A 6.7-point drop since 2019-20 has left South Dakota among 18 states with kindergarten MMR coverage below 90%, as measles cases continue to emerge.
South Dakota’s kindergarten MMR vaccination rate has slipped well below the level public health officials say is needed to keep measles from spreading easily in schools and communities. The state’s share of kindergarten pupils with protection against measles, mumps and rubella has fallen by 6.7 percentage points since the 2019-20 school year, leaving it among 18 states where coverage for kindergarteners is below 90%, according to data highlighted by South Dakota News Watch and figures from the federal Healthy People 2030 programme. The federal target for two doses of the MMR vaccine is 95% by 2030.
That benchmark matters because measles is one of the most infectious viruses known, and public health experts rely on very high immunisation levels to limit outbreaks. The Department of Health and Human Services says the goal is to maintain 95% coverage among kindergarten children, while the latest federal data show national coverage at 92.7% in the 2023-24 school year, still short of that objective. The Kaiser Family Foundation has separately reported that national routine vaccination rates for kindergarteners continued to decline in 2025-26, with MMR coverage at 92.4% and an estimated 280,000 children left unprotected against measles.
South Dakota’s own measles figures underline the risk. The state Department of Health says it has recorded 11 measles cases in 2026, compared with 16 in 2025, and that 10 of the 2026 cases were in people who had not received the MMR vaccine. One patient was hospitalised. Health officials in the state have also responded with public vaccination clinics after new cases were confirmed, seeking to slow further transmission.
Exemptions are part of the picture as well. Kaiser Family Foundation data show that 6.9% of South Dakota kindergarteners claimed a vaccine exemption during the 2025-26 school year, up 4.2 percentage points from 2019-20. That comes at a time when health authorities continue to warn that measles can cause serious illness and, historically, has killed one to two people in every 1,000 cases. NBC News has reported a sixth measles-related death in Pennsylvania this week, a reminder of how dangerous the disease can become when vaccination rates fall.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
