Reuters/Ipsos poll: Trust in measles vaccines slips in U.S. as outbreaks hit 35-year high
By Jason Lange and Yasmeen Abutaleb
WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) — Americans' confidence in vaccines for deadly childhood diseases such as measles has eroded in recent years, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, a warning sign for a country now battling its worst measles outbreaks in decades.
The four-day survey, completed Monday, found that a bipartisan majority still supports vaccinating children against measles. The disease had largely vanished from the United States for more than two decades before vaccination rates slipped and outbreaks returned in recent years.
About 76% of Americans said the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is safe for children, down from 84% in a May 2020 Reuters/Ipsos poll. The decline in trust was especially pronounced among Republicans, as some in the party have minimized the importance of vaccines.
The results underscore the challenge facing public health officials as once-fringe vaccine skepticism becomes more visible in mainstream politics and begins to complicate efforts to contain a highly preventable disease.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in August that calls for reducing the number of immunizations on the federal childhood vaccination schedule from 17 to 11. His top health official, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was a longtime anti-vaccine activist before Trump named him health secretary. In that role, Kennedy has pushed to overhaul U.S. vaccine policy and reduce the number of shots given to children.
Worst outbreak in 35 years
Pennsylvania, Utah and South Carolina are confronting measles outbreaks this year. Pennsylvania has announced three measles-related deaths in recent weeks. Nationwide, more than 3,000 confirmed infections have been recorded this year, the most in 35 years.
Measles can cause fever, rash and respiratory problems. It is highly contagious but easily prevented with the MMR combination vaccine, a routine childhood shot that is 97% effective after two doses. Children typically receive it at 12 to 15 months and again at 4 to 6 years.
Average U.S. vaccination coverage among kindergarten children fell last year to 92.5%, according to CDC data. That is below the 95% level experts say is needed for so-called herd immunity, which helps protect people who cannot be vaccinated.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll found that just 19% of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the measles outbreak, while 52% disapprove. The rest said they had no view or did not answer.
A once-unthinkable milestone
Trump has rarely spoken about the measles outbreak, even as the United States is widely expected to lose its measles elimination status later this year. Outbreaks that began last year have led to sustained transmission, a once-unthinkable milestone for a country that had prided itself on eradicating the disease more than two decades ago through high vaccination rates.
Registered voters in the Reuters/Ipsos survey favored Democrats over Republicans, 45% to 25%, when asked which party has a better approach to stopping infectious diseases such as measles.
That could be worrying for some Republicans as the party tries to keep control of Congress in the Nov. 3 midterm elections, though vaccines and disease are far from voters' top concerns. About 31% of voters said they were very worried about measles outbreaks, compared with 58% who said the same about the cost of living.
After Pennsylvania announced two measles-related deaths last month, Kennedy repeated the false claim that the MMR vaccine contains aborted fetus debris and questioned whether measles played a role in the deaths. Pennsylvania announced a third measles-related death this week.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online nationwide and gathered responses from 1,143 U.S. adults. It had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
(Reporting by Jason Lange and Yasmeen Abutaleb in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and Bill Berkrot)