Ruth Lynfield, MD, on rebuilding MMR vaccine confidence

A survey conducted over the summer shows that while most US adults (82%) would recommend that eligible children in their household get the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, the percentage has declined significantly since November 2024, when 90% of respondents would recommend the vaccines.¹

This is an 8% drop in the span of 9 months, showing how disinformation and misinformation are eroding vaccine confidence.

The Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania conducted the survey, which was done between August 5-18, 2025, among nearly 1,700 US adults on a nationally representative panel.¹

Ruth Lynfield, MD, state epidemiologist, medical director at the Minnesota Department of Health, reminds providers that they need to establish a trusting relationship with patients and counsel them on the previous statistics on measles morbidity and mortality.²

“There are parents who do have concerns about vaccines, and we need to really spend the time to sit down with them, to listen to them, to understand what their concerns are. People really need to come into the conversation with an open mind, open ears, and an open heart,” she said. “Everyone wants what's best for their child, and so, if you can really try to understand what the concerns are, you may be able to address it. Before we had vaccines, there were 4 million cases of measles a year. There were about 400 deaths a year.”

Aside from those who are vaccine hesitant, Lynfield says some families have not been seeing their providers for regular check-ups and vaccinations since the start of the pandemic.

“We have seen a lot of disruptions in healthcare during the pandemic…and it is taking some time to get those rates back up and to have families bring the kids in for their routine vaccinations,” Lynfield said.

She says making MMR vaccination easy for families, as well as setting up reminders in patients’ records for when it is time to get vaccines, are strategies to help increase numbers.

Other Survey Findings

A majority of survey respondents do not believe autism is caused by childhood vaccines such as the MMR immunization.

About two-thirds of the public (65%) say it is false to claim that vaccines given to children for diseases like measles, mumps, and rubella cause autism, though that represents a significant decrease from prior years (June 2021-July 2024), when 70-74% of the public agreed it was false to link autism with vaccines. (See chart below.)

Another silver lining in the survey was that the majority of recipients know the best way to prevent measles is to be vaccinated (81%). Additionally, 1% say “eating a healthy diet,” can prevent it, 6% say neither, and 11% are not sure.¹

Most of the survey respondents (67%) know it is true that the MMR vaccine usually protects people who receive it from getting measles for their entire lifetime, though 21% were not sure, and 13% think this is false.¹

Reference:

1. Public Not Highly Knowledgeable About Safety of MMR Vaccine or Risks of Getting Measles. Annenberg Public Policy Center statement. October 30, 2025. Accessed November 3, 2025. https://www.annenbergpublicpolicycenter.org/public-not-highly-knowledgeable-about-safety-of-mmr-vaccine-or-risks-of-getting-measles/

2. Lynfield R, et al. Wrestling with Measles in 2026. Presented at: IDWeek. October 19-22, 2205. Atlanta, Georgia.