Montgomery County's kindergarten vaccination rate remains above the level needed to prevent measles outbreaks, but a statewide analysis shows hundreds of Maryland schools do not meet that bar.

The county's overall MMR vaccination rate stood at 96.5% for the 2025-26 school year, according to Montgomery Community Media. Montgomery County had zero active measles cases as of Sept. 25, according to Dr. Kisha Davis, the county's health officer.

A Banner analysis of Maryland Department of Health data, first reported Wednesday, Oct. 7, found that 248 of the state's 1,154 schools enrolling kindergartners had measles vaccination rates below 95%. That is the level public health officials consider necessary for herd immunity. Nearly 80 of those schools fell below 90%, where epidemiologists say outbreak risk rises sharply.

Most Maryland counties had at least one school below the 95% mark, The Banner found. The report did not name specific Montgomery County schools.

That gap matters for Potomac families. A countywide average can mask individual schools where rates dip lower, even in a high-performing district.

At a county briefing in August, as reported by WTOP, Davis said the county's high vaccination rates had kept outbreaks from gaining a foothold. She attributed the lack of local spread to strong immunization coverage across the county.

Statewide, the picture is less reassuring. Maryland has recorded 55 measles cases in 2026, a modern record, compared to five or fewer each year over the past decade, according to The Banner. State health officials have declined to say how many involved children.

Cases spiked over the summer. Fourteen were reported in a single day in August among unvaccinated households in St. Mary's, Carroll and Cecil counties. The Maryland Department of Health said as of Oct. 1 that it was responding to outbreaks in those three counties, with no evidence of widespread community transmission.

"Maryland looks good compared to a lot of states, but there are some of these pockets and gaps that are more concerning," Shaun Truelove, an infectious-disease epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, told The Banner.

Private schools were more likely than public schools to fall below the 95% threshold, the analysis found. Maryland law requires vaccination by kindergarten entry at all schools, but parents can claim a religious exemption with only a signature on a single form. The rate of kindergarten vaccine exemptions statewide rose to 2.5% in 2025-26, up from 2.2% the prior year, with most filed on religious grounds, according to Maryland Department of Health data reported by WTOP.

Neighboring Pennsylvania has reported 943 confirmed measles cases and five deaths this year, according to Maryland Matters. Less than 1% of those cases involved vaccinated people.

The Banner's data comes from vaccination rates schools reported in November 2025. The state does not verify those figures. Schools report updated rates to local health departments each November.