Most Americans in a new poll said they probably won’t get an updated COVID-19 vaccine.
The Pew Research Center survey found 60 percent said they are “probably not” going to “get an updated vaccine.” Just less than 25 percent said they “probably” will get a booster, and 15 percent said they have already received the latest shot.
It has been more than four years since the U.S. began dealing with COVID-19, with the spread of the virus causing mass shutdowns within multiple industries and people around the world being forced to stay in their homes.
Those in the survey who had hesitancy around the updated vaccine were asked which “major” concerns could prompt them to skip the latest dose. Roughly 60 percent cited issues around side effects, 61 percent said they don’t think they need it, and 5 percent said the cost was a factor in their decision to avoid the shot.
The data comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended those who are older than 65 or are immunocompromised to consider a second dose of the latest vaccine. --->READ MORE HERE
Routine vaccination rates for kindergarten children continue to decline in the U.S., while exemptions from school vaccination requirements, particularly non-medical exemptions, have increased. These trends began with the COVID-19 pandemic (Figure 1) and appear to be related to increasing vaccine hesitancy, fueled in part by vaccine misinformation. Furthermore, public opinion on vaccine requirements has become increasingly partisan. This policy watch provides an update on the latest trends in children’s routine vaccination and exemption rates.
Whether and how these trends are affected by the change in Presidential administration remains to be seen. While states and local jurisdictions, not the federal government, set vaccine requirements for school children, the federal government has a long-standing, evidence-based system for approving and recommending vaccines for the public, including the childhood vaccination schedule, which is used by states, pediatricians, and parents. President Trump has supported anti-vaccination attitudes and shared vaccine misinformation. On the campaign trail, he vowed to “stop all COVID mandates” and said he would cut federal funding to schools with a “vaccine mandate or a mask mandate.” Trump also announced he will be nominating RFK Jr., the former independent candidate for president who has a long record of opposing immunizations and spreading vaccine misinformation, to run the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). If the Trump administration chooses to question or reject vaccine evidence, seeks to change the current system for recommending vaccines, or otherwise pressures states to make different decisions, it could further drive down vaccination rates among children.
What are recent trends in kindergarten children’s routine vaccination rates?
The share of kindergarten children up to date on their vaccinations continues to decline. Data collected and aggregated annually by the CDC from state and local immunization programs found that less than 93% of kindergarteners had been vaccinated with all state required vaccines, including MMR, DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis), polio, and varicella in the 2023-2024 school year, down from 95% in the 2019-2020 (pre-pandemic) school year, and below coverage levels of the past decade. In all four school years since the pandemic began, the MMR vaccination rate has fallen below the Healthy People 2030 “target” rate of 95%, the level needed to prevent community transmission of measles, a highly contagious and life-threatening virus. This means approximately 280,000 school children were unvaccinated and unprotected against measles, and research shows the more unvaccinated children in a school, the larger risk of an outbreak becomes. While noting that widespread measles transmission risk remains low, the CDC reported as of November 7, 2024 that there have been 16 measles outbreaks in 2024 compared with four outbreaks in 2023. --->READ MORE HEREFollow links below to relevant/related stories and resources:
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