--- title: Almost One in 10 Americans Believe Vaccinations Are Unsafe description: The results of poll released Monday are "very discouraging" says one doctor canonical: https://time.com/3701543/measles-vaccines-poll-anti-vaxxers/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-09T20:46:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T17:57:27.000Z article:section: Health og:title: Here's How Many Americans Believe Vaccines Are Unsafe og:description: The results of poll released Monday are "very discouraging" says one doctor og:url: https://time.com/3701543/measles-vaccines-poll-anti-vaxxers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72d574357b555cac/6987789b3c1639079745105c/health-syringe-needle-6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock photos Health Syringe Needle og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How Many Americans Believe Vaccines Are Unsafe twitter:description: The results of poll released Monday are "very discouraging" says one doctor twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt72d574357b555cac/6987789b3c1639079745105c/health-syringe-needle-6.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Nearly One in Ten Americans Think Vaccines Are Unsafe > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ## Video: Science Cop: Chris Christie's Bad Vaccine Advice [Watch (HLS stream): Science Cop: Chris Christie's Bad Vaccine Advice](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bNqPpjwK.m3u8) (2:54)  _Published 2015-02-05. Chris Christie's bad advice on vaccines gets him in to trouble with TIME's Science Cop Jeffrey Kluger._ by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:57 PM UTCPublished: Feb 9, 2015 8:46 PM UTC  Elizabeth Renstrom—TIME by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:57 PM UTCPublished: Feb 9, 2015 8:46 PM UTC Almost one in 10 Americans believe vaccines for diseases including measles, mumps and rubella are not safe for healthy children, indicating a significant number of Americans have misconceptions about the danger of vaccinations. Skepticism with vaccines crosses party and demographic lines, according to the [Pew Research Center](http://www.people-press.org/2015/02/09/83-percent-say-measles-vaccine-is-safe-for-healthy-children/) study released Monday, with about 5% of Republicans and 9% of Democrats saying vaccines are unsafe, and 11% of men and 8% of women saying the same. Younger people, however, were significantly more likely to believe vaccines are unsafe, with 15% of Americans aged 18-29 saying vaccines aren’t safe, compared with just 4% of Americans over age 65. A total of 121 cases of the measles have been reported after a recent outbreak that began in Disneyland, California. The disease has now spread to 17 states and Washington D.C., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Doctors are blaming the outbreak on a large number of parents who believe vaccines can cause autism or other health complications, and therefore choose not to vaccinate their children. The results of the Pew study are “very discouraging,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist at the center for health security at the University of Pittsburgh, citing the near-total eradication of polio, smallpox and other deadly diseases by vaccines as evidence of vaccinations’ efficacy. “For people still to believe vaccines are unsafe—despite all the evidence—is really frustrating,” Adalja said. “It shows the task we have ahead of us will be very difficult.” If a large enough percentage of children don’t get vaccines, it leaves even children who do get vaccines at risk. Experts recommend that 92-95% of Americans get vaccinated against measles to reach “herd immunity” to protect everyone in a particular community, reports the Guardian. Current vaccination rates in the U.S. [hover around 91%](http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2015/02/06/384068229/measles-vaccination-rates-tanzania-does-better-than-u-s). A 1998 study claimed to show a link between autism and vaccines, but the study has long been discredited. Two decades of research have shown vaccines do not cause autism or other side effects in healthy children. The percentage of Americans who believe vaccines are unsafe does appear to be falling, however. [A 2011 poll](http://www.harrisinteractive.com/newsroom/pressreleases/tabid/446/mid/1506/articleid/674/ctl/readcustom%20default/default.aspx) showed that 18% of Americans believe that vaccines can cause autism. Director of political research at Pew Research Center Carroll Doherty said that many of the misconceptions about the safety of vaccines appear to come from ignorance of the science behind inoculations, particularly among those who aren’t aware of the recent outbreak. “People who haven’t been following this debate, they are very high in either saying they’re not safe, or they don’t know,” Doherty said. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Last I checked, Chris Christie isn't a doctor. So it's surprising that he's offering advice about vaccines. What isn't surprising is that the advice is so bad. [ MUSIC ] Asked about the 14 state outbreak of measles that has been linked to falling vaccination rates. Christy who prides himself on chin jutting certainty went all squishy urging balance between the concern for balance between the public health and a parent's right to choose. Not every vaccine is created equal, he said. And not every disease type is as great a public health threat as others. So which ones aren't public health threats? Polio, which used to paralyze and kill tens of thousands of American kids per year. Whooping Cough, which results in the hospitalization of half of the infants who contract it. Measles, which still kills nearly 150, 000 children worldwide each year, this isn't the first time Christie gave aid and comfort to the anti vaccine crowd. In 2009 he embraced the utterly debunked fallacy that vaccines cause autism, saying that he stands with parents who want to pick and choose vaccine. But as Christy surely knows, or should know, vaccines can't be taken cafeteria style. A community needs a vaccination rate of about 95 % to provide what's known as herd immunity. Protection from disease for the handful of people who can't be vaccinate for medical. Reasons. New Jersey is barely scrapping by with a 95. 3 % rate and some of its counties are below the safe threshold and after a media backlash the governor's spokesperson was quick to walk the statement back. But no sooner had Christie gone quite then Senator Rand Paul who is a doctor and should know better. Piped up. I've heard of many tragic cases of walking, talking normal children who wound up with profound mental disorders after vaccines. He's wrong too. As physicians who aren't politicians immediately responded. It's dangerous. There's some pandering happening. I don't know why he's saying this. The, the numbers don't bear that out. The science doesn't bear that out. I'd be curious what drove those comments. For now the misinformation campaign from the anti- science crowd shows no sign of ending. The only ones benefitting from this are the viruses themselves. America's kids meantime. 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