Lower vaccination rates for children in states that still allow non-medical “philosophical belief” exemptions suggest that anti-vaccine “hotspots” may have formed around the country, researchers found.

Lower vaccination rates for children in states that still allow non-medical “philosophical belief” exemptions suggest that anti-vaccine “hotspots” may have formed around the country, researchers found.

In states that still allow non-medical exemptions, rates of personal belief exemptions were inversely correlated with kindergarteners’ rates of measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine coverage, reported Jacqueline K. Olive, of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and colleagues, in PLoS Medicine.