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Vast Majority of Americans Say Benefits of Childhood Vaccines Outweigh Risks
Older Americans see public health improvements; more in younger groups see decline over past two decades
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- Vast Majority of Americans Say Benefits of Childhood Vaccines Outweigh Risks
- Most Americans support a school-based vaccine requirement
- Parents of young children rate the risk of childhood vaccines higher and the benefits lower
- Most Americans say medical scientists should have a major policy role on vaccine issues
- Most Americans support requirement for vaccines; those under 50 are more likely to say parents should be able to decide
- Most Americans say vaccines should be required for schoolchildren; a larger share of conservatives say parents should be able to decide
- Americans use of conventional and alternative medicine varies
- Most Americans say vaccines should be required for schoolchildren; a larger share of those who have tried alternative medicine say parents should decide
- Parents of younger children and blacks see lower health benefits and higher risk of side effects from childhood vaccines
- Most Americans say benefits of childhood vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella outweigh risk, especially people with high science knowledge
- Roughly half of Americans express strong trust in medical scientists and their research on childhood vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella
- People with high science knowledge are more trusting of medical scientists and their research
- Younger generations are more skeptical of medical scientists and their research on childhood vaccines
- Most Americans say medical scientists should have a major policy role on vaccine issues
- Older Americans see public health improvements; more in younger groups see decline over past two decades
- Majority say healthy eating habits, physical exercise are very important for improving lifelong health
- More than half of Americans say they hear news about how to prevent serious diseases at least weekly
- People who follow health news daily see more conflicting news stories on ways to reduce health risk
- Most Americans say conflicting news reports about how to prevent disease reflect improved understanding
- Most Americans say they exercise a few times a week or less; a minority exercise every day
- Majority of Americans believe they should be getting more physical exercise
- Non-smokers, regular exercisers and older adults see themselves as following a healthy lifestyle
- Those who live a very healthy lifestyle are more likely to have similarly oriented family and friends
- More Americans see access to jobs as a problem in their area than access to quality health care or K-12 education
- Majority of the public has seen a health care provider in the past year for an illness or medical condition
- Most people who saw a health care provider about an illness in past year felt listened to, cared about
- Two-in-ten adults report using alternative medicine instead of conventional, traditional treatment
- Education groups are about the same in their use of alternative medicine
- One-in-twelve Americans never take over-the-counter medications; others vary in their approach
- Those who never take over-the-counter medications are more likely to have tried alternative medicine as a replacement for conventional medicine
- Health care behaviors linked with use of conventional and alternative medicine
- Most people say they do their own research in addition to asking for the doctor’s advice
- Those who never take over-the-counter medications more likely to supplement health care provider advice
- National vaccination rates have been roughly steady since 2000
- 42% of Americans say they care a great deal about vaccine issues
- A majority see high preventive health benefits, low risk of side effects for the childhood MMR vaccine
- More Americans with high science knowledge, education and income say MMR vaccine benefits are high, risk of side effects is low
- Parents of young children, blacks rate benefits of the MMR vaccine lower, risks of side effects higher
- Fewer younger adults say benefits of the MMR vaccine outweigh risk
- Those who never take over-the-counter medications see more risk from the MMR vaccine
- Those who avoid over-the-counter medications are more inclined to say the risks of childhood vaccines outweigh the benefits
- Most Americans favor a school requirement for childhood vaccines
- Older adults strongly support school-based vaccine requirements
- Higher income adults slightly more likely than lower income to support school-based vaccine requirements
- Lower support among conservatives for school requirement of vaccines
- Lower support among conservatives for school requirement of vaccines
- Those who have used alternative medicine, or never take over-the-counter medications are less likely to say vaccination should be required
- A majority of Americans believe that almost all medical scientists agree childhood vaccines are safe
- Most Americans say medical scientists understand the health effects of the MMR vaccine very or fairly well
- Most Americans trust medical scientists for full and accurate information on childhood vaccines
- About half of Americans think the best available evidence influences vaccine research most of the time