Nonmedical vaccine exemptions among Missouri kindergartners have more than doubled in five years, rising from under 3% in 2021 to 5.7% statewide in the 2025-26 school year, according to Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services data reported by St. Louis Public Radio. Medical exemptions, which cover children who are immunocompromised or otherwise cannot be vaccinated, stayed relatively stable over the same period.
The statewide figure conceals a much wider spread. In the city of St. Louis, the religious exemption rate for the measles vaccine is 2.3%, and in St. Louis County it is 3.4%. St. Charles County sits at roughly 5.1%. In some Missouri counties the rate reaches 18%, with the highest concentrations in the southern and western parts of the state.
