A KFF ballot discovered dad and mom who believed a false declare about measles had been extra prone to skip or delay childhood vaccinations.
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The U.S. has now reported greater than 800 measles circumstances in 24 states. The overwhelming majority of circumstances — greater than 600 — are in Texas. Within the midst of the outbreak, a new ballot reveals how a lot misinformation persons are seeing about measles.
The excellent news is the overwhelming majority of individuals nonetheless have faith within the security of the measles vaccine, says Liz Hameldirector of public opinion and survey analysis at KFF, a nonprofit well being coverage analysis group which performed the ballot.
The unhealthy information: Individuals are being uncovered to loads of false claims about measles — and many do not know what to make of it.
“What we’ve got seen is that a big share of persons are at the least considerably unsure about the way to consider that misinformation,” Hamel says.
The survey was performed earlier in April and included a nationally consultant pattern of 1,380 adults. Pollsters requested respondents about three false claims: that the measles vaccine is extra harmful than getting the illness; that the vaccine causes autism in kids, and that vitamin A can stop a measles an infection. None of these items are true.
Solely 5 p.c of adults polled stated they thought these falsehoods had been undoubtedly true, and a a lot bigger share of respondents stated they had been “in all probability false” — however they weren’t utterly assured that these had been falsehoods. Hamel says that reveals there’s a big group of individuals on the market whose views on measles have room for uncertainty.
And a big proportion leaned towards saying these false claims about measles are in all probability true. For instance, 1 in 4 adults polled stated vitamin A both in all probability or undoubtedly prevents measles. And 19% believed it was in all probability or undoubtedly true that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is extra harmful than getting contaminated with measles.
The ballot additionally discovered a transparent political divide.
“We see that Republicans are more likely than Democrats to lean in direction of believing this misinformation about measles,” Hamel says. “And that is true amongst dad and mom as nicely.”
Most dad and mom within the ballot stated they do preserve their kids updated on their really helpful vaccines.
However amongst dad and mom who stated that at the least one in every of these false claims was in all probability or undoubtedly true, 1 in 4 stated they’d both skipped or delayed some really helpful vaccines for his or her youngsters.
“These dad and mom are greater than twice as prone to say that they’ve delayed or skipped some vaccines for his or her kids in comparison with dad and mom who do not imagine any of these claims,” Hamel says, including, “I feel this is without doubt one of the extra regarding findings from the ballot.”
Hamel says one large takeaway is that in a world the place persons are bombarded with well being data — and misinformation — on every kind of media platforms, they do not at all times know the way to consider what they’re listening to or studying or who to belief.
Edited by Jane Greenhalgh
