Americans are increasingly skeptical about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines — and politicians on the left and right are reflecting these fears in their campaigns to win the White House.
Polls this week show that while most voters rely on shots for Covid-19, MMR and other bugs, millions of others have changed their minds in recent months and no longer consider them safe.
The surveys come as health chiefs warn about widespread online misinformation linking injections to death and autism, and that ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug typically used in animals, can treat Covid-19.
Despite these warnings and their public health implications, two politicians are building vaccine skepticism into their 2024 campaign platforms: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent, and Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida.
Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, which released polling data on vaccines this week, described ominous “warning signs” about the rising skepticism.
“More and more people are distrusting health-protecting and life-saving vaccines,” says Jamieson.
Her survey of more than 1,500 adults found that the share of Americans who view Covid-19 vaccines as unsafe rose from 18 percent last August to 24 percent last month.
Meanwhile, the share of people who linked autism in children to the growing use of vaccines rose from 10 percent in April 2021 to 16 percent last month.
Similarly, the proportion of adults who support the use of ivermectin to treat or prevent Covid-19 has risen from 10 percent in September 2021 to 26 percent last month.
The use of ivermectin against the coronavirus goes against the advice of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
A separate survey of 1,110 American adults by Rasmussen Reports yielded even more surprising results.
The rollout of the latest, updated Covid-19 shots has been slow since they became available in mid-September
Nearly a quarter of respondents – 24 percent – said they personally knew someone who died from the side effects of a Covid-19 shot.
While there have been cases of heart problems and thrombosis from coronavirus injections, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says serious side effects are “rare.”
Research shows the shots have prevented millions of deaths and hospitalizations in the US.
More than 1.1 million Americans have died from Covid-19 since the pandemic began, with the unvaccinated dying at a much higher rate.
The rollout of the latest, updated Covid-19 shots has been slow since they became available in mid-September.
According to Rasmussen, millions of Americans also say they would like to join a class-action lawsuit against Pfizer, BioNTech, Moderna and other manufacturers over the side effects of shots.
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr said in a podcast: ‘There is no vaccine that is safe and effective’
More than 42 percent of respondents said they would likely join such a legal effort, including 24 percent who said they were very likely to do so.
There are also signs that rising vaccine skepticism will fuel the race for the White House next year.
Kennedy, who recently dropped out of the race for the Democratic Party nomination as an independent, has long campaigned against vaccines, among other unconventional theories.
Earlier this year, he said in a podcast that “there is no vaccine that is safe and effective,” and told FOX News that vaccinations can cause autism.
DeSantis, who has been defended for his early reopening of schools and businesses after Florida’s pandemic-era lockdowns, appears to be embracing vaccine hesitancy to win votes.
The DeSantis administration last month urged Floridians under 65 not to get the updated Covid-19 shots — contrary to advice from federal agencies.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, seen here in cowboy boots, is beginning to doubt the effectiveness of vaccines
This week, he appeared at a “medical freedom” town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire, a state that would see early voting in next year’s primaries, and downplayed the effectiveness of shots.
The governor said Covid-19 vaccines were rolled out without proper research and that federal officials were wrong about their risks and benefits.
“We know the federal government covered this up in many different ways, and we need a reckoning,” DeSantis told the crowd.
Although DeSantis had more than 30 percent of support for the party’s nomination among Republican voters in early 2023, he now receives just 13 percent, according to an average of polls.
That is well behind the leader, former President Donald Trump.