And not among the people who you might think. Vaccination rates in Medicare -- which serves low income families -- continued to steadily improve.
The people behind the report, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), think a possible cause of the drop in vaccinations is due to their parents believing they could cause autism.
Who's to blame for this? The NCQA points the finger at celebrities like Jenny McCarthy, Jim Carrey and Holly Robinson Peete, who have been outspoken believers of the unproven, but increasingly popular theory.
McCarthy has been particularly anti-vaccinations. The actress appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2007 to discuss her son's autism, which she feels was caused by common vaccines he received as a baby.
Since then she has released three best-selling books about autism and the vaccine connection and made the rounds on countless morning shows, talking about her controversial stance.
Despite dozens of scientific studies that show no link between autism and vaccines and the endorsement of vaccines from another celebrity (in 2008, actress Amanda Peete spoke out in favor of childhood vaccines -- but apparently not loud enough), the stubborn myth still remains.
"The drop in childhood vaccinations is disturbing because parents are rejecting valuable treatment based on misinformation, said NCQA President Margaret E. O'Kane.
"All of us in health care need to work together to get better information to the public.
Or maybe they need to get Oprah on their side.
