AAP Reaffirms Call to End Nonmedical Exemptions for Routine Childhood Vaccinations

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has “reaffirmed its call for an end to nonmedical exemptions for routine childhood vaccinations.” CIDRAP has the news.

The AAP today revised a policy statement reaffirming medical exemptions for vaccines when applicable but voicing concern that “the growth in nonmedical vaccine exemptions, and the variation in how different states implement nonmedical exemption policies, is leading to disparities in immunization coverage and schools that are less safe.” They argue that “nonmedical vaccine exemptions ‘erode the safety of school environments’ and limit the public health value of vaccine requirements for school attendance.”

All states and territories in the U.S. “allow medical exemptions” for school attendance, but 45 states “also allow religious exemptions from immunization requirements—15 of which also allow exemptions for personal beliefs and philosophical or conscientious objections.” The AAP notes that “religion-based perspectives on vaccination have developed independent of scriptural or doctrinal definitions. And some states that allow religious exemptions are using broad definitions of the term, enabling more people to attach a religious dimension to their stance and helping fuel a nationwide increase in vaccine exemptions.”

States that allow nonmedical exemptions “have had steady increases in the number of exemptions over time, with the national rate of exemption gradually increasing as well, reaching 3% in the 2022-23 school year.” More recent data show that climbing further to 3.3% the following school year, and routine childhood vaccine uptake in U.S. kindergarteners has been falling year over year.