Percentage of Americans who see flu and measles vaccines as safe is declining

The number of Americans who see the vaccines for Covid, measles and flu as safe is falling, according to a new report from the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center.

A winter 2025 survey of more than 1,600 U.S. adults found small but significant drops since a similar survey taken in 2024.

The perceived safety of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine – which provides 97 percent protection from life-threatening measles following two doses – is down by three percent, with just 83 percent of respondents saying they believe it is safe.

And, the proportion of people who believe the seasonal flu vaccine is safe has fallen from 83 percent in 2024 to 80 percent this year. There wasn’t a significant drop for the Covid vaccine between 2024 and 2025, but that percentage has dropped markedly since 2022 - dropping from 73 percent to 65 percent.

So, why is this happening? The researchers say they don’t know yet – despite massive changes in U.S. vaccine policy.

open image in gallery

“While most people continue to regard the flu and MMR vaccines as safe, it is concerning that we are seeing a decline in perceptions of safety over time,” research analyst Laura Gibson said.

“It is unclear whether changes in CDC recommendations during 2025 are impacting perceptions or whether the decline is a continuation of the ones we observed from 2022 to 2024.”

The Trump administration has changed a lot about public health in America since confirming Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., appointing vaccine skeptics to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory panel and issuing guidance on child vaccines that doctors said was “dangerous.”

Kennedy – who has questioned the safety of vaccines and was blasted for his statements promoting unproven measles treatments amid one of the largest outbreaks of the highly infectious diseases in recent years – told CBS News in January that it may be a “better thing” if fewer children get a flu shot.

Dr. Céline Gounder, a clinical associate professor at NYU Langone Health, later wrote that Kennedy had misrepresented the science he cited to the network.

The Annenberg researchers cited Kennedy’s “unsupported or misleading” claims about vaccines in their report, as well as federal health officials’ “variety of seemingly contradictory positions on vaccines” that “could undermine public trust and others in support of vaccination.”

“Let’s be clear: Secretary Kennedy is not anti-vaccine – he is pro-safety, pro-transparency and pro-accountability,” HHS Press Secretary Emily Hilliard told The Independent in an emailed statement on Wednesday. “His longstanding advocacy has focused on ensuring that vaccines and all medical interventions meet the highest standards of safety and are backed by gold standard science.”

She said that the secretary had been “clear and consistent” that vaccination remains the most effective way to prevent measles infections, and said the department is not limiting access to vaccines.

“The highly credentialed doctors, scientists, and public health experts within ACIP are restoring credibility to public health by following evidence-based medicine, sound science and common sense, returning decision making power to the American people,” said Hilliard.

Vaccine hesitancy in America was rising even before the Covid pandemic, but has been further fueled by misinformation as it spreads rapidly on social media.

Recently, this hesitancy has been tied to surges of measles, flu and other illnesses that have killed people in the U.S.: the young and the old.

“Our children are suffering needlessly,” Dr. Paul Offit, a professor of vaccinology at the University of Pennsylvania, said last year during the deadliest flu season for kids since the CDC started tracking child deaths in 2004.

open image in gallery

This year, the threat continues.

Levels of flu have been elevated to their highest in decades and the U.S. is now seeing its largest outbreak of measles since 2000 in South Carolina.

There have yet to be any measles deaths reported this year, but there have been 12,000 deaths from flu so far, including 60 kids.

And, Covid hasn’t gone anywhere, leading to hundreds of deaths in the U.S. every week.

Experts have said getting vaccinated is the best way to prevent severe infection in all cases.

“Although a strong majority of Americans view the measles vaccine as safe relative to other vaccines,” said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, “the fact that the number holding that view is below the 95 percent threshold required to achieve community immunity is worrisome.”