Survey Finds One In Six Parents Skip Childhood Vaccines

A new poll reveals 16% of parents are skipping or delaying childhood vaccines for diseases beyond COVID-19 and flu. Homeschooling parents lead this trend at 46%, followed by very religious parents at 36%. Republican parents are twice as likely as others to delay shots, with 22% avoiding vaccines compared to 12% overall. White parents skip vaccines at nearly 4 times the rate of Asian Americans, 19% versus 5% respectively. Current kindergarten vaccination rates dropped to 92.5% for measles, mumps, rubella and polio, down from 95% in 2019-20. Health experts recommend 95% coverage to prevent disease outbreaks. Among parents delaying vaccines, 67% cite side effect concerns as a major reason, while 53% lack trust in vaccine safety. (Story URL)