NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — For years, Tennessee has seen an increasing number of children who haven’t been vaccinated — but why?
The Tennessee Department of Health publishes annual surveys on both the immunization status of 24-month-olds and kindergarteners. Though both surveys find that the majority of Tennessee’s kindergarteners and 24-month-olds are up-to-date with their immunizations, each also noted trends in exemptions and refusals.
Click here to read last year’s immunization status survey of 24-month-olds in TN
To be considered up-to-date within the survey of 24-month-olds, the child would need all of “the Combined 7” — diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (DTaP); poliomyelitis (IPV); measles, mumps, rubella (MMR); Haemophilus; influenza type B (HIB), hepatitis B (HBV); varicella (VAR) and Streptococcus pneumoniae or “pneumococcus” (PCV).
In the 2024 Immunization Status Survey of 24-month-old children, the TDH found that 4.6% of parents and guardians refused vaccines. Within that group, beliefs were cited as the reason for refusal about nine times out of ten.
The Tennessee Department of Health noted that the overall percentage of refusal and the use of beliefs as the reason were the highest they had been within the past seven years.
“Parents and/or guardians who cite beliefs as a reason for vaccine refusal typically do so due to reported conflicts with their religious tenets or practices, personal beliefs, or philosophical reasons (i.e., safety concerns, natural immunity, low risk, etc.)”
In addition to compiling survey results on immunization compliance for 24-month-olds, the state health department also looked at kindergarten immunization compliance. According to that survey, all children entering kindergarten must be up-to-date on their DTaP, Hepatitis A, HBV, MMR, IPV or OPV (for poliomyelitis) and VAR.
That 2024 survey found that the “number of students who lack complete immunization records required for enrollment … has reached an all-time high of 7.2%.” Of those exemptions, nearly half were religious.
For nearly the past decade, the percentage of students with religious exemptions has steadily increased to an all-time high of 3.4%, and the increase has been noticed in both public and private schools.
In the most recent report, 3.2% of kindergarteners in public schools had a religious exemption. In private schools, that percentage was more than doubled — with 6.6% of kindergarteners having a religious exemption.
⏩ Read today’s top stories on wkrn.com
The Tennessee Department of Health said that religious exemptions require “a signed statement by the parent/guardian that vaccination conflicts with their religious tenets or practices.”
Across both surveys, the percentage of 24-month-olds and kindergarteners who were not vaccinated for medical reasons stayed relatively the same, with each year having between 0.1% and 0.3%.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
Comments