Survey reveals growing American distrust in vaccines for COVID, other infectious diseases

TallGuyJohninBKK · September 1

August 30, 2024

A growing proportion of Americans believe COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and are unwilling to be vaccinated or to recommend it to others, according to the latest national health survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

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False beliefs proliferate

As of July, 28% of survey respondents mistakenly believed that COVID-19 vaccines have caused thousands of deaths, up from 22% in June 2021, while the proportion who know this is untrue fell from 66% to 55% over the same period. Twenty-two percent of Americans believe the falsity that it's less risky to get infected with COVID-19 than to get the vaccine, more than double the 10% with the belief in the months following the 2021 vaccine rollout. The proportion of respondents who mistakenly think that COVID-19 vaccines change human DNA reached 15%, nearly double the 8% who believed it in 2021.

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The skepticism extends to other vaccines as well, with 32% unsure of the effectiveness of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine aimed at young people, 23% uncertain about the pneumonia vaccine, 19% doubting the shingles vaccine, and 47% unsure about the RSV vaccine during pregnancy or at age 60 and older (37%).

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https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/survey-reveals-growing-american-distrust-vaccines-covid-other-infectious-diseases

COVID-19 Misinformation & Vaccine Perceptions
Perceptions of Vaccine Safety and Efficacy

"Vaccines are one of the great success stories of public health. Vaccination has eliminated or nearly eliminated some diseases (e.g., smallpox and polio). For others, such as COVID-19, it has significantly decreased the number of people experiencing severe illness, hospitalization, and death because of infection.

Unfortunately, recent years have seen declines in Americans’ perceptions that a variety of vaccines are safe and effective (see Figure 5). Although most respondents still report these vaccines as safe (65-81%) and effective (61-83%), respondents surveyed showed significant declines in perceptions of safety for MMR and COVID-19 vaccines, and in perceptions of efficacy for MMR, seasonal flu, and pneumonia vaccines.

COVID-19 Vaccine Perceived as Less Safe & Effective than Other Vaccines:

Our respondents consider MMR and seasonal flu vaccines, which have existed for decades, safer and more effective (75-83%) than the more recent COVID-19 vaccines (65-66%). Evidence from the CDC suggests that COVID-19 vaccines are actually more effective than flu vaccines. There has also been an increase in perceptions that the COVID-19 vaccines are very or somewhat unsafe (from 18% to 24%)."