Pew Poll: 83 Percent of Americans Believe in Vaccinations

Amid a measles outbreak that's fueled a controversy over mandatory vaccines, a new poll finds 83 percent of Americans believe immunizing healthy children for diseases like measles, mumps and rubella is safe.

The Pew Research Center survey shows 9 percent think such vaccines are unsafe.

The poll also found attitudes toward immunizations differ depending on education level and age.

The survey shows 92 percent of college graduates think the MMR vaccines are safe for healthy children, while 85 percent of those with some college experience agree, but only 77 percent of those with a high school degree or less believe the MMR vaccine is safe.

Among adults 50 and older, 90 percent agree the MMR vaccine is safe, compared with 77 percent of those 18-29, and 81 percent of those 30-49, the poll shows.

The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

A separate Pew Research Center survey released last month found widespread support for mandatory vaccines: 68 percent said children should be required to be vaccinated, while 30 percent said parents should be able to decide against immunizations.

Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Monday that from Jan. 1 to last Friday, 121 people from 17 states and Washington D.C. have been reported to have measles. The CDC reports 103 of the cases are part of the multi-state outbreak linked to an amusement park in California.

The United States experienced a record number of measles cases during 2014, with 644 cases from 27 states reported to the CDC in 2014, the agency reports; that's the greatest number of cases since measles were documented as eliminated in the United States in 2000.

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