Background The use of vaccines is among the most cost-effective tools for preventing infectious diseases and their complications. However, poor uptake and increasing exemption to routine childhood vaccination have been linked with outbreaks of infectious diseases such as measles, pertussis, and more recently poliomyelitis in the US. The objective of the study is to determine the prevalence, pattern, and predisposing factors of vaccine exemptions to childhood immunization amongst parents of children in the Northeast Region from 2017 to 2021. Methods The routine immunization data of children between 1-24 months in the Northeast region, Tennessee from 2017- 2021 was extracted. Based on the population of children within the birth cohort, a random sample of children was selected from birth certificates of children born in the first three months of 2 years prior in Tennessee’s eight counties in the Northeast region. Descriptive statistics with trends, Chi-square, and logistic regression were conducted to delineate factors associated with vaccine exemption in the region. Result The prevalence of vaccine exemption was 2% on average, but the vaccine exemption rate increased significantly from 1.5% in 2019 (pre-COVID pandemic) to 2.5% in 2020 (peri-COVID period). However, the mother’s level of education (aOR=2.37; CI=0.55-10.17), mother’s age (aOR=0.59; CI=0.14-2.51), TennCare attendance (aOR=0.57; CI=0.15-2.21) do not show statistically significant association with exemption to childhood vaccination in Northeast region in Tennessee. Conclusion There appears to be an increasing trend in the vaccine exemption to routine childhood immunizations in the Northeast region of Tennessee over the years. However, the impact of other factors associated with exemptions to childhood vaccinations needs further research.

In 2012, 48,277 cases of pertussis were diagnosed in the United States. Pertussis, otherwise known as whooping cough, is a highly contagious, often debilitating, sometimes deadly, vaccine-preventable disease with an increasing incidence and death rate in the U.S, which may be due to vaccine exemptions. The purpose of this project was to determine if a relationship exists between immunization policies and immunization exemption rates, immunization exemption rates and pertussis rates, and immunization policies and pertussis rates in each state. Bronfenbrenner's bio-ecological framework was used to guide the project. Publically available data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), schools of public health, state health departments, and public health officials were retrieved for this cross-sectional, ecological comparison study. Spearman's r product-moment correlation coefficient was used to investigate the relationship between the variables. States with lenient vaccine laws had higher exemption rates (r = .359, p < .01), and states with higher exemption rates had higher pertussis rates (r = .470, p < .01). Finally, states with lenient vaccine laws had higher pertussis rates (r = .111, p = 0.439). This project should be added to the literature used to inform and educate the public as well as influence policy makers. As a result of this study, arguments for eliminating non-medical vaccine exemptions should be strengthened. As policies are changed, social change should follow in the form of decreased immunization exemption rates and decreased pertussis rates.