Do 80% of Americans Believe in the Right to Refuse Vaccines?
Have you seen the poll that says 80% of Americans believe in the right to refuse vaccines?
Are you surprised?
Do 80% of Americans Believe in the Right to Refuse Vaccines?
You shouldn’t be…
Remember, as much as anti-vaccine influencers like to talk about forced vaccinations, everyone in the United States already has the right to refuse vaccines.
Mandates do not equal forced vaccinations!
Anyway, the poll they are talking about is a Zogby poll that was commissioned by Health Freedom Defense Fund & Brownstone Institute (known to promote anti-vaccine misinformation) in which they conducted a nationwide interactive survey of 1,000 likely voters.
See the first problem?
A lot of people question the reliability of these types of online polls from Zogby.
But you can judge for yourself - just look at the questions in the poll!
Most people who are fully vaccinated would likely agree with the above statements!
Even the question about RFK Jr doing addition research seems pretty benign.
Unless you knew what kind of ‘safety research’ RFK Jr was doing, you would just think more is better!
They were basically leading questions to get the ‘right’ answers for the poll that Health Freedom Defense Fund & Brownstone Institute commissioned.
And Zogby left out questions that they have used in other vaccine polls that would not have fit the narrative that they were going for here…
Now, do you want to really now what Americans believe about vaccines?
What Do Americans Really Believe About Vaccines?
A recent Pew Research Center survey, How Do Americans View Childhood Vaccines, Vaccine Research and Policy?, found that:
A majority of Americans are highly confident that childhood vaccines are effective at preventing serious illness.
A majority of Americans say these vaccines protect both vaccinated children and the wider community
A majority of Americans are extremely or very confident that childhood vaccines have gotten enough safety testing or that the vaccine schedule is safe
Overwhelming majorities say the benefits of the MMR vaccine outweigh the risks.
The majority agree with the idea that healthy children should be required to be vaccinated to attend public schools because of the potential risk for others.
Very few believe that parents should be able to decide not to vaccinate their children, even if that may create health risks for others.
Funny that Aaron Siri didn’t mention any of that in his post about the Zogby vaccine poll…
Nor did he mention this other recent poll by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the de Beaumont Foundation which found that “most U.S. adults (79%) say parents should be required to have children vaccinated against preventable diseases like measles, mumps, and rubella to attend school.”
“Among the 79% who support routine childhood vaccine requirements, the vast majority cite vaccine effectiveness (90%) and family responsibilities to keep schools safe (87%) as major reasons.”
Poll: Amid multi-state measles outbreak, 79% of Americans support routine childhood vaccine requirements
That poll also found that:
91% of the public believes that vaccines for childhood preventable diseases are safe for most children
Those who support requirements also commonly say that major reasons are that they think diseases like measles will come back if vaccines are no longer required (84%)
vaccine requirements are important to protect children who cannot get vaccinated for medical reasons (81%)
routine vaccines have been proven safe because they are well-tested (80%) and have been around so long (76%)
Oh, and it found that only 5% believe that vaccines are not very safe.
What does that tell you?
It tells you that anti-vaccine influencers are part of a very small, but very vocal, minority of people who think that vaccines are bad.
And it tells you that the great majority of people still understand that vaccines are safe, with few risks, necessary, and they work well to protect our kids from life-threatening vaccine-preventable diseases.
Just look at the public opinion polls!
In another recent poll, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and Lake Research Partners, they round that:
74% of American voters believe the U.S. should prioritize ensuring FDA-approved vaccines are widely available for everyone.
81% of voters say it is important for the U.S. to remain a leader in developing new vaccines.
Nearly 70% of respondents expressed concern over declining vaccination rates among children.
No surprise that Aaron Siri didn’t mention any of this either…
More on Vaccine Polls
About Those 1 in 3 Parents Not Planning On Getting Their Kids Flu Shots…
The antimask antivax Brownstone Institute is still ranting about COVID-19 “censorship”
How Do Americans View Childhood Vaccines, Vaccine Research and Policy?
Understanding Public Attitudes Towards Vaccination in 1941: Lessons from a Historic Opinion Poll
I believe they should be mandatory in public schools to protect the public at large. I appreciate your information and am canceling because I am 84 and a retired RN. I cannot keep up anymore with all the information.