More Parents Encourage Vaccination Than Discourage It, a New Survey Finds, Even as Coverage Rates Keep Falling

Only 10% mentioned the measles vaccine. The authors described that gap as an asymmetry, writing that "vaccine encouragers most often focused on measles vaccine" while those discouraging vaccination seldom did. This survey covers parents of 9- to 12-year-olds, not parents of infants or kindergarteners, which is precisely the population that drives the coverage statistics. Kindergarten coverage figures reflect documentation, not immunity. The findings do not necessarily describe parents of infants or kindergarteners, whose decisions drive kindergarten coverage statistics.