Measles, exemptions and your immunization records: a fall checklist

Measles is back in the news, and Oregon has one of the highest kindergarten vaccine exemption rates in the country. You can't control either. You can control whether your immunization records, exclusion plan and required notices are in order before the next case shows up in your county.

The numbers

Nationally, CDC counted 38 new measles outbreaks in 2026 through September 10, and 95% of this year's cases were linked to outbreaks.¹ Kindergarten MMR coverage fell to 92.4% in the 2025–26 school year, from 95.2% in 2019–20. Exemptions rose in 41 states and DC, and about 280,000 kindergartners nationwide didn't have documented MMR vaccination.²

In Oregon, 11.0% of kindergartners had at least one exemption in 2025–26, the third-highest rate among states after Idaho and Utah, and 89.6% had documented MMR.³ Oregon also recorded 1,552 pertussis (whooping cough) cases in 2025, which the Oregon Health Authority called the highest number in 75 years.⁴ By early August, the state had confirmed 45 measles cases in 2026, compared with 31 in all of 2024 and one in 2025.⁵

Kindergarten numbers are the best statewide measure available, and the children in your preschool rooms are the same families a year or two earlier.

What Oregon requires of certified centers

Oregon's school and child care immunization law applies to certified child care centers. OHA's handbook for facilities sums up the job as five tasks:⁶

1. Collect records Keep a completed Certificate of Immunization Status (CIS) form for every child. A child starting care needs at least one dose of each vaccine required for their age, or a documented exemption, before they begin attending.
2. Review them Check whether children are due for vaccines as they age, and follow up with families.
3. Submit annual reports Send Immunization Reports to your local health department. For 2026–27, OHA lists due dates of January 13, 2027 and March 8, 2027.⁷
4. Enforce Exclusion Day The fourth Wednesday in February (it was February 25 in 2026). Children who received an exclusion order and still don't have updated records can't attend until they do.⁴⁶
5. Share your numbers Post your facility's immunization and exemption rates, along with your county's, if your adjusted enrollment is 10 or more.

Exemptions

A nonmedical exemption in Oregon takes two documents: a Vaccine Education Certificate completed within 12 months of handing it in, and a completed CIS form. A medical exemption is signed by a physician or the local health department and reviewed by the local health department.⁶ Exemptions are a family's legal right, and your job is to have the paperwork, not to judge the choice.

If there's a case

Two rules decide what happens:

• If a child, staff member or volunteer has a restrictable disease (measles is one⁹), a certified center must immediately report it to the local health department, follow the health department's recommendations on exclusion and readmission, and post a notice for all parents.⁸
• During a case of disease, the health department may send home children who are susceptible to it. A child with an exemption counts as susceptible to any disease they aren't vaccinated against and don't have documented immunity to.⁶

That second rule is why an accurate exemption list matters. When the health department calls, you need to be able to say within minutes which children in which rooms lack MMR, and how to reach their families.