WASHINGTON--A bipartisan majority of Americans believe vaccines are safe and that children should receive them to attend school, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, illustrating the challenges President Donald Trump's administration faces to win broad support for upending decades of health policy.
The six-day poll, which closed on Monday, comes as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has led the U.S. government to drop recommendations for several childhood immunizations and boosted federal support for states providing exemptions to vaccine mandates, such as for school attendance.
Some 84% of respondents, including 92% of Democrats and 81% of Republicans, said vaccines for diseases like measles, mumps and rubella are safe for children. The readings were little changed from when the question was asked in a 2020 Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Seventy-four percent said the government should require healthy children to be vaccinated to attend school, with 23% saying unvaccinated children should be allowed in schools. Nearly all U.S. states mandate vaccination for school enrollment, with some limited exemptions.
Trump has embraced many of Kennedy's priorities and those of his followers, organized under the Make America Healthy Again movement, which promotes fewer vaccines and healthier eating, among other policies. Public health experts have said weakening school vaccine mandates would result in more children being sickened by preventable diseases.
