COVID Vaccine Hesitancy Reducing Childhood Vaccinations, Study Shows

Medical Express ^ | Dennis Thompson | Dennis Thompson

[nickcarraway]

Hesitancy over the COVID-19 vaccine is leading some parents to skip important vaccinations for their children.

Young children of parents who declined the COVID vaccine are about 25% less likely to get the standard measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) vaccine, researchers reported in a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health.

Public health officials are worried that a decline in vaccine coverage will cause an increase in highly contagious childhood diseases like measles.

Last year, 16 measles outbreaks were reported, compared with four outbreaks reported in 2023, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

"In the United States, we are experiencing a concerning resurgence of childhood vaccine-preventable diseases," researcher Dr. Ben Rader, a computational epidemiologist with Boston Children's Hospital, said in a news release.

"Our research suggests that COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy has fueled increasing MMR vaccine hesitancy, leaving children more vulnerable to highly contagious and life-threatening illnesses like measles," he added.

For the study, researchers analyzed responses from nearly 20,000 parents of children younger than 5 to a digital health survey conducted from July 2023 to April 2024.

Children of parents who got at least one COVID jab had higher MMR vaccination rates—nearly 81%, compared to just under 61% for children of unvaccinated parents, researchers found.

Politics also played a role in childhood vaccinations. Republican parents were 27% less likely to have their kids get the MMR vaccine than Democratic parents.

"Our research highlights the link between parental characteristics and MMR vaccine uptake, showing how pandemic-related hesitancy may affect other routine vaccines," lead researcher Eric Zhou, a pediatrics instructor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, said in a news release.

Overall, MMR vaccination rates were higher in the Midwest and Northeast than in the South or West.

Parents on Medicare or Medicaid were about 15% less likely to have their kids get the MMR jab than parents with private insurance, results show.

"Addressing these disparities, through equitable access and fostering trust and transparency in vaccine safety, is key to protecting children from preventable diseases like measles," Zhou concludes.

More information: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on measles outbreaks.

Eric Geng Zhou et al, Parental Factors Associated With Measles–Mumps–Rubella Vaccination in US Children Younger Than 5 Years, American Journal of Public Health (2025). DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2024.307912

Journal information: American Journal of Public Health

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

The problem is not that you lied to me but that now I can no longer trust you.

[ransomnote]

In the General/Chat forum, on a thread titled COVID Vaccine Hesitancy Reducing Childhood Vaccinations, Study Shows, where's_the_Outrage? wrote:

The vax got me questioning. My daughter is 11 and the Human papillomavirus (HPV) is recommended, but from what I’ve read it seems like BS. If I’ve raised her right and she is not sexually active I don’t see the need.

I don't trust any vaccines right now because Fauci said that the mRNA platform was 'so successful' that all vaccines would be based on that technology going forward. I don't believe they'd tell us which old style vaxxes are now mRNA. Kennedy Jr  will likely change that.

I checked the HPV vaccines in VAERS and the one currently administered, HPV9 / HPV (GARDASIL 9),  doesn't look too good to me because of the stats. I indicated to the database I wanted a count of all reports to VAERS for the current HPV vax after said vaccination which included an ER visit, hospitalization or death. The 'unknown' means no date was recorded for the vaccinated patient. Note that an estimated 1% of actual adverse reaction events post Vax are ever reported to VAERS.

Watching all those lying about how the Covid gene therapy 'saved' them from illness made me realize they base their information on either nothing or 'fake math.' So we don't really have an idea if the vax protects at all, the medical community is still lying about the 'protection' from the Covid vax, and in the instance of Covid, no one is really admitting that Covid vax decreases fertility etc.

I think 11 is too young to risk her health - perhaps you could wait until Kennedy Jr. does some house cleaning and the medical community figures out how they can actually provide true, useful information to the public..

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Hep B, WuFlu, HPV and Mpox are all vaccines that should not be necessary for babies.

And Dengue? There might be a couple of states where that might possibly be necessary but for the most part, unnecessary.

DTaP yes, IPV yes, MMR yes.

[HYPOCRACY]

That’s criminal and insane.

[lurk]

What kind of people are still getting poked today? And what kind of people would get their kids poked?

[1ScrappyArmyMom]

Not going to let them near my future grand baby. Nope.
We’re done with the demanding shot schedule.
I’m think a lot of conservative parents are revolting against the shots.

[1ScrappyArmyMom]

That’s what my son and his future wife believe.
Some shots, but spread out.
Nothing COVID or mRNA related.

[RightOnTheBorder]

The medical profession as a whole destroyed any credibility they once had getting in bed with the government. It makes perfect sense that parents don’t trust any of them.

[Maskot]

Wow! Ya think?? These people cannot be trusted

[SoConPubbie]

No, mistrust of the medical industry is reducing vaccinations by the public.

Nothing else.

[T.B. Yoits]

[Governor Dinwiddie]

I had all three of those diseases. I don't remember anything horrible other than a couple days
off from school. I was born before the polio vaccine, and I'm glad I eventually got that one.
Kids were scared of having to be put into an iron lung. It appeared to be a medieval torture
device.

[CTyank]

“Last year, 16 measles outbreaks were reported, compared with four outbreaks reported in 2023, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”

What was the outcome for all the kids that got the measles?

Did they recover - just like we all did before there was a vaccine?

[metmom]

There’s a move in the right direction.

Watch the autism rate start to decline.

It’s one thing to get a life saving vaccine, like rabies, small pox, tetanus, etc, but far too many of these are NOT needed as the risk of contracting the disease is slim to none. Or at the very least, low enough that the side effects of the vaccines are not worth it.

[Disambiguator]

Good! Why do we need vaccinations with healthy eating and antibiotics ?

Antibiotics are only useful for bacterial infections.

That being said, there are plenty of remedies out there for both bacterial infections and other illnesses that are supposedly caused by viruses.

[metmom]

Actually, they’ll do better because even if they start to have a more serious case and start to develop complications or secondary infections, medical care is LIGHT YEARS ahead of what it was when I was a kid and had the measles.

We now have anti-biotics, anti-virals, and anti-inflammatories to dela with them.

[No name given]

If we have antibiotics and healthy diets, there’s no need for vaccines at all.

[Vendome]

+1

[Vendome]

Jail FauXi, his peers and acolytes and it would go a long way to beginning a phase of trust

[Persevero]

Well
Who could have seen that coming.

I am sceptical of all vaccines now. I never used to be.