Vaccinations: What do Americans think?
A recent survey published by the National Consumers League (NCL) shows that too many Americans are misinformed about vaccines and this is certainly a major contributing factor to the rise of vaccine preventable diseases, which not long ago, were essentially considered eradicated from the United States.
Photo credit: CDC/ Amanda Mills
On today’s airing of the Outbreak News This Week Radio Show, I had the opportunity to talk more about the results of the survey with the Vice-President, Health Policy with the National Consumer League, Rebecca Burkholder.
Some of the staggering numbers from the survey we discussed include:
33 percent of parents of children under the age of 18 and 29 percent of all adults continue to believe “vaccinations can cause autism.”
50 percent of parents are aware of the study that linked autism to childhood vaccinations, but only half of these parents are aware that the study has since been discredited and retracted.
More than 4 in 5 (82 percent) adults agree that vaccinations help reduce health care costs, and 72 percent are concerned about the drop in vaccination rates in the United States. However, 60 percent say they respect the decision of parents when choosing whether or not to vaccinate their children.
More people surveyed trust Web-based sources (37%) for information about vaccines over the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (32%).
A majority of adults (87%) and Parents (81%) support mandatory vaccinations for school-aged children.
To learn more about the work of the National Consumers League, check out their website
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Parents need to remember that many of the vaccine preventable diseases that we do not see in developed countries are only a plane ride away. It’s vital to protect children especially at their most vulnerable stages.
Polio is still endemic in parts of the world, pertussis has been responsible for killing infants in the U.S. and Measles has also been making a comeback and in some countries has been responsible for pediatric deaths among the unvaccinated. These diseases pose real threats to children who are unprotected by vaccines either due to age or immunocompromised medical conditions. For those with concerns and questions about vaccines, they need to check out reputable and scientifically accurate sources such as the CDC, the Immunization Action Coalition and Vaccinate Your Baby Mommy intuition is no equivalent for a medical degree.
MelodyRN- Founder of Nurses Who Vaccinate
Parents need to remember that many of the vaccine preventable diseases that we do not see in developed countries are only a plane ride away. It’s vital to protect children especially at their most vulnerable stages.
Polio is still endemic in parts of the world, pertussis has been responsible for killing infants in the U.S. and Measles has also been making a comeback and in some countries has been responsible for pediatric deaths among the unvaccinated. These diseases pose real threats to children who are unprotected by vaccines either due to age or immunocompromised medical conditions. For those with concerns and questions about vaccines, they need to check out reputable and scientifically accurate sources such as http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/, http://www.vaccineinformation.org/ and http://www.vaccinateyourbaby.org. Mommy intuition is no equivalent for a medical degree.
MelodyRN- Founder of Nurses Who Vaccinate http://www.nurseswhovaccinate.org