Sarasota kindergarten vaccine rates plummet — and doctors fear speaking out

Editor’s Note: Vaccine rates are down in all 5 Florida counties, portending a crisis in children’s health due to the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases. This article is a preview of the issues doctors and parents statewide are facing.

As childhood vaccination rates plummet across the Suncoast and measles cases resurge nationwide, Sarasota County faces a critical threat to public health. Roughly 82% of kindergarteners in the public school system were fully immunized against the disease this year — well below herd immunity.

That’s roughly the same rate as in Gaines County, Texas, the epicenter of a measles outbreak that has killed two children and infected hundreds this year. And across all vaccine types for both public and private schools, Sarasota County’s kindergarten immunization rates have dropped to their lowest point in decades. 

Yet the medical professionals best suited to sound the alarm are largely silent. Doctors and public health leaders are unwilling to speak publicly, fearful of political retribution, online harassment and pressure from state officials and activists who have cast doubt on established science.

Among more than 20 pediatricians contacted by Suncoast Searchlight, only one agreed to speak on the record about the risks of measles and the importance of childhood vaccination. Others declined, citing a range of concerns — from professional risk to threats from anti-vaccine activists — that have made even routine public health messaging feel dangerous.

The silence extends beyond individual doctors. Sarasota Memorial’s physician group declined to state outright that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine is safe and effective. The Sarasota County Health Department also declined to grant an interview and, in a written response, did not offer any direct endorsement of childhood vaccination — even as measles cases rise nationwide.

More than 1,350 measles cases have been confirmed across 40 states, including Florida, so far this year. That’s a nearly five-fold increase from the 285 measles cases confirmed last year by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says 95% of the population must receive two doses of the MMR vaccine to prevent outbreaks of the disease.

Overall vaccination rates are even lower. 

A decade ago, about 92% of kindergarten students in Sarasota County public and private schools were fully immunized across all required vaccines. In 2025, the rate dropped just below 80%, according to the Florida Department of Health.

Statewide, kindergarten vaccination rates have also declined in recent years, but most counties remain ahead of Sarasota. About three-quarters reported higher immunization levels last school year — including nearby DeSoto at 91% and Manatee at 90%. The statewide rate was 89%.

The state allows exemptions from childhood vaccinations for medical reasons, such as an immunocompromised patient undergoing chemotherapy, or for religious reasons. For the latter, a parent must assert that vaccines conflict with their faith.

At Sarasota County Schools, a small share of kindergarteners had temporary medical exemptions last year, according to district data.

However, an estimated 10% to 15% of school-age children countywide have religious exemptions from vaccines, according to a report published in May by the Florida Department of Health. That’s among the highest rates of any county in Florida. Statewide, about 6% of children have religious exemptions and that number is rising every month, the report said.

Measles, which was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000, is once again part of the present. Of the cases confirmed this year, 92% occurred among unvaccinated people or people with unknown immunization status.

Scholars focusing on misinformation recommend a multi-pronged approach to counter false claims, from getting social media companies on board to relying on trusted sources of information to promote good science. The challenge has intensified as social media algorithms increasingly reward sensational content, and figures who reject established science, like Ladapo and Kennedy, enter into the highest levels of power.