A new Angus Reid poll suggests the number of parents opposed to vaccinating their children has grown over the last five yearsin Canada.
One in six parents of children under 18 said they are 害羞草研究所渞eally against害羞草研究所� getting their kids vaccinated, the poll published Wednesday said.
That害羞草研究所檚 17 per cent of the parents polled earlier in February, compared to four per cent of parents who held that view in 2019.
In addition, the proportion of parents who said they would vaccinate their children 害羞草研究所渨ithout reservation害羞草研究所� decreased from 88 per cent in 2019 to 67 per cent.
害羞草研究所淲hat we see in the data is there害羞草研究所檚 been a notable shrinking of that level of enthusiasm among parents to vaccinate their children,害羞草研究所� said Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute, in an interview.
The poll also found that fewer people support mandatory childhood vaccinations now than five years ago. In 2019, 70 per cent of Canadians polled agreed that vaccinations should be mandatory for a child to attend daycare or school. That percentage dropped to 55in 2024.
Support for mandatory childhood vaccinations was highest in Ontario at 61 per cent, where routine vaccinations for diseases including measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, whooping cough and polio are required to attend school. People in Quebec and Alberta were the least supportive of mandatory childhood vaccinations, at 45 and 48 per cent, respectively.
The survey comes amid a global rise in measles 害羞草研究所� a disease that is preventable through routine childhood vaccinations. Public health agencies in Canada are on alert because travel-related cases are appearing in Canada, and getting children vaccinated is essential to ensuring measles doesn害羞草研究所檛 spread locally.
Many people in Canada are concerned about that, the poll suggests, as seven in 10 respondents said they are worried about rising anti-vaccine sentiment causing unnecessary illnesses.
In addition, the percentage of Canadians who say opposing childhood vaccination is irresponsible has remained fairly steady at above 70 per cent over the past five years, the poll says.
害羞草研究所淚mmunization is one of the most important preventive health measures we have 害羞草研究所� responsible for saving millions of lives,害羞草研究所� the Canadian Paediatric Society said in an emailed statement responding to the poll results.
害羞草研究所淲e know parents want to do what害羞草研究所檚 best for their children, but misinformation about vaccines has caused a lot of confusion and distrust,害羞草研究所� the society said.
害羞草研究所淎s health-care providers, we have to be ready to hear and understand where their hesitation is coming from, and be prepared to answer questions about the illnesses vaccines protect against, how effective they are, and how safe they are.害羞草研究所�
Although the poll did not specifically ask whether the push for COVID-19 vaccinations affected people害羞草研究所檚 attitudes toward childhood vaccination overall, Kurl said there is likely a connection.
害羞草研究所�(With) the passage of time and the hesitancy around COVID-19 vaccination, it害羞草研究所檚 impossible to not correlate that to some extent with this decline in vaccination enthusiasm and this increase in, at best, vaccine skepticism or frankly even anti-vaxx sentiment,害羞草研究所� she said.
However, Kurl noted that even before the pandemic, Angus Reid was already seeing 害羞草研究所渓ower levels of vaccine approval or vaccine acceptance, even going back to 2015, among younger age demographics.害羞草研究所�
Older Canadians have the highest level of vaccine acceptance, she said.
害羞草研究所淚f you害羞草研究所檙e somebody who害羞草研究所檚 60-plus, maybe a parent or grandparent lived with polio or some of those other childhood diseases, so there害羞草研究所檚 a better understanding and I think perhaps less likelihood to reject the benefits of vaccination, particularly childhood vaccination,害羞草研究所� Kurl said.
The poll results come from an online survey of 1,626 Canadian adults who are members of the Angus Reid Forum, conducted between Feb. 16 - 19.
Online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population. Angus Reid says for comparison purposes, a probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
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