CNN
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Divisive views on Covid-19 vaccines have not shaken widely favorable views of routine childhood vaccinations, a new survey suggests.
Nearly nine in 10 adults in the US say the benefits of measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccines outweigh the risks, a ratio that hasn’t changed since before the COVID-19 pandemic. , according to data released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center.
Only about six in 10 adults say the same about covid-19 vaccines.
For MMR vaccines, most adults say the preventative health benefits are high and the risk of side effects is low. But for Covid-19 vaccines, most rate the health benefits as low and the risk level as medium to high.
The findings are based on responses from a representative sample of nearly 11,000 adults since mid-March, three years after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Vaccine reluctance may have increased during the pandemic, but it’s not a new phenomenon, experts say.
“We have seen it with other vaccines because they are new technology. Sometimes we see it because parents underestimate the number of diseases that actually exist that they should be concerned about. And the third way is when our vaccine messaging is mixed,” said Dr. Buddy Creech, professor of pediatric infectious diseases and director of the vaccine research program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Pew survey data shows that those who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19 have a less positive opinion of MMR vaccines overall, and there is a strong link between Covid-19 vaccination status and the likelihood of for a person to get a flu shot.
Still, the findings suggest that adults in the US “make important distinctions between vaccines.”
Even among adults who have not received the covid-19 vaccine, about three-quarters say that when it comes to MMR vaccines, the overall benefits outweigh the risks. About 70% of parents who did not receive the covid-19 vaccine said their child received the MMR vaccine.
There are some key distinctions between Covid-19 vaccines and MMR vaccines that could affect perceptions, Creech said.
Covid-19 vaccines were new and highly politicized, compared to the MMR vaccines that have been around for generations.
“We appreciate and recognize that many of the vaccines that are on the children’s schedule have been there for decades. Our grandparents got it, our parents got it, we got it. They have become part of the arsenal of ways that we can prevent disease,” he said.
The side effects of the Covid-19 vaccine were also more front and center.
“Once you get a measles shot, you’re good for the rest of your life and we don’t have to keep vaccinating you every year or every five years,” he said.
“For most adults, it has probably been decades since they received the MMR vaccine, or years since their child received one. And as the days go by, we don’t remember those feelings of pain (or other side effects) as much.”
Despite the continued reliance on MMR vaccines in general, there are some signs of concern, particularly around the requirements for children to get vaccinated to attend school.
An earlier report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that required vaccination coverage among kindergarten children dropped for the second year in a row. For those enrolled in the 2021-22 school year, measles coverage was the lowest in more than a decade.
Most adults still support school immunization requirements, but there has been a significant drop from 82% to 70% in the last four years, according to the Pew poll. The change was pushed mainly among Republicans, now with more than four in 10 saying parents should be able to decide whether to vaccinate their children.
the cdc suggests Children should receive their first dose of the MMR vaccine around one year of age. A further nine vaccinations are recommended before 15 months of age, with multiple doses required for many.
However, about half of parents with children under age 5 worry about whether all childhood immunizations are necessary.
“This kind of vaccine reluctance is a luxury we have in the West because these diseases, like measles and rubella, have been greatly reduced,” Creech said.
But it’s critical to meet parents where they are, including being able to explain the biology of the immune system and why concerns about overwhelming the immune system shouldn’t be a concern.
“The one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t really work,” he said. “We really have to listen to what the individual concerns are and be able to talk about that based on the data that we have and the experience that we had with those vaccines.”
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