Vaccines

With the incoming Trump administration and Republican-led Congress looking to ways to reduce federal spending, this Poll finds that the Medicare and Medicaid programs remain broadly popular, and more people favor more spending on those programs than less spending. Among potential actions on health, the public sees price transparency and limiting chemicals in food as top priorities. Few say so about cuts to Medicaid and restrictions on abortion.

This volume explores narratives linking vaccines to autism and misleading claims about the benefits of raw milk. It examines how trust and perceived expertise influence misinformation and AI’s role in spreading false mental health information.

This volume of the Monitor explores the growing opposition to water fluoridation, how misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines is influencing public health policies and trust in health authorities, and the balance between free speech and mitigating health misinformation.

This policy brief highlights areas in which HHS, FDA, and CDC have authority to shape U.S. vaccine policy with a specific focus on vaccine approvals and recommendations for the public. Ultimately, while there are limits, federal officials have significant authority to influence and alter vaccine policy, which could affect vaccine availability, views about vaccines, and vaccine use in the U.S. However, this does not include imposing mandates on or changing local vaccination requirements, as those authorities rest with state and local governments.

This policy watch provides an update on the latest trends in children’s routine vaccination and exemption rates and discusses how these trends could be impacted by the administration change.

This volume explores politically motivated misinformation targeting gender-affirming care, transgender people, and its impact on online discourse, legislation, and health care access. We also examine Florida Surgeon General Ladapo’s recent misleading claims about mRNA vaccines and new technology that can predict if social media users will share disinformation.

This edition highlights vaccine hesitancy and misinformation around MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccines as children return to school and measles cases resurge in parts of the U.S. It also examines emerging narratives around COVID-19 vaccine misinformation following the FDA approval of COVID-19 boosters and false claims linking mpox to the vaccines.

In this issue, we take a closer look at the reliability of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots as a source of health information. We explore public opinion on chatbot accuracy based on KFF surveys and highlight recent examples of AI-generated election misinformation in the news. In addition, we share our firsthand experience querying AI chatbots on health topics and discuss research on gaps in safeguards.

In this Monitor, we explore how ongoing misinformation about the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines may affect the acceptance of new vaccine recommendations. First, we examine the false and misleading claims underlying the Kansas Attorney General’s lawsuit against Pfizer. We also discuss the CDC’s most recent vaccine.

This analysis examines the latest trends in children’s routine vaccination rates, including the various contributing factors and policies affecting rates. As of the 2022-2023 school year, the share of kindergarten children up to date on their state-required vaccinations has not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.