Overview
- Majorities still consider the shots safe, with 83% for MMR, 80% for flu, and 65% for Covid-19, according to the Annenberg Public Policy Center survey.
- Perceived safety has fallen since 2022 for all three vaccines (MMR 88% to 83%, flu 85% to 80%, Covid 73% to 65%), and since 2024 for MMR and flu; Covid perceptions were unchanged versus 2024.
- The survey, fielded Nov. 17–Dec. 1, 2025, highlights concern that MMR support sits below the roughly 95% level often cited for community protection.
- Public-health context includes rising flu activity, elevated Covid-19 in parts of the country, and 2,144 U.S. measles cases in 2025, including 920 tied to a South Carolina outbreak.
- In 2025 the CDC reduced universal childhood vaccine recommendations from 17 to 11 and moved six shots to shared decision-making, stopped recommending Covid vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women, and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed 17 members of a CDC advisory panel; the AMA and former CDC officials warned these steps could erode trust, though APPC researchers say causation for the declines is unclear.