Keeping children healthy has never been the responsibility of parents alone. It requires families, caregivers, health care providers, schools and communities working together to create the conditions children need to thrive.
Recent federal actions recommend changes to the longstanding childhood vaccination schedule, including separating the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine into individual shots once those vaccines become available and, when feasible, giving childhood vaccines during separate medical visits. These proposals come as childhood vaccination rates are falling and measles cases are rising. The share of U.S. kindergarteners vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella has fallen from 95.2% in the 2019-20 school year to 92.4% in 2025-26.
Measles is also hitting closer to home. So far this year, Illinois has reported 23 confirmed cases and Missouri has reported 11. Five of those cases have been reported in the greater St. Louis region, including cases in St. Louis and Franklin counties in Missouri and Madison County in Illinois. The St. Louis County case is the county’s first in 20 years.
At a time when parents and families need clear, consistent information, these changes risk creating uncertainty around vaccines that have protected children for generations.
For many Black and Brown families, these questions carry particular weight. Black and Brown communities have experienced generations of unfair treatment within health care systems, creating understandable uncertainty about whom to trust. When trust has already been damaged, changing guidance and added uncertainty can make decisions about a child’s health even harder. The antidote is greater transparency and access to trusted health care providers who can help families make informed choices about their children’s health.
Despite what news headlines get the most airtime, support for routine childhood immunizations remains strong. A 2025 KFF/Washington Post survey found that 81% of parents support school vaccination requirements for measles and polio, with medical and religious exemptions. Closer to home, Washington University’s iHeard initiative found that only one-third of St. Louis-area adults surveyed believe parents should be able to opt out of vaccinating their children based solely on personal beliefs.
At the same time, vaccination rates are falling. Missouri’s measles vaccination rate among kindergarteners has fallen below the 95% level needed to prevent outbreaks. In the city of St. Louis, only 75% of public kindergarten students and 71.4% of private kindergarten students were vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella during the 2023-24 school year. That 95% level is important because it creates what is known as community immunity: when enough people are vaccinated, a disease has a harder time spreading from person to person. This also helps protect people who cannot be vaccinated.
The United States has reported nearly 3,900 confirmed measles cases so far this year, compared with 2,289 in all of 2025, reaching its highest level in 35 years. In Pennsylvania, five measles-associated deaths have been reported this year.
When vaccination rates fall, the impact is felt far beyond a single household. Infants who are too young to be vaccinated face greater risk. Children with weakened immune systems face greater risk.
That reality reflects a core principle of health justice: our health is shaped not only by the choices we make, but by the conditions in which we live and the systems and policies that shape them. Families are better able to protect their children’s health when they have access to trusted information, affordable health care, transportation, paid time off and responsive public institutions they can rely on.
This is why proposals to break apart long-established vaccine schedules are troubling. Policies that require more appointments and additional steps to achieve the same protection would increase burdens on families already balancing work, child care, transportation and school obligations.
Families should not have to work harder to protect their children from preventable disease.
Illinois recently enacted legislation that helps ensure residents continue to have access to evidence-based vaccine recommendations and insurance coverage. Missouri leaders should consider similar approaches that prioritize clarity, stability and access for families.
Parents and families should talk with trusted pediatricians and family physicians, use credible sources of medical information and keep children on recommended immunization schedules.
Leaders in Missouri and Illinois should protect access to evidence-based immunizations and communicate clearly and consistently with the families they serve.
Healthy children and strong communities are interconnected. Just as Dr. King reminded us that our futures are tied together, our health is connected as well.
Parents and families deserve trustworthy information, easy access to care and leaders who will protect both.
Dr. Dolores J. Gunn is a practicing physician in St. Louis and Southern Illinois. She also serves on the Deaconess Foundation board of trustees.