Americans’ trust in government childhood vaccine recommendations has taken a sharp downturn, according to a new poll.
The Axios-Ipsos American Health Index found that trust in the childhood vaccine schedule has fallen to 60 percent, down from 71 percent last June.
Meanwhile, 39 percent say they disagree with the schedule, up from 28 percent in June, according to the poll, which was conducted from March 6 to 9 among 1,225 adults.
The childhood vaccine schedule was revised in January under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., reducing the number of diseases for which vaccines are universally recommended from around 17 down to 11, closer to the approach used in Denmark.
Under the new schedule, several vaccines that were previously recommended for all children are now advised only for certain high-risk groups or through “shared clinical decision-making” between families and clinicians.
Vaccines affected include those for rotavirus, influenza, COVID-19, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and meningococcal disease. Key vaccines for measles, polio, and pertussis remain routine.
The changes have faced legal challenges. Earlier this month, a federal judge in Massachusetts temporarily shut down the changes.
U.S. District Court Judge Brian Murphy noted in his decision that Kennedy’s changes to the childhood immunization schedule were “arbitrary and capricious,” and bypassed the evidence-based review process that the vaccine committee has utilized in the past.
“Unfortunately, the government has disregarded those methods and thereby undermined the integrity of its actions,” Murphy, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, wrote in his decision.
But members of the Trump administration have framed the changes as aligning U.S. practice with other nations.
President Trump publicly supported the changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, saying in a post on his Truth Social platform that the revised guidance is “far more reasonable” and that it “finally aligns the United States with other developed nations around the world.”
Kennedy, who has a long record of questioning vaccine policy and has previously challenged scientific consensus on vaccines and autism, accused the judge of attempting to “keep the Trump administration from governing.”
But the poll shows that the public still places far more trust in pediatricians than in the federal administration for medical guidance: 35 percent said they trust the American Academy of Pediatrics most, while just 8 percent cited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Overall, 70 percent say they have little or no trust in health information from Kennedy—slightly better than their mistrust of President Trump or congressional leaders.
Declining trust in federal health guidance is strongest among Democrats, who say Trump-era appointees, rather than career scientists, are calling the shots.
The Daily Beast has contacted the Department of Health and Human Services and the White House for comment.
Still, nearly one in three Americans say they identify with Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement.
Meanwhile, nearly 40 percent see no risk in drinking raw milk, which Kennedy Jr. has embraced in his messaging, saying he only drinks raw milk and criticizing federal regulators for what he calls “aggressive suppression” of raw milk and other products that he claims “advance human health.”
That is despite the fact that the CDC warns raw milk is 150 times more likely to cause foodborne illness than pasteurized milk.
Most Americans also do not consider measles or other communicable disease outbreaks a major threat, with just 36 percent viewing them as a moderate or large risk.
Kennedy has made scientifically inaccurate claims about the MMR vaccine, including a now‑debunked assertion that it contains “aborted fetus debris.”
He has also argued that vitamin A and nutrition, instead of vaccines, will help stop the spread of measles.
Last month, an unvaccinated school-aged child in Texas became the first U.S. measles death in nearly a decade after an outbreak in the state.
