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Idaho Has Lowest Vaccination Rate, Highest Exemption Rate in the Country
The vaccination rate for kindergarteners in Idaho is the lowest in the whole country, while the exemption rate is the highest, according to a report released by the CDC.
Nationwide, vaccination coverage dipped by a tenth of a percent for both the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine and the DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis) vaccine. Both sit at about 92 percent nationally.
In Idaho, however, MMR and DTaP vaccination rates for kindergartners are at 75%, 10% lower than any other state for the MMR shot, well below the 95% recommendation aimed at preventing outbreaks. Exemptions are also rising. Nationally, exemptions have reached an all-time high of more than 4 percent. In Idaho, the exemption rate is up to a record 17.5 percent.
Comparing Idaho’s 2025-2026 numbers with the 2019-2020 school year, the MMR and DTaP vaccination rates dropped 14%. The exemption rate rose 10 percent, from 7.5% to 17.5% in those same six years.
TikTok Agrees to $400 Million US Children’s Privacy Settlement
TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance on Friday agreed to a $400-million settlement to resolve the U.S. Justice Department’s allegations the short-video app violated children’s online privacy.
The Justice Department sued TikTok and ByteDance in 2024 for allegedly failing to protect children’s privacy, and illegally collecting their information. The defendants were accused of violating a law requiring online services aimed at children to obtain parental consent to collect personal information from users under age 13.
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said the Justice Department’s priority “is ensuring that children are protected online and that companies entrusted with their personal information meet their legal obligations.” TikTok did not immediately comment.
Study Finds That Obesity in Adolescence May Be More Reversible Than Previously Thought
Obesity doesn’t look the same at age 15 as it does at age 45, and Duke University School of Medicine researchers are learning why. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation showed teenagers retain a degree of metabolic flexibility that’s largely lost in adulthood. The study suggests that the way teenage bodies respond to excess weight is fundamentally different and potentially more reversible.
By showing that obesity’s biology changes with age, the discovery points to a potential window when the metabolic damage linked to obesity can be halted or even reversed before it becomes a lasting health burden. “For a long time, medicine has tended to treat adolescents as little adults,” said John Rawls, Ph.D., a professor of molecular genetics and microbiology and member of the Duke Microbiome Center.
“But teenagers are still growing, building muscle and bone, and using energy in ways that are very different from adults. We wanted to understand how those differences shape obesity.” Nearly 1 in 5 U.S. children has obesity, a condition associated with a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, asthma and some cancers later in life.
Youth Type 2 Diabetes Cases in Colorado Have Risen Nearly 10-Fold Since 2002
Type 2 diabetes has traditionally been a disease that has affected mostly middle-aged and older adults. But new research from the U.S. to be presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Milan, Italy (Sept. 28–Oct. 2) shows a sharp increase in the rate of new cases of type 2 diabetes since the turn of the century, which has continued to accelerate in recent years.
The study is by Dr. Tessa Crume of the Colorado School of Public Health in Aurora, Colorado, and colleagues.
Youth-onset type 1 and type 2 diabetes incidence has increased steadily in the U.S. for several decades, resulting in a significant burden of diabetes-related morbidity and mortality. In this new study, the authors examined long-term trends in youth-onset type 1 and type 2 diabetes in Colorado between 2002 and 2023.
New Zealand to Introduce Bill for Under-16s Social Media Ban
New Zealand is to introduce a bill seeking to ban under-16s from using social media.
Under the latest proposals, platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook, will have to take steps to check users are over 16 and platforms that fail to meet their obligations could face fines of up to 10% of their global revenue.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said social media was exposing children to “harmful content, addictive technology and pressures they are not equipped to deal with”. But several political parties have said they will vote against the bill.
The move follows a similar ban in Australia, while countries including the UK and Greece are set to introduce restrictions next year. Luxon said social media was affecting children’s family life, mental health, sleep and education. “We have protections to keep children safe in the real world and we need them in the virtual world too,” he said.
