SENATE HEALTH, HUMAN SERVICES AND SENIOR CITIZENS COMMITTEE

STATEMENT TO

SENATE RESOLUTION No. 127

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED:  MAY 19, 2025

      The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee reports favorably Senate Resolution No. 127.

      This resolution urges the citizens of the State of New Jersey to become vaccinated.  Once declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, measles has once again resurfaced in the country.  In 2024, there were a total of 285 reported cases of measles in the United States.  For 2025, the number of reported cases has reached 222 in the first three months alone and new cases continue to be reported every day.  New Jersey has had three reported cases in 2025.

      Declining vaccination rates across the country and in New Jersey have played a role in these outbreaks.  Ninety-four percent of the cases reported in 2025 were among children and adults who were not vaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown.  In 2024, the federal Centers for Disease Control declared that only 93 percent of kindergarteners had received their measles vaccination, falling two percent below the threshold needed for community immunity to prevent widespread transmission of the disease.  The rate of New Jersey kindergarteners meeting all vaccination requirements has decreased by 3.6 percent from the 2013-2014 school year to the 2023-2024 school year and the percentage of first-graders in New Jersey meeting all vaccination requirements experienced the biggest decrease within the same time period, falling by 7.5 percent.