What polls show about Americans’ views on childhood vaccine mandates

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Americans say kids should be vaccinated to attend school. But as Florida plans to become the first state to eliminate childhood vaccine mandates, U.S. adults are also less likely to think these immunizations are important than they were several decades ago.

Routine childhood vaccine rates are falling, and fewer Americans – particularly Republicans – now say it’s extremely important for children to get vaccinated. Polling indicates that for the relatively small but influential group of Americans who oppose childhood vaccines, concerns about personal freedom and government influence are prominent.

Childhood vaccines prevent 4 million deaths worldwide each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And they don’t just protect individuals; they create “herd immunity” in a community. This is when enough people have immunity to stop the uncontrolled spread of a disease. It keeps everyone safe by preventing outbreaks that can sicken the vulnerable.

Here’s what recent surveys show about views on childhood vaccines, and how they’ve shifted.

Americans broadly support vaccine mandates

Florida’s move is a significant departure from decades of public policy and research that has shown vaccines to be safe and the most effective way to stop the spread of communicable diseases.

It also runs largely counter to mainstream public opinion about vaccine requirements, although some polling suggests that U.S. adults are less likely to embrace vaccine mandates than they were several decades ago.

About 8 in 10 U.S. adults in a Harvard/SSRS poll from March said parents should be required to have children vaccinated against preventable diseases like measles, mumps, and rubella to attend school, including majorities of Democrats and Republicans. And about 7 in 10 U.S. adults in a New York Times/Ipsos poll said healthy children should be required to be vaccinated because of the risk to others.

A 2024 Gallup poll found a narrower split, though, with about half of U.S. adults saying the government should require all parents to have their children vaccinated against contagious diseases such as measles, while just under half said the government should stay out.

That’s a dramatic shift from 1991, when another poll found that 81% of Americans said the government should require childhood vaccinations.

Republicans less likely to see vaccines as important

The drop in support for childhood vaccination requirements is driven mostly by Republicans. The 2024 Gallup poll found that most Republicans, 60%, oppose government vaccine mandates.

At the same time, Republicans are also less likely to see vaccines as important. In the Gallup survey, only about one-quarter of Republicans said it was “extremely important” for parents to get their children vaccinated, compared to about 6 in 10 Democrats.

The two parties began to diverge on the issue before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the gap widened substantially after 2019, when Republicans became much more likely to dismiss the importance of childhood vaccinations.

Slightly more than half of Americans were “extremely” or “very” concerned that more people choosing to not vaccinate their children against childhood diseases would lead to more outbreaks of infectious diseases, according to an AP-NORC poll from January, but Democrats were more concerned than Republicans or independents.

Many have heard false claims about the risks of vaccines

As prominent figures like Kennedy refuse to acknowledge the scientific consensus that childhood vaccines don’t cause autism, an April KFF poll shows that about 6 in 10 U.S. adults have heard or read the false claim that the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines, also known as the MMR vaccines, have been proven to cause autism in children.

About one-third have heard the false claim that getting the measles vaccine is more dangerous than becoming infected with measles, according to KFF.

Very few U.S. adults – around 5% – think each claim is “definitely true,” the poll found, but less than half say each is “definitely false,” with significant numbers expressing uncertainty.

Vaccine mandate opposition may be more about choice than safety

Another poll, though, suggests that concerns about parental rights may be playing a larger role than worries about safety.

The Harvard/SSRS poll from March found that among those who do not support routine childhood vaccine requirements, about 8 in 10 said a “major reason” for that opposition was that it should be the parents’ choice whether or not to vaccinate their child.

Many fewer vaccine opposers, 40%, said concerns about safety were a major reason.