Talking vaccines with each other

What can we learn from a survey of US citizens' opinions about vaccine research and policy?

Some people concerned about children and youths with disabilities may find themselves engaging in discussions about vaccines and vaccinations. In the current sociopolitical climate, those discussions can veer into adversarial confrontations that get neither discussant anywhere. For informed family members and professionals who find themselves in vaccs discussions, it probably would be helpful to know some more about the views of people with whom one is talking.

The Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan organization that provides data to inform readers about contemporary issues and trends, reported the results of a survey on 18 November 2025 that should be helpful to readers of Special Education Today. On 18 November 2025, Eileen Yam, Emma Kikurchi, and Isabelle Pula published “How Do Americans View Childhood Vaccines, Vaccine Research and Policy? Nearly two-thirds have high confidence in vaccine effectiveness, and about half trust their safety testing and schedule; Republican support for school vaccine requirements continues to slide.” It’s chock-a-bloc with intriguing information. Some of the data are about political matters (sigh), but there’s lots more, too.

Here is a list of the “key takeaways” they identified:

• A majority of Americans (63%) are highly confident that childhood vaccines are effective at preventing serious illness. And majorities say these vaccines protect both vaccinated children (69%) and the wider community (65%), though larger shares of Democrats than Republicans hold these views.

• By comparison, smaller shares of U.S. adults – and Republicans in particular – are extremely or very confident that childhood vaccines have gotten enough safety testing (53%) or that the vaccine schedule is safe (51%).

• Overwhelming majorities of both Democrats (92%) and Republicans (78%) say the benefits of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine outweigh the risks. Still, among Republicans, this share is down from 91% in 2016.

• Republican support for MMR vaccine school requirements also continues to slip, from 79% in 2019 to 52% today.

• Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to say medical scientists should have a major role in childhood vaccine policy decisions. In turn, Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to say parents of young children should have a major role.

Once one wades past the Rs-vs-Ds data, I think readers of SET will find some facts worth considering. One—parent, administrator, policy maker—probably doesn’t want to start a discussion about vaccinations with a question about the other person’s political affiliation, but understand how other factors (e.g., age, educational background, and more), probably would help to have a more considerate, genteel, and productive discussion.

For example, Pew’s survey showed that most Americans say that the benefits of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccination clearly outweigh the risks. Here’s a graphic:

Percentages of US respondents with various views about the effectiveness and risks of the MMR vaccine. Graphic from Pew Research 2025-11-18.

I encourage Dear Readers to review the Pew survey. In the current climate in the US, it should be helpful to have the larger perspective that it provides.

For those who click through to the survey, while you’re on the Pew Research site, take time to explore. There are other articles (e.g., How Parents Use Online Communities) that might be valuable.