Major Finding: A total of 11.5% of parents had refused at least one physician-recommended vaccine for their child or children, and 25% of parents said they believe some vaccines cause autism in otherwise healthy children
Data Source: A national online survey of 1,552 parents with at least one child 17 years of age or younger.
Disclosures: None reported.
Nearly one in eight parents in the United States has refused at least one physician-recommended vaccine for their child or children.
Ninety percent of the 1,552 parents surveyed online said they strongly agree that getting vaccines, like MMR, varicella, meningococcal conjugate, and HPV, can protect their children from diseases, but also said they believe those same vaccines could have serious adverse effects. Indeed, 11.5% had refused at least one physician-recommended vaccine for their child or children.
Specifically, 25% of parents said they believe some vaccines cause autism in otherwise healthy children (Pediatrics 2010;125:654-9).
Hispanic (37%) parents were more likely than white (22%) or black (23%) parents to believe that vaccines cause autism in healthy children. Black (15%) parents were more likely than white (12%) or Hispanic (5%) parents to have ever refused a vaccine recommended by their child's physician.
“It's reassuring that the vast majority of parents in the United States, 9 in 10, are confident about the protection that vaccines give children. However, the fact that one in four parents believe erroneously that an otherwise healthy child can get autism from vaccines is very concerning,” lead author Dr. Gary L. Freed said in an interview.
The belief by a significant amount of American parents that vaccines cause autism could stem from the widely publicized and controversial 1998 research paper published in the Lancet by Dr. Andrew Wakefield that suggested certain vaccines could be linked to autism. The research has since then been largely debunked by the medical and science communities and the paper retracted by the British journal.
Nevertheless, Dr. Freed said he believes the media has perpetuated the misinformation, thus, causing many parents (including 11.5% of survey participants) to take a “thanks, but no thanks” attitude toward physician recommendations of childhood vaccines.
“The media and their coverage of both the erroneous information regarding a possible link between vaccines and autism, and the celebrities who promote these untruths do a tremendous disservice to parents and children,” said Dr. Freed, director of the division of general pediatrics and the child health evaluation and research unit at the University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor. “The media would better serve the public if they were to focus on the information provided by those with expertise and training regarding vaccines.”
Dr. Meg Fisher, chair of the section of infectious diseases at the American Academy of Pediatrics and medical director at Children's Hospital at Monmouth Medical Center, at Longbranch, N.J., agreed, saying that pediatricians now have the responsibility to reach out to their patients and communities as a whole to dispel widely held myths and disseminate the correct information to the public.
“It is essential that we communicate with our patients and their parents. We must take the time and develop skills which allow us to communicate better,” she said in an interview.
“This starts with the skill of listening without interrupting—not easy during a 10- to 15-minute visit where lots of advice is given, and there are lots of areas to be discussed from development to safety to immunizations to medications,” said Dr. Fisher. “At the public level, I think as pediatricians we should be able to talk at community gatherings, school gatherings or media opportunities. For example, I've spoken at a synagogue to a group of people and also sometimes at the hospitals.”
Indeed, in the survey 88% of the parents agreed with the statement “Generally I do what my doctor recommends about vaccines for my child(ren).”
Additional reasons for childhood vaccine refusal—beyond fears of autism—included a general skepticism of newer vaccines, namely varicella, meningococcal conjugate, and HPV. HPV was the most commonly refused vaccine (56%), as 78% of parents said they believe there has not been enough research on it. A majority also felt the same way about meningococcal conjugate (67%) and varicella (55%).
Moral and ethical concerns also played a role in parental attitudes toward the HPV vaccine, as 51% said it challenged their belief system, while 59% said they believe their children are at a low risk for contracting the sexually transmitted disease.