WASHINGTON (AP) – Most Americans say their children should be vaccinated to attend school. But like Florida is planning The first state to eliminate childhood vaccine ordersUS adults are also unlikely to think that these vaccinations are more important than they were decades ago.
Routine Vaccine rates are declining in childhoodand fewer Americans, particularly Republicans — now say it’s extremely important for children to get vaccinated. Polls show that concerns about individual liberty and government impact are prominent for a relatively small but influential group of Americans opposed to childhood vaccines.
Childhood vaccines prevent 4 million deaths worldwide each year. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States. And they don’t just protect individuals. They create “swarm immunity” in their communities. This is when enough people are immunized to stop the uncontrolled spread of the disease. Keep everyone safe by preventing outbreaks that can make vulnerable people sick.
This is about recent research on childhood vaccine views and how they have changed.
Americans are widely supportive of vaccine orders
Florida’s move is a major departure from decades of public policy and research that has shown that vaccines are safe and the most effective way to stop the spread of infectious diseases.
They also oppose mainstream public opinion about vaccine requirements, but some polls suggest that US adults are less likely to accept vaccine orders than they did decades ago.
Approximately 8 out of 10 adults in the US Harvard/SSRS Votes Starting in March, parents said they would need to be vaccinated against preventable diseases such as measles, mumps and rubella to attend schools, including the Democrats and Republican majority. Approximately 7 out of 10 adults in the US New York Times/Ipsos poll He said healthy children need to be vaccinated because of risk to others.
Gallup votes for 2024 But they discovered a narrower division, and about half of US adults said the government should ask all parents to offset infectious diseases like measles, but less than half said the government should go out.
That was a dramatic change since 1991, with another poll showing that 81% of Americans said the government should need vaccinations as children.
Republicans are unlikely to consider vaccines important
The declines in support of childhood vaccination requirements are driven primarily by Republicans. A 2024 Gallup poll found that 60% of most Republicans were opposed to the government’s vaccine order.
At the same time, Republicans are unlikely to consider the vaccine as important. In the Gallup survey, only about a quarter of Republicans said it was “very important” for parents to vaccinate their children, compared to about six of the 10 Democrats.
The two parties began to diverge on issues prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the gap has widened significantly after 2019, where Republicans are far more likely to dismiss the importance of childhood vaccinations.
What more than half of Americans were “very” or “very” concerns were that people who chose not to offset their children with childhood illnesses would lead to increased infectious disease outbreaks. AP-NORC votes starting in JanuaryBut Democrats were more concerned than Republicans and independents.
Many have heard false claims about vaccine risks
Just as prominent figures like Kennedy refuse to admit the scientific consensus that childhood vaccines do not cause autism; April KFF vote Approximately six in 10 adults in the US have shown that they have heard or read false claims that the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines, also known as MMR vaccines, are proven to cause autism in children.
According to KFF, about a third have heard the false claims that taking the measles vaccine is more dangerous than getting measles.
Around 5% of US adults think that each claim is “undoubtedly true,” but polls have been found, each one is “undoubtedly false,” and a considerable number believe that it expresses uncertainty.
Opposing the vaccine mandate may be more about choice than safety
However, another poll suggests that concerns about parental rights may play a greater role than concerns about safety.
A Harvard/SSRS poll in March found that of those who don’t support the requirements for everyday childhood vaccines, about eight in 10 said the “primary reason” for the opposite should be the choice of parents, whether or not they are vaccinated by their children.
Many 40% of vaccine opponents said safety concerns were a major reason.
