A KFF poll finds strong cross-party support for established childhood vaccines, but deep political divisions over COVID-19 jabs and proposed changes to the US immunisation schedule.
A new KFF poll suggests that many American parents still trust the childhood vaccines that have been used for decades, even as political division and lingering misinformation continue to cloud views of COVID-19 shots and vaccine policy.
The survey, carried out from September 16 to 21 among 1,328 adults, found that at least three-quarters of respondents across party lines said they were very or somewhat confident that measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccines and polio vaccines are safe for children. Confidence was also relatively high for hepatitis B and flu vaccines, which KFF said points to durable support for the routine immunisation schedule despite the wider political atmosphere around vaccines.
That broad confidence breaks down sharply when the conversation turns to COVID-19. KFF said just half of adults were confident that COVID-19 vaccines are safe for children, but the gap between Democrats and Republicans was stark: 77% of Democrats said they were confident, compared with 21% of Republicans. Among parents, the pattern was similar, with support for COVID-19 vaccination much stronger on the left than on the right.
The poll also found limited public awareness of recent proposals to alter the childhood vaccine schedule. According to KFF, 59% of adults and parents said they had heard “not much” or “nothing at all” about the latest changes. The survey was conducted after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in August calling for changes to the schedule, including a reduction in the number of diseases covered by routine childhood vaccination and separate administration of the three components of the MMR vaccine. KFF said those proposed changes were still blocked in federal court when the report was published.
Public opinion on the possible effects of those changes was more sceptical than supportive. KFF found that 40% of adults expected the changes to have a negative effect on children’s health, while only 12% thought the outcome would be positive. A large share, 38%, said they were unsure. Parents were similarly unsettled, and views varied sharply by party affiliation, with Democrats and independents far more likely than Republicans to expect harm.
The poll also highlighted how persistent misconceptions continue to shape parental decision-making. Nearly half of parents said they believed children are healthier when vaccines are spaced out and multiple shots are avoided in one visit, even though KFF says there is no evidence that this approach is safer. Republicans were far more likely than Democrats to support spacing out vaccines, underscoring how deeply politicised the issue has become.
Confidence in COVID-19 vaccine safety during pregnancy has also fallen. KFF said 39% of adults were very or somewhat confident that the vaccines are safe for pregnant people, down from 53% in May 2022. Among women of reproductive age, confidence fell to 37% from 48% over the same period. The poll also found widespread uncertainty over claims that COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy raises the risk of miscarriage: 37% said the claim was probably true, while 44% said it was probably false, and only 8% called it definitely false. KFF said that researchers have consistently found the vaccines to be safe during pregnancy, but that many respondents remain stuck in what it described as a “malleable middle” of doubt and incomplete information.
The findings suggest that while the public remains broadly comfortable with long-established childhood vaccines, confidence weakens when the subject is politicised, less familiar or tied to contested claims. KFF’s polling dashboard has repeatedly shown that doctors and other healthcare providers remain the most trusted sources of health information, while confidence in government health agencies and officials is more divided. That gap, together with the influence of social media and persistent misinformation, appears to be shaping how parents weigh vaccine risks and benefits.
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
