Vaccination rates plummet nationwide. See how your county compares

Data: The Washington Post; Note: County level data unavailable for Delaware, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, West Virginia and Wyoming; Map: Jacque Schrag/AxiosThe battle against infectious diseases like the flu and measles has taken a hit with sinking vaccination rates for children in many parts of the U.S., per new data collected and analyzed by the Washington Post.The big picture: Vaccination rates for school-age children have plunged in hundreds of counties as chaos reigns over vaccination schedules, setting the stage for a potentially grim 2026.The new figures offer stark evidence of the extent of the backlash that began during the pandemic against public health mandates.Catch up quick: Plunging vaccination rates contributed to a spike in measles cases, and set the U.S. up to to lose its coveted elimination status for the first time in decades.Meanwhile, Arkansas has seen a surging outbreak of the whooping cough, another vaccine-preventable disease that primarily affects young children.In July, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released data showing that vaccination coverage among American kindergartners decreased for all reported vaccines during the 2024-25 school year. (moved up)Threat level: Only 815 counties have reached the herd immunity threshold of at least 95% of their students vaccinated, the data show. That threshold is the vaccination rate multiple public health authorities say is necessary to contain the virus' spread.At least 5.2 million kindergarten-age children reside in counties where vaccination rates are below the herd immunity level, according to the Post's data.Vaccination rates were most consistently high in New England states, Arkansas, California and Texas.Caveat: Some states only had data most recently available for 2023, others were 2024. And while some states had MMR-specific rates, some only provided overall vaccination rates.Zoom out: The decline in childhood vaccination rates comes as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and President Trump have moved to overhaul U.S. policy regarding vaccine schedules.In September, Kennedy's advisers voted to shift how the combined measles, mumps and rubella shot is distributed to children. His handpicked advisory panel also voted to limit access to a combined shot for measles, mumps, rubella and varicella, the virus that causes chickenpox.In December, that same panel voted to end the decades-old federal recommendation that all infants receive the hepatitis B vaccine at birth.Soon after, Trump called on health officials to review all of the U.S. childhood vaccination recommendations, and to align them closer with other nations.More from Axios:Vaccine rates for kindergartners fall as exemptions riseRFK Jr. blows up America's vaccine policyTrump calls for change in childhood vaccine schedule. Here's what the CDC recommendsA guide to the new COVID vaccine recommendations