Despite steady overall vaccination coverage among U.S. teens in 2025, concerns grow over stagnating HPV uptake and widening rural-urban disparities, signalling challenges for public health efforts.
Vaccination coverage among U.S. adolescents stayed broadly steady in 2025, but the latest federal data show a worrying standstill in HPV uptake and a persistent rural-urban gap.
According to research published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, coverage with at least one dose of Tdap, the booster that protects against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis, and MenACWY, the meningococcal vaccine, remained close to 90% last year, though both slipped slightly from 2024. The analysis drew on the 2025 National Immunization Survey-Teen, which covered 18,692 young people aged 13 to 17.
The HPV vaccine picture was less encouraging. CDC researchers found no increase for the fourth year in a row, leaving coverage below the levels seen for Tdap and MenACWY. The report also said adolescents in largely rural areas were 12 percentage points less likely than those in urban areas to have received at least one HPV dose, underscoring a geographical divide that has proved difficult to close.
The latest findings follow a year of improvement in 2024, when coverage for Tdap, MenACWY and other recommended adolescent vaccines rose compared with 2023, according to an earlier CDC report. That makes the 2025 plateau more notable, particularly because public health officials have long emphasised that steady adolescent vaccination is important for preventing outbreaks of vaccine-preventable disease.
Cassandra Pingali and colleagues said continued efforts are needed to raise coverage with recommended vaccines and reduce regional disparities, especially for HPV. The report found that vaccination rates still varied widely by jurisdiction, with HPV showing the largest differences.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
