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“It is an established principle that schools can mandate vaccines for children. The question is whether Covid is any different, ”said Robert Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis at Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, who designed the survey. “Since decisions are made geographically, counties and Republican states will be very reluctant to add Covid-19 to what children need to receive. “
The findings come as pediatric cases of Covid-19 increase across the country and local leaders question whether to force injections on students. California said this month that Covid-19 vaccines will be added to the state’s list of required vaccines for school attendance, and some local districts and the state of Hawaii have started requiring teenage athletes, members of groups and students of after-school programs to get vaccinated. Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers in many parts of the country have proactively banned Covid-19 vaccine mandates for schoolchildren, and some GOP lawmakers in Congress on Thursday asked Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to maintain authority. state to ban vaccine mandates in K-12 schools and colleges.
All 50 states since the early 1980s have imposed vaccination requirements for students entering school that cover vaccines against measles, mumps, and rubella. Forty-four states and the District of Columbia grant exemptions on religious grounds, and 15 allow exemptions for children whose parents oppose on moral or other grounds, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Vaccines against Covid-19 have not yet been approved for children under 12. On Thursday, Pfizer and BioNTech asked the FDA to approve their vaccine for children aged 5 to 11. Agency advisers should vote Oct. 26 on whether to recommend the shot for children in this age group. A final decision from the FDA is expected shortly thereafter.
The POLITICO-Harvard poll found that overall support for requiring public school students aged 12 and older to be vaccinated against Covid stood at 54%, up from 50% in June. Respondents from households with children aged 12 to 17 were very divided, with 49 percent in favor and 51 percent against.
Support for immunization mandates was also higher among communities of color than among whites, at 63% among blacks, 59% among Hispanics, and 51% among whites.
“For cities, it’s very important if they get a lot of cooperation from minority parents,” Blendon said.
Despite intense media attention on anti-vaccine protests, only one in 12 survey respondents said they were politically active on mandates, either by going to a meeting or public protest or by contacting a school. or another public official. People active on the issue were almost evenly divided between pro and anti-vaccine camps.
The survey of 1,008 randomly selected adults was conducted between September 28 and October 3.
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