More than three-quarters of U.S. counties and jurisdictions are experiencing declines in childhood vaccination rates, a trend that began in 2019, according to a September 2025 NBC News–Stanford University investigation. The report also found a “large swath” of the U.S. no longer has the “basic, ground-level immunity” needed to stop the spread of measles.
David Higgins, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado Anschutz and a pediatrician who researches vaccines, discusses the dangers of not vaccinating your children.