• Posted January 24, 2025

COVID Vaccine Hesitancy Reducing Childhood Vaccinations

Hesitancy over the COVID-19 vaccine is leading some parents to skip important vaccinations for their children.

Young children of parents who declined the COVID vaccine are about 25% less likely to get the standard measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) vaccine, researchers reported in a new study published recently in the American Journal of Public Health.

Public health officials are worried that a decline in vaccine coverage will cause an increase in highly contagious childhood diseases like measles.

Last year, 16 measles outbreaks were reported, compared with four outbreaks reported in 2023, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“In the United States, we are experiencing a concerning resurgence of childhood vaccine-preventable diseases,” researcher Dr. Ben Rader, a computational epidemiologist with Boston Children’s Hospital, said in a news release.

“Our research suggests that COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy has fueled increasing MMR vaccine hesitancy, leaving children more vulnerable to highly contagious and life-threatening illnesses like measles,” he added.

For the study, researchers analyzed responses from nearly 20,000 parents of children younger than 5 to a digital health survey conducted from July 2023 to April 2024.

Children of parents who got at least one COVID jab had higher MMR vaccination rates -- nearly 81%, compared to just under 61% for children of unvaccinated parents, researchers found.

Politics also played a role in childhood vaccinations. Republican parents were 27% less likely to have their kids get the MMR vaccine than Democratic parents.

“Our research highlights the link between parental characteristics and MMR vaccine uptake, showing how pandemic-related hesitancy may affect other routine vaccines,” lead researcher Eric Zhou, a pediatrics instructor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, said in a news release. 

Overall, MMR vaccination rates were higher in the Midwest and Northeast than in the South or West.

Parents on Medicare or Medicaid were about 15% less likely to have their kids get the MMR jab than parents with private insurance, results show.

“Addressing these disparities, through equitable access and fostering trust and transparency in vaccine safety, is key to protecting children from preventable diseases like measles,” Zhou concluded.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more on measles outbreaks.

SOURCE: American Journal of Public Health, news release, Jan. 16, 2025