Parental Concern Over Childhood Vaccines on the Rise, Survey Reveals

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amended the emergency use authorization (EUA) and authorized a booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 shot for children 5 through 11 years of age. (ShutterStock)

A government survey into levels of parental trust in childhood vaccinations has found a thirteen percent jump in the number of parents with concerns about giving their children jabs.

The survey was carried out by the UK Health Security Agency (HSA) and examined the attitudes of parents, questioning around 1,000 people with babies aged between two months and three years, four months, and another 1,000 people with children aged between three years, four months, and five.

In the wake of growing mistrust of the government’s health advice and the pharmaceutical industry following the many reports of people being harmed and killed by the COVID-19 vaccines, more parents said they were finding information online about other vaccines.

There was an increase in people who said they had come across information that made them concerned about childhood vaccinations, with this being found through social media and online search engines.

Some 20 percent of parents were left worried about vaccinations after reading online content in 2023—up from six percent in 2022.

Despite this, the majority of parents said the NHS (85 percent) and health care professionals (86 percent) were their most trusted sources of information on vaccines.

The number of vaccinations on the recommended childhood schedule has increased dramatically since the 1980s, with many parents questioning the need for so many different injections and a growing interest in the debate around vaccine safety.

No Vaccine Uptake Meets the WHO’s Target

No vaccines on the UK schedule currently meet the World Health Organisation’s 95 percent uptake target in 2022–23, NHS figures show—although they never have, according to official data.

They also showed that the proportion of children who had received their first MMR jab by the age of five decreased to 92.5 percent—the lowest level since 2010–11.

While 83 percent of parents felt their baby would have all vaccines offered before they spoke to a health professional, following a discussion with a health professional, fourteen percent of the seventeen percent who previously wouldn’t allow them all changed their mind in favour of vaccination.

16 Percent Do Not Agree That Vaccines Are Safe

Despite the increasing number of parents expressing doubts about their safety, 89 percent of parents agreed with the claim that vaccines work, 84 percent agreed that they are safe, and 82 percent that they are trusted.

A majority of parents—59 percent—had not seen or heard anything in the past year that would make them concerned about any childhood vaccines. This was lower than the 2022 survey where 79 percent of parents reported not seeing or hearing information that would cause them concern.

Dr. Mary Ramsay, head of vaccination at the HSA, said: “The recent survey shows that most parents have confidence and trust in the NHS childhood vaccination programme and it’s reassuring to see that 86 percent of parents say that NHS resources and healthcare professionals are their most trusted sources for information.

“It’s completely natural for parents to have questions on vaccines and our survey shows just how important healthcare professionals are in ensuring parents get to know the facts around vaccination and the devastating diseases they protect against.”

In the UK, unlike in some European countries and U.S. states, it is not compulsory for children to have any vaccines in order to attend school or higher education institutions—although the campaign to persuade so-called “vaccine hesitant” parents to have their children jabbed has recently been ramped up with reports of a measles outbreak centred in the west midlands and London.

“Catch-up” campaigns have been launched, with young adults who may have not had all recommended vaccines—especially because of persistent fears of a link between vaccination and autism first postulated by Dr. Andrew Wakefield in 1998—urged to “come forward” and have any missed jabs.

A recent advertising campaign featuring children pleading with their parents to have them vaccinated was condemned as “sick and disturbing propaganda” by parents and medical freedom groups, who are in favour of properly informed consent, bodily autonomy, and free choice.

‘Inserts State Lack of Safety Evidence’

Anna Watson from Arnica, a pro-choice parental group with a focus on natural immunity that has more than 47,000 members, told The Epoch Times the idea that vaccination gives guaranteed immunity is false, and the picture is more complicated.

“Since the [single] Measles jab in the 1960s, our uptake [in the UK] has never, ever been 95 percent.”

“Every time there is a new cycle of outbreaks, they always say it is mostly in the unvaccinated, and they are saying that only three percent of people that have both [MMR] vaccinations will be susceptible to measles ... but it is hard to use their data, because if you have been vaccinated, you are unlikely to even presume that your fever or rash is measles.”

“So from a parent’s point of view, you might not even seek medical help, and if you do, we’ve had members saying that they go to the doctor’s, and if the child has been vaccinated, they’re not even tested for measles.”

She said in the 15 years that she has been running Arnica, she has come across several instances of vaccinated people getting measles—although she added that it is rare in both vaccinated and unvaccinated.

Ms. Watson points out that the vaccination inserts state the products have never been tested for carcinogens, mutagens, or for any impact on fertility.

She added that, compared to the risk posed from most childhood illnesses, “For me, I’m far more wary of my child developing a cancer .. and yet [with] these vaccinations, of which a child is supposed to get up to 50 by the time they leave school, there’s no research to say they are safe to take and there are no risks.”