In the wake of the Trump administration narrowing the recommendations for childhood vaccinations against meningococcal disease, hepatitis B, and other diseases — a move that prompted seven prominent medical associations to sue the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — public trust remains low.
A new KFF Poll on Health Information and Trust found that fewer than half (47%) of Americans now say that they trust the agency at least "a fair amount" to provide reliable vaccine information. That's similar to the share who said the same in September, but down more than 10 percentage points since the beginning of the second Trump administration — and continuing a downward trend first measured during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The recent decline reflects falling confidence among Democrats, according to KFF. Slightly more than half (55%) of Democrats now say they trust the CDC on vaccines, down from 64% September. About 4 in 10 Republicans say they trust the CDC for vaccine information, similar to the share who said the same a few months ago and in 2023 but fewer than half as many as said they trusted the CDC on the coronavirus back in 2020.
The poll also found that among those who have heard about the recent changes to the recommended childhood vaccine schedule, more expect the changes to have a negative impact than a positive one on children's health.
About half of the public (51%), and a similar share of parents (52%), say they've heard at least some about the federal government's recent changes to the recommended childhood vaccine schedule. This group, by a two-to-one margin, say the changes will have a negative impact on children's health (54%) rather than a positive one (26%). The same is true among parents who heard about the changes, with a larger share saying the changes will negatively impact children's health (47%) as opposed to having a positive impact (29%).
Democrats and independents largely expect the changes to hurt children's health, while Republicans and supporters of the "Make America Healthy Again" movement largely expect it to improve children's health.
"Six years ago, 85% of Americans, and 90% of Republicans, trusted the CDC. Now less than half trust the CDC on vaccines," KFF President and CEO Drew Altman said. "The wars over COVID, science, and vaccines have left the country without a trusted national voice on vaccines, and that trust will take time to restore."
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