Vaccinations Essential To A Healthy America

Falling vaccination rates will mean a sicker American population paying higher bills for care, more child deaths from preventable diseases, and more children suffering unnecessary life-long disabilities.
“Fewer Americans today consider childhood vaccines important, with 40% saying it is extremely important for parents to have their children vaccinated, down from 58% in 2019 and 64% in 2001,” Jeffrey M. Jones of Gallup writes.
Those who said childhood vaccines were extremely or very important have dropped from 94% in 2001 to 69% today.
While Gallup’s poll did not look at the impact of the internet and its ability to spread conspiracy theories, it seems no small coincidence this significant decline in the trust of childhood vaccines has followed the rise of the internet.
It was in 1998, just as the internet was getting going, that Dr. Andrew Wakefield published an article in The Lancet, a British medical journal, tying vaccinations to autism. His research was eventually found to be fabricated, and he lost his medical degree. But the damage was done. His lies had a life of their own on the internet and persist today.
Twelve percent of parents now say it is not very or not all important that they get their children vaccinated, up from just 1 percent in 2001.
“Vaccines have transformed our lives in remarkable ways,” Maggie Boese, the Disease Prevention and Control Program coordinator for Countryside Public Health, says.  “Unlike in the past, when families often had many children to ensure some would survive to adulthood, today we benefit from the protection vaccines provide.
“Diseases that once had the potential to decimate entire populations are now preventable through vaccination. This is a testament to our progress in science and technology, and it’s a point of pride for our nation,” she writes. Countryside, like Horizon Public Health, promotes childhood vaccinations as we head into a new school year.
While science and disease research has improved our vaccines and the speed at which they can be researched and approved, there is a growing portion of the public that is increasingly skeptical. Their skepticism will have an impact on everyone – in lost lives, unnecessary permanent disability, and expense to taxpayers.
“Among children born during 1994–2023, routine childhood vaccinations will have prevented approximately 508 million cases of illness, 32 million hospitalizations, and 1,129,000 deaths, resulting in direct savings of $540 billion and societal savings of $2.7 trillion,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated in a study released last week.
Back in 2001, 64% of Americans thought it was very important to get their children vaccinated. That percentage has now dropped to 40%. However, there is a stark difference based on political party.
Much of rural America in the past decade has become more conservative and aligned with the Republican Party. Unfortunately, vaccinations have become a political test of party purity for some.
This resistance to vaccinations grew considerably during the COVID-19 pandemic between late 2020 and midway through 2022. It spurred resistance to many vaccines, including those that protect children.
“The declining belief in the importance of vaccines is essentially confined to Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, as the views of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents have changed little over the past 24 years,” Jones writes for Gallup.
In 2001, 94% of parents said it was extremely or very important to get their children vaccinated. That percentage fell to 84% in 2015 and stayed there through 2019. But the COVID-19 pandemic and the deep divisions over the vaccine showed up in the 2024 survey with only 69% now saying it is extremely or very important to get their children vaccinated.
However, among Democrats and those who lean Democrat there has been only a small drop off in those who say childhood vaccines are extremely important. It was 66% in 2001 and is at 63% today.
Among Republicans and those who lean Republican, the percentage has plummeted from 62% in 2001 to 26% today. It was 52% in 2019 but was halved following the COVID-19 pandemic.
At one time, people willingly complied with state laws on vaccinating children. However, a growing number of families are claiming religious or other exemptions in their refusal to get their children vaccinated.
“Consistent with the decline in the perceived importance of vaccines, Americans are now much less likely than in the past to say the government should require children to be vaccinated against contagious diseases such as measles,” Gallup’s poll found.
Only 36% of Republicans support the government’s authority to require vaccines, and 60% oppose them. Among Democrats, 72% supported the government requiring vaccines in 2019, but that number only slipped to 69% this year.
Gallup’s poll found that the percentage of people who believe that “vaccines are more dangerous than the diseases they are designed to prevent” has increased to 20% from 6% in 2001. Only 5% of Democrats believe this while 31% of Republicans do.
Rural areas have become increasingly Republican, which means their children are increasingly unlikely to get vaccinated. We can’t let political affiliation dictate our concern about our children’s health. The science behind our vaccines is sound, based on research, and rigorous trials before approved. We have a long record of their effectiveness.
The decline in childhood vaccinations means kids who have immune deficiency issues are at greater risk; it means that diseases like measles that had been eradicated in the U.S. are making a return; it means more hospitalizations for kids, missed work for parents, and home budgets stretched to pay the bills.
Falling vaccination rates are a warning for public health officials. We can’t wait until the next pandemic to educate the public on the safety of vaccines and encourage people to get vaccinated. Parents must be shown the necessity of getting their children vaccinated. It is going to take a concerted public education process to convince the anti-vaxxers that vaccines are safe and critical to children’s health today and in the coming years.