About one in 10 kindergartners in Arizona are unprotected against key childhood diseases.
That’s largely due to a rise in the number of vaccine deniers coupled with one of the nation’s easiest opt-out provisions.
Arizona Public Health Association Executive Director Will Humble says the rates are still declining.
"It's insidious. We have been losing about a half a percent every year for the last 10 years. That might not sound like a lot, half a percent per year. But if you start looking at a 10-year period, now you're looking at a loss of 5%.” Humble said.
Most recent data shows only 90.6% of Arizona kindergarteners got the MMR vaccine, which is well short of the 95% necessary to prevent outbreaks of diseases like measles and mumps.
