Among parents of children under 18, 35% oppose requiring these childhood vaccinations, up from 23% in 2019
Opposition to Covid-19 vaccination mandates, an attitude that has become increasingly political during the novel coronavirus pandemic, appears to have spread to required vaccinations for US school children, with many more adults now opposing them, according to new research.
Nearly three in 10 adults (28%) said parents should be able to decide not to vaccinate their children for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) in a recent Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) survey. That figure was up from 16% in a 2019 Pew Research Center poll conducted before the Covid-19 pandemic, KFF researchers said.
Among parents of children under 18, 35% oppose requiring these childhood vaccinations, up from 23% in 2019, according to the KFF.
“School vaccination mandates are a public health tool that works, are safe, and increase vaccination rates to keep entire communities safe,” said Dr. Adam Ratner, a pediatric infectious disease expert at New York University’s Grossman School of Medicine. who did not participate in the research. “We risk losing this tool if this trend continues.”
Most of those surveyed — 71 percent — still believe children should be vaccinated to attend public schools, the researchers said.
Growing anti-vaccination sentiment, often fueled by misinformation, has led to measles outbreaks in the US in recent years. Routine vaccination programs were also severely disrupted during the pandemic, health officials said.
A measles outbreak in central Ohio has now sickened at least 77 children, including 29 who were hospitalized. Most were either unvaccinated or had only received one of the two recommended doses of MMR vaccine, according to Columbus Public Health.
Measles is highly contagious and can cause serious complications such as brain damage and deafness, and can be fatal.
“All it really takes is a neighborhood or a city where the vaccination rate drops significantly and you can start to spread preventable diseases,” Ratner said.
Opposition to required childhood vaccinations was strongest among self-identified Republicans in the survey, with 44% now opposed to mandating childhood vaccinations in schools, up from 20% before the pandemic. Among those who identify as Democrats, 88% still support school vaccination mandates.
Although childhood immunization recommendations are made by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, school immunization requirements are determined by individual states.
Even with growing opposition to requiring childhood vaccinations for school attendance, 85% of adults surveyed – and 80% of parents – said they believed the benefits of MMR vaccines outweighed their risks.
The survey was conducted between Nov. 29 and Dec. 8, 2022, with interviews conducted online and by phone in English and Spanish, among a nationally representative sample of 1,259 American adults, KFF said.
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