The FINANCIAL — With incidents on the rise for many diseases once considered dangers of the past, the subject of vaccinations has been a frequent topic of conversation in recent days. In fact, strong majorities of U.S. adults favor childhood vaccinations being mandatory for all children (77%), while seven in ten don’t think unvaccinated children should be allowed to attend either public or private schools (69%). What’s more, nine in ten feel it’s important that children be vaccinated (89%) and believe vaccinations should be provided for free to children whose families cannot afford them (90%), according to Harris Interactive Inc.
For the most part, Americans appear to support such vaccinations – indicating that they’re an important safeguard against diseases which might be brought into our country from abroad (91%), that they are very effective at preventing diseases (89%) and that non-vaccinated children can represent a public health risk (83%).
Americans also, by and large, recognize that there is at least a moderate danger that an unvaccinated child will contract a disease that vaccinations are designed to prevent (74%). They also recognize that a child contracting such a disease would present at least a moderate danger to other children in their proximity (64%) and such diseases represent at least a moderate danger to a child if they are, in fact, contracted (60%). That said, with only one in four U.S. adults (25%) seeing a great deal of danger in a child contracting a disease vaccinations are designed to prevent, it could be that our years of safety from these afflictions have allowed us to forget the threat such diseases represented before vaccinations for them were developed. What’s more, sizable minorities hold reservations about the safety of childhood vaccines, according to Harris Interactive Inc.
Vaccination concerns
While over three-fourths of U.S. adults (77%) believe childhood vaccines are either safe (34%) or very safe (43%), roughly two in ten (19%) believe they’re either only a little bit safe (14%) or not at all safe (5%). Perceived safety also decreases among younger generations, with each generation progressively less likely to see vaccines as safe or very safe than their elders (68% Millennials, 76% Gen Xers, 83% Baby Boomers, 92% Matures).
Looking specifically at one widely publicized – and widely discredited – fear about vaccines, one-third of Americans (34%) believe that some childhood vaccines have been linked to autism, according to Harris Interactive Inc.
Measles outbreaks on the rise
Just under half (46%) of Americans are aware that the CDC recently announced that measles outbreaks had reached their highest point since 2000, with considerable knowledge gaps observed: two-thirds of matures (68%) are aware of this, compared to 48% of Baby Boomers, 41% of Gen Xers, and 38% of Millennials.
Among those aware of the rise in Measles cases, seven in ten believe it either very (36%) or somewhat (35%) likely that declining vaccinations in the U.S. have contributed to the increase in Measles cases, while three in ten believe it’s either only a little likely (22%) or not at all likely (7%) that this is the case. Baby Boomers (78%) and Matures (84%) are significantly more inclined than Millennials (64%) or Gen Xers (62%) to see this connection as very or somewhat likely, Harris Interactive Inc.
Underestimating the need for “herd immunity”
Though seven in ten Americans (71%) disagree with the sentiment that, since most children get vaccinated, it’s alright if some parents choose not to vaccinate their children, the three in ten who do agree with this statement (29%) is alarming nonetheless as it overlooks the need to insulate those portions of the population ineligible for vaccines (such as infants and the immune-deprived). What’s more, with Millennials (38%) and Gen Xers (37%) are roughly twice as likely as Baby Boomers (19%) and Matures (14%) to agree with this sentiment, the perception that it is acceptable for some parents to choose not to vaccinate their children is likely to spread and increase, according to Harris Interactive Inc.
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