Kindergartners across the country were granted exemptions to required vaccines at a higher rate last school year than pre-pandemic numbers.

Vaccine exemptions among the nation's kindergartners are trending upward, with 2.6% being granted exemptions for the 2021-22 school year, according to the latest data, compared to 2.2% in the 2020-21 school year.

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That increase is exemplary of a longer trend upward for the past decade, where 1.6% of kindergartners were granted exemptions in the 2011-12 school year and last year's data nearly matched pre-pandemic exemptions.

Vaccines tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data are not for COVID-19, but rather the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine, as well as polio, hepatitis B, and varicella — the virus that causes chickenpox.

States vary with granting vaccine exemptions as well, where Virginia saw 1.8% exemptions in 2022, up from 1% in 2012, and Idaho jumped from 5.4% to 9.8% in the same time frame.

Oregon started in 2012 with a 5.9% vaccination exemption rate and hit its peak in 2018-19 at 7.7%. The Beaver State dropped back down to 5.4% in the middle of the pandemic but spiked back to 7% the following year.

The vast majority of requested exemptions are for nonmedical reasons, according to the CDC.

While the coronavirus vaccine is not a required shot for children anywhere in the U.S. to attend public school, the continued trend upward for exemptions could be fueled in part by growing skepticism of that vaccine in particular.

Trust in childhood vaccines has dropped fairly significantly since before the pandemic, a Pew Research Center report found in May.

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Whereas 82% of people supported vaccine requirements for healthy children in 2019, only 70% do today. Similarly, parents who believe they should be able to decide whether or not to vaccinate their children, as opposed to a school mandate, is up 12% from 2019, reaching 28%.

The skepticism is driven by Republicans, Pew found, where 79% supported vaccine requirements in 2019 compared to 57% now. Democrats have remained steady in support at 85%.