More Arizona children are dying from preventable diseases

December 2, 2025

By Morgan Fisher

Read the full story on Phoenix New Times

Good news, everyone! Fewer children are dying in Arizona! 

Small, infuriating caveat, though: More children are dying from infectious diseases that vaccines might have prevented.

That’s the revelation from this year’s Child Fatality Report, which is issued each year by the Arizona Department of Health Services. In 2024, 791 children died in Arizona, a rate of 47.2 per 100,000 kids. Both numbers are dips from 2023, when Arizona saw 853 juvenile deaths for a rate of 51.1 per 100,000. It marks the third straight year that the childhood fatality rate has dropped.

Prominent causes of death include motor vehicle crashes, firearms and suffocation. But in a country whose largest health agencies are now overseen by an anti-vaccine crusader, another cause of death catches the eye. Last year, 109 children died from infectious diseases, a jump from 93 the year before.