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- cross-posted to:
- news
Vaccine misinformation, which first began spiraling during the Covid-19 pandemic, has grown in the United States in the years since, according to a new survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
More than 1,500 adults responded to the survey between October 5 – 12 and according to the results, the share of people who viewed vaccines as less safe and effective has increased since April 2021, when the group was first included on a panel for the survey.
Americans are less likely to consider it safe to get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), pneumonia and Covid-19 vaccines than they were in April 2021.
While still a small group, people with views about the vaccines causing autism, cancer and illnesses such as the flu or Covid-19 also ticked up.
Unfortunately a very large group of people seem to be taking an approach of “it didn’t directly happen to me therefore [either it never will or it’s not really a big deal],” and even when it does there’s a natural reluctance to admit fault so they’ll find something else to blame rather than rethink how their previous opinion led to their current situation.