Research has shown, definitively, that vaccines do not cause autism – but somehow a decent amount of people still believe that they do. What’s slightly shocking is that millennials are the ones with the highest percentage of believers.
The chances of that demographic being influenced by the fraudulent research published in The Lancet back in 1998, which was retracted in 2010, seems slim. Perhaps a connection to celebrities like Jenny McCarthy have something to do with it, or even just hearing the words “vaccine” and “autism” in the news peripherally so often has had an effect on some young people.
A survey of 1,000 US adults by YouGov conducted between January 26 and January 28 show the difference between generational perspectives on the subject.
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Younger adults were also more likely to say vaccination should be optional, not mandatory, essentially leaning toward the views of people like Rand Paul and Chris Christie – also surprising. And 32 percent of the entire group said they thought it should be optional. (The survey question doesn’t clarify with specificity – like for personal/religious belief reasons or medical conditions.)
Granted this is only a survey of 1000 people, the numbers do suggest that the generations have a pretty decent range of opinions on the vaccine situation.
[Photo from Flickr user Richard foster]
