{"id":468872,"date":"2026-02-11T22:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T22:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/468872\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T22:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T22:00:09","slug":"percentage-of-americans-who-see-flu-and-measles-vaccines-as-safe-is-declining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/468872\/","title":{"rendered":"Percentage of Americans who see flu and measles vaccines as safe is declining"},"content":{"rendered":"

The number of Americans who see the vaccines<\/a> for Covid<\/a>, measles<\/a> and flu<\/a> as safe is falling, according to a new report from the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Annenberg Public Policy Center.<\/p>\n

A winter 2025 survey<\/a> of more than 1,600 U.S. adults found small but significant drops since a similar survey taken in 2024.<\/p>\n

The perceived safety of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine \u2013 which provides 97 percent protection from life-threatening measles following two doses \u2013 is down by three percent, with just 83 percent of respondents saying they believe it is safe.<\/p>\n

And, the proportion of people who believe the seasonal flu vaccine is safe has fallen from 83 percent in 2024 to 80 percent this year. There wasn\u2019t a significant drop for the Covid vaccine between 2024 and 2025, but that percentage has dropped markedly since 2022 – dropping from 73 percent to 65 percent.<\/p>\n

So, why is this happening? The researchers say they don\u2019t know yet \u2013 despite massive changes in U.S. vaccine policy.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The percentage of Americans who question the safety of vaccines for measles, flu and Covid is on the rise, according to a new survey (AP)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile most people continue to regard the flu and MMR vaccines as safe, it is concerning that we are seeing a decline in perceptions of safety over time,\u201d research analyst Laura Gibson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unclear whether changes in CDC recommendations during 2025 are impacting perceptions or whether the decline is a continuation of the ones we observed from 2022 to 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has changed a lot about public health in America<\/a> since confirming Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., appointing vaccine skeptics<\/a> to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s vaccine advisory panel and issuing guidance on child vaccines that doctors said was \u201cdangerous.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Kennedy \u2013 who has questioned the safety of vaccines<\/a> and was blasted for his statements promoting unproven measles treatments amid one of the largest outbreaks of the highly infectious diseases in recent years \u2013 told CBS News in January<\/a> that it may be a \u201cbetter thing\u201d if fewer children get a flu shot.<\/p>\n

Dr. C\u00e9line Gounder, a clinical associate professor at NYU Langone Health, later wrote<\/a> that Kennedy had misrepresented the science<\/a> he cited to the network.<\/p>\n

The Annenberg researchers cited Kennedy\u2019s \u201cunsupported or misleading\u201d claims about vaccines in their report, as well as federal health officials\u2019 \u201cvariety of seemingly contradictory positions on vaccines\u201d that \u201ccould undermine public trust and others in support of vaccination.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s be clear: Secretary Kennedy is not anti-vaccine \u2013 he is pro-safety, pro-transparency and pro-accountability,\u201d HHS Press Secretary Emily Hilliard told The Independent in an emailed statement on Wednesday. \u201cHis longstanding advocacy has focused on ensuring that vaccines and all medical interventions meet the highest standards of safety and are backed by gold standard science.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said that the secretary had been \u201cclear and consistent\u201d that vaccination remains the most effective way to prevent measles infections, and said the department is not limiting access to vaccines.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe highly credentialed doctors, scientists, and public health experts within ACIP are restoring credibility to public health by following evidence-based medicine, sound science and common sense, returning decision making power to the American people,\u201d said Hilliard.<\/p>\n

Vaccine hesitancy in America<\/a> was rising even before the Covid pandemic, but has been further fueled by misinformation<\/a> as it spreads rapidly on social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Recently, this hesitancy has been tied to surges of measles, flu<\/a> and other illnesses that have killed people in the U.S.: the young and the old.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur children are suffering needlessly,\u201d Dr. Paul Offit<\/a>, a professor of vaccinology at the University of Pennsylvania, said last year during the deadliest flu season for kids<\/a> since the CDC started tracking child deaths in 2004.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The survey\u2019s authors cited \u2018misleading\u2019 claims about vaccines made by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

This year, the threat continues.<\/p>\n

Levels of flu have been elevated to their highest in decades<\/a> and the U.S. is now seeing its largest outbreak of measles since 2000<\/a> in South Carolina.<\/p>\n

There have yet to be any measles deaths reported this year<\/a>, but there have been 12,000 deaths from flu so far<\/a>, including 60 kids.<\/p>\n

And, Covid hasn\u2019t gone anywhere, leading to hundreds of deaths in the U.S. every week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Experts have said getting vaccinated is the best way to prevent severe infection in all cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough a strong majority of Americans view the measles vaccine as safe relative to other vaccines,\u201d said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, \u201cthe fact that the number holding that view is below the 95 percent threshold required to achieve community immunity is worrisome.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The number of Americans who see the vaccines for Covid, measles and flu as safe is falling, according…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[191090,49,48,50363,48193,84,5041,46272,15019],"class_list":{"0":"post-468872","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-annenberg-public-policy-center","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-flu","12":"tag-flu-season","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-measles","15":"tag-safe","16":"tag-vaccines"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}