Opposition to US school vaccine mandates rose during Covid-19 pandemic: Survey

WASHINGTON -

Opposition to Covid-19 vaccine mandates

that became increasingly political during the pandemic appears to have spilled over to inoculations long required for school children in the United States, with many more adults now against them, according to a new survey.

Nearly three in 10 adults (28 per cent) 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 was up from 16 per cent in a 2019 Pew Research Centre poll conducted before the Covid-19 pandemic, KFF researchers said.

Among parents of children under age 18, 35 per cent oppose requiring those childhood vaccines, up from 23 per cent in 2019, KFF found.

“School vaccine mandates are a public health tool that works, is safe, and increases vaccination rates to keep whole communities safe,” said Dr David Ratner, a paediatric infectious diseases expert from New York University Grossman School of Medicine, who was not involved in the survey. “We’re at risk of losing that tool if this trend continues.”

Most of those surveyed - 71 per cent - still believe children should be vaccinated to attend public schools, the researchers reported.

Rising anti-vaccine sentiment,

often fuelled by misinformation

, has led to US outbreaks of once nearly eradicated measles in recent years. Routine immunisation programmes were also badly disrupted during the pandemic, health officials have said.

A measles outbreak in central Ohio has now sickened at least 77 children, including 29 who were hospitalised. Most were either unvaccinated or had received just one of two recommended doses of MMR vaccine, according to City of Columbus Public Health.

Measles is highly contagious and can cause serious complications including brain damage and deafness, and can be fatal.

“All you really need is one neighbourhood or town where the vaccination rate drops significantly, and you can have preventable diseases starting to spread,” Dr Ratner said.

Opposition to required childhood inoculations was strongest among those who identified as Republican in the survey, with 44 per cent now opposed to childhood school vaccine mandates, up from 20 per cent before the pandemic. Among those identifying as Democrats, 88 per cent still support school vaccine mandates.

Although childhood vaccine recommendations are made by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices, school immunisation requirements are set by individual states.

Even with the growing opposition to requiring childhood vaccination for attending school, 85 per cent of adults surveyed - and 80 per cent of those who are parents - said they believe the benefits of MMR vaccines outweigh their risk.

The survey was conducted between Nov 29 and Dec 8, 2022, online and by telephone in English and Spanish among a nationally representative sample of 1,259 US adults, KFF said. REUTERS