Survey: Americans Still Positive on Childhood Vaccines

A New Pew Research Center survey found that Americans' belief in the benefits of childhood vaccines has remained steady over the past four years with the vast majority saying that the benefits outweigh the risks. This vote of confidence was surprising given the overall negative view of the safety and efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines.

The Pew Research Center survey found a large gap between higher public confidence in childhood vaccines and lower ratings of COVID-19 shots. Fewer than half of U.S. adults consider the preventive health benefits of coronavirus vaccines to be high and a majority found the risk of side effects from them to be at least medium. The majority of those polled agreed with the statement "we really don't know if there are serious health risks from the COVID-19 vaccines."

But this lack of confidence does not appear to have spilled over to hesitancy for traditional childhood vaccines, like the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot. According to Forbes, the poll conducted March 13 through 19 this year surveyed nearly 11,000 U.S. adults. Around nine in ten Americans say the benefits of childhood vaccines such as MMR outweigh the risks. Less than two-thirds surveyed say the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccination outweighs the risk.

Pew pollsters did find that the proportion of Americans who believe children should be vaccinated in order to attend public school dropped since the pandemic. Now, only 70% support the requirements, down from 82% in previous polls conducted in 2016 and 2019.

Apparently, the primary force driving this last trend was a shift in Republican thinking with around 57% polled now supporting school vaccine requirements down from 79% four years ago. Pew pollsters found no meaningful change among Democrats.

Vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic sparked fears among health organizations like the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that previously contained childhood diseases like measles would have a comeback, especially given the disruption of the pandemic on routine vaccine scheduling. However, evidence, including this latest poll, suggests that growing vaccine hesitancy may not have translated into a dip in getting traditional childhood vaccinations.

For example, the Pew survey found that 88% of Americans say the benefits of childhood vaccines for MMR outweigh the risks, compared with just 10% who believe the risks outweigh the benefits. That percentage of Americans expressing confidence in vaccines is identical to the percentage who said this in 2019, before the coronavirus outbreak.