Support for Childhood Vaccines: One Thing Most Americans Still Agree On
PLUS: RFK Jr. Recommends the Measles Vaccine—While Undermining It
I’m David Higgins, a pediatrician and public health physician who researches vaccine communication and delivery. This newsletter shares clear science, smart policy, and meaningful conversations—because the health of our communities depends on all three.
What You Need to Know This Week
There’s no such thing as a quiet week in public health and vaccines lately, and this one was no exception. Before we get into what the pandemic did (and didn’t) do to parental vaccine attitudes, here are several headlines you should know from this week and why they matter:
Measles Update & RFK Jr. Recommends the Measles Vaccine
Measles in the U.S. continues to spread, with new cases and outbreaks every week. As of 4/12/25, there have been at least 712 confirmed cases (climbing daily), and 97% of these have been in unvaccinated individuals or those with unknown vaccination status.
The incredible science communicators at
, who I am lucky to collaborate with often, put together a great situation report here:
Amid these growing outbreaks, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services said in a CBS News interview last week that people should get the measles vaccine. He’s 100% right—and I’m glad he said it. I hope he says it more because there are people who look to him for health advice.
But here’s why I’m not exactly jumping for joy:
Watch the extended interview; it took significant prodding from the host just to get that recommendation. For perspective, we’re talking about the most fundamental public health guidance from the nation’s top health official. It’s the lowest bar imaginable—and it barely got cleared.
He has continued to promote falsehoods, including saying during the same CBS News interview that, “We don’t know the risks of many of these [vaccine] products because they’re not safety tested” and later in the week, he told Fox News it is “very hard to tell” whether recent measles deaths could have been avoided with vaccinations. He’s also praised Texas doctors who promote ineffective treatments—including one who, according to the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense, treated patients while infected and likely contagious with measles.
Over the past two months, RFK Jr. has steadily eroded public trust in vaccines—not just with rhetoric but with policy. Under his leadership, HHS has slashed immunization funding, promoted unproven treatments during outbreaks, halted vaccine campaigns, forced out trusted experts, revived discredited autism claims, and laid off a quarter of the federal public health workforce.
Health leaders can ignore science, but eventually, their policies will meet infectious diseases that won’t.
We Will Know the Cause of Autism by September.
RFK Jr. pledged to discover the reasons for autism, saying, “By September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic and we’ll be able to eliminate those exposures.” I applaud good-faith efforts to understand better the epidemiology and potential factors that contribute to autism. But there are so many problems with this. His proclamation ignores decades of research showing that autism is a complex neurodevelopmental condition influenced by genetics, early brain development, and possibly non-vaccine environmental factors—and it sets the stage to revive long-debunked myths that vaccines cause autism. Science doesn’t work by setting deadlines for definitive answers about complex issues—unless you’ve already decided what answer you want.
*A quick side note on my criticism of HHS and RFK Jr.’s policies
A colleague recently warned me that critiquing HHS or RFK Jr.’s policies might seem “too political.” I understand the concern. I wrote about this here several months ago here. I want to be very clear: this isn’t about partisan politics; it’s about protecting the health of my patients, neighbors, and communities. If any federal health leader, regardless of who appointed them, made these same actions, I’d speak out just as loudly. These are dangerous policies, and lives are at stake.
What the Pandemic Did (and Didn’t) Do to Parental Vaccine Attitudes
Routine childhood vaccination in the U.S. has taken center stage amid growing uncertainty and sweeping changes in public health leadership and policy. But in all the noise, one crucial truth often gets overlooked:
There is still broad, enduring support for childhood vaccines.
Despite headlines focused on growing hesitancy, the everyday norm is still this: parents vaccinating their children.
As pediatricians, we see it daily; regardless of political views, the vast majority of parents choose to protect their kids with routine vaccines. “Tens of Thousands of Parents Vaccinate Their Kids Today” won’t make the headlines, but it’s what’s happening across the country every day.
Five years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the media narrative around childhood vaccine hesitancy has grown louder, bleaker, and, at times, less accurate. The truth? Based on national data, there has not been a significant surge in overall vaccine hesitancy among U.S. parents.
What the Data Actually Show
In our new article in Academic Pediatrics this week, my coauthors and I reviewed recent data on how the pandemic shaped U.S. parental attitudes toward routine childhood vaccines. The results challenge some popular assumptions while highlighting very real and urgent concerns.
Across multiple national and state-level studies (1, 2, 3), including our own, there’s no evidence of a sharp national increase in the percentage of vaccine-hesitant parents. In fact, most parents remain confident in the benefits and effectiveness of childhood vaccines. Opinion polling (which has its limitations that I won’t get into here, but maybe another time) suggests this as well. For instance, Pew Research found in 2023 that 88% of parents say routine vaccines like MMR are important, unchanged since 2016. Some data even suggest that vaccine hesitancy may have plateaued from late 2023 to 2024 (Annenberg Public Policy Center). More recent data from KFF showed that large shares of the public continue to express positive attitudes toward childhood vaccines.
This should be encouraging. Trust in childhood vaccines is actually remarkably resilient.
But the Full Picture Is More Nuanced
While national confidence remains strong, there are important shifts that deserve attention:
Hesitancy has risen among specific sociodemographic subgroups, especially parents with lower income or education (4)
Trust in vaccine information has declined, even among those who follow the schedule (5)
Hesitancy is higher for some vaccines, like COVID-19 and flu (6)
Exemptions for school-required vaccines are increasing, albeit by a small amount (7)
There is a growing partisan divide in vaccine attitudes, with more Republicans reporting hesitancy than in prior years. (8)
Partisan Divide? Yes. Total Breakdown? No.
Yes, there is a widening political divide around childhood vaccines. But that’s not the full story.
While polls show a widening divide in attitudes toward childhood vaccines by party affiliation, they also reveal a striking consensus – a majority of people in both major political parties still agree on the importance of childhood vaccines. For instance, a Pew Research poll found that 86% of Republicans and 92% of Democrats agreed that the benefits of routine childhood vaccines, such as the MMR vaccine, outweigh the risks. Similarly, a more recent survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that a majority of Americans, regardless of political affiliation, continue to support school vaccination requirements.
While culture wars rage, it’s worth remembering that most parents still believe in vaccines. That’s why it’s so important to keep vaccination conversations grounded in trust and evidence, not partisan politics.
School Exemptions Are Rising — But It’s Not All Hesitancy
Another trend that’s drawn attention is the rise in school vaccine exemptions. Between the 2019–20 and 2023–24 school years, kindergarten vaccine exemptions rose by 0.8%. That sounds small, but it’s still concerning.
What’s often overlooked is why some parents opt out. The CDC did a survey last year and found:
38% of parents cited “personal or philosophical beliefs”
27% said it was for “medical reasons”
23% reported difficulty meeting school deadlines
In other words, while personal or philosophical beliefs drive many school exemptions, don’t ignore significant access and logistical barriers to vaccinating kids in the U.S.
Perception vs. Reality
Perhaps the most dangerous trend is the perception that hesitancy has skyrocketed—especially when amplified by headlines and social media. As we wrote in NEJM last year, this misperception can be harmful in several ways:
Create a self-fulfilling prophecy that spreads doubt, even among parents who were previously on board
Weaken health professional confidence, making conversations harder
And when policymakers misattribute low vaccination rates in marginalized communities to hesitancy rather than access, they risk undermining equity efforts and leaving vulnerable children unprotected.
Of course, negative shifts in vaccine attitudes that result in fewer vaccinations are a serious problem to address. But we should be careful not to exaggerate the problem because vaccination is still the norm—that’s what we should be reinforcing.
What We Need Now
The current federal administration has taken a sharp turn away from efforts to address vaccine hesitancy. This is not the moment to turn away. It’s the moment to double down. As an editorial in Nature said this month, “The scientific community must take a strong and active stand against vaccine revisionism — the false narrative that there is insufficient evidence to support the safety and efficacy of vaccines.” What we need now is:
Strong, coordinated messaging from trusted messengers like health professionals and community leaders
Use of empathy and transparency when addressing vaccine concerns
Timely and accessible rebuttals to false narratives about vaccine safety and efficacy
Support for local health officials to protect policies that promote vaccination and push back against anti-vaccine rhetoric
Ongoing research on vaccine hesitancy and strategies to improve vaccine uptake
Vaccines remain one of modern medicine’s greatest achievements. Now more than ever, we need leadership—and communication—that reflects that truth. The vast majority of American parents still believe in vaccines, support them, and vaccinate their kids. That’s not the exception—it’s the norm.
Thanks for being part of this community. Let’s keep pushing for truth, compassion, and science that saves lives—together.
-David
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Community Immunity is a newsletter dedicated to vaccines, policy, and public health, offering clear science and meaningful conversations for health professionals, science communicators, policymakers, and anyone who wants to stay informed. This newsletter is free for everyone, and I want it to be a conversation, not just a broadcast. I’d love to hear your feedback, questions, and topic suggestions—let me know what’s on your mind! And if you find this valuable, please help spread the word!
“If any HHS Secretary, regardless of who appointed them, made these same actions, I’d speak out just as loudly. These are dangerous policies, and lives are at stake.”
Thank you for saying this! We physicians WISH politics didn’t play a role in our profession, but it’s either naive or ignorant to think otherwise. We took an oath to “do no harm”, and when a Regime does nothing but lay out policies that we know WILL cause harm, we MUST speak out.