a four-year trend reversal from the pre-pandemic era.

Need to get vaccinated? Click on the blue button below to find vaccines near you:

Childhood vaccinations (overview)

A March 2020 report on childhood vaccine compliance by the American Academy of Pediatrics showed compliance rates of about 95% over the previous five years, though they noted about a third of children were not vaccinated on schedule (not receiving all vaccines by the age recommended).

From 2010-2019, childhood immunizations rate steadily increased. Since the pandemic and the mainstreaming of vaccine repudiation, however, vaccine rates have continued to drop.

For the 2023-2024 school year, only 11 states met the recommended vaccination percentages for the MMR vaccine in kindergarten students. Those states were: California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

If you’re wondering how the two poorest states (Mississippi, West Virginia) ended up in the cohort of most vaccine-compliant states in the country, the answer is simple: no exemptions.

Mississippi and West Virginia both have less than 1% exemption rates because the only type of exemption they allow is medical. Idaho, the state with the highest rate of exemptions (14.3%) allows for any parents to request a waiver without reason.

Florida saw the sharpest drop in MMR and DTaP vaccine compliance in the United States, and also was among the worst three states for Polio and Varicella.