With the height of the vaccination season nearly behind us, The Pew Research Center offers some assurance to those concerned about contact with non-vaccinated citizens.
Pew undertook a large-size study following news stories about a measles outbreak in the U.S., and found that the vast public majority — 83 percent —says vaccines for diseases such as measles, mumps and rubella are safe for healthy children. Meantime, less than 9 percent said such vaccines weren't safe. Another 7 percent were undecided.
The study revealed that Republicans are slightly more inclined toward vaccination than Democrats (89 percent vs. 87 percent) and that the majority of those opposed to it were in lower income brackets. White people are more supportive than people of color — but again every demographics represented in the survey was strongly supportive.
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Here are some just-for-fun facts from the survey asking whether vaccines for basic diseases are safe for healthy children:
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92 percent of college graduates believe vaccines are safe;
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85 percent with some college but not a degree say they are safe;
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77 percent with a high school degree but no coursework beyond that say they are safe;
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90 percent of those 50 years old and older say they are safe;
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81 percent of those 30-49 agree they are safe;
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77 percent of adults 18-29 support vaccines;
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More women (85 percent) than men (81 percent) say they are safe;
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80 percent of those who are a parent or guardian of a child under 18 say the vaccines are safe;
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85 percent of those who are not parents of children under 18 say the vaccines are safe.
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87 percent of whites say they are safe vs. 77 percent of non-whites.
"Those who paid at least some attention to news about measles and vaccinations were more likely to say vaccines for MMR are safe for healthy children," Pew said.
Those who didn't follow the debate ranked the safety aspect much lower.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
