A Growing Trend: Opting Out of Childhood Vaccinations

Part one of Tragedy in Paradise, an Atlanta News First investigation shedding light on potential consequences of declining vaccination rates.

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — In a warm Georgia kitchen filled with the smell of fresh cookies, Marianna Slaughter’s children giggle over their new treats. It’s a household that strives to eat food made with organic ingredients, which rejects over-the-counter medication — and vaccines.

“It was a hard decision,” Slaughter said. “But at the end of the day, I did the research. I weighed the benefits and the risks.”

Slaughter is part of a growing number of families across Georgia and the U.S. who are opting out of routine childhood vaccinations. The decision, often rooted in personal beliefs or religious convictions, has alarmed public health officials as measles cases rise across the country.

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“I believe that God created our bodies as a sacred temple,” Slaughter said. “I do not believe that we need to be allowing ‘pharmacia’ into our bodies.”

A 2025 Johns Hopkins study found MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination rates have declined in 78 percent of U.S. counties since 2019.

Only 11 states last year achieved the 95 percent vaccination rate needed in kindergartens to achieve herd immunity, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Georgia is not one of them.

This year, the CDC reported nearly 1,300 measles cases across 34 states, the highest in more than three decades. Two children and one adult died; none had been vaccinated.

“It is incredibly sad,” said Dr. Jodie Guest of Emory University’s department of epidemiology. “This is a preventable illness and one we should not be seeing kids die from.”

Measles is rarely fatal; about one in 1,000 cases, according to the CDC, but about 25 percent of children who contract it are hospitalized. The disease can also eventually lead to a brain disorder called Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis (SSPE).

“If your child does come down with SSPE, it’s much later, perhaps five to 10 years after the measles,” said Dr. Roy Benaroch, a pediatrician in Roswell, Georgia. “There’s no treatment possible for SSPE. It’s not common, but entirely preventable.”

The decline is attributed, in part, to widespread misinformation, often fueled online. According to a KFF Health 2025 survey, measles misinformation is on the rise. Republicans are twice as likely to believe the measles shot is worse than the disease, according to the survey.

Public health experts say some of that misinformation is fueled by national leaders. Chief among them: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“There are adverse events from the vaccine,” Kennedy said during a March interview on Fox News. “It does cause deaths every year.”

In May, U.S. senators questioned Kennedy multiple times over whether he would recommend the measles vaccine to the public. He was unable to clearly answer yes to all but one of the questions.

“I am not going to just tell people everything is safe and effective if I know there are issues,” Kennedy said on May 14, 2025.

Kennedy’s mixed messages have frustrated epidemiologists like Dr. Guest. “When you hear flip-flop messaging, it consistently brings up more questions for people,” she said.

Despite the criticism, some parents — like Slaughter — stand by Kennedy. “He hears us,” she said. “He listens.”

Dr. Guest says family doctors and public health advocates need to do a better job at talking about vaccines to vaccine-hesitant families.

“We need to be able to answer people’s questions about it,” she said. “People should ask questions about vaccines, and we need to meet them where they are and talk about those questions.”