Women of childbearing age are more doubtful than other adults about the safety of existing, recommended vaccines that can protect them from the seasonal flu and COVID-19, new survey research shows.
The findings come as a vaccine is on the horizon for RSV, respiratory syncytial virus, that is designed to protect pregnant people and their fetuses.
The new research shows that higher percentages of women of childbearing age (18 to 49 years old) do not think that vaccination against COVID-19 and the flu during pregnancy is safe, when compared with women age 50 and older and all adult men.
The survey findings come from the , which is based on 10 waves of a nationally representative panel survey of US adults, with the most recent wave conducted with over 1,600 US adults in January 2023.
Although a majority (53%) of women of childbearing age know that the seasonal flu vaccine “is safe for pregnant women,” 17% of women of childbearing age incorrectly think that is false. Doubts that the vaccine is safe for pregnant women are held by a much larger percentage of women of childbearing age (17%) than women 50 years old and older (4%) or adult men (9%).
This trend is even more pronounced with the COVID-19 vaccine. As seen in a prior wave of the survey, in August 2022, just over 4 in 10 women (42%) of childbearing age know that COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy is safe and effective.
But nearly a third (31%) of women of childbearing age incorrectly think it is false to say that COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy is safe and effective. Many more women of childbearing age doubt the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy (31%) than older women (15%) or adult men (19%).
“Because the COVID and flu vaccines help protect both those who are pregnant and their infants, dispatching misconceptions about them should be a public health priority,” says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. “That women of childbearing age are showing doubt in the safety of current, authorized vaccines is worrisome.”
The report finds differences among women of childbearing age depending on vaccination status:
- Flu: The US seasonal flu shot is considered safe for pregnant women by three-quarters (76%) of women of childbearing age who indicate they are vaccinated against the flu but only by 40% of those who did not report having a flu shot.
- COVID-19: The COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy is considered safe and effective by 59% of women of childbearing age who report having had the primary series of COVID-19 vaccine shots but only 8% of those who did not report taking COVID vaccines.
- Uncertainty: Large numbers of people—especially, women age 50 and older—are not sure if the two vaccines are safe during pregnancy. Among women 50 and older, 39% are not sure if the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective during pregnancy, and over half (51%) are not sure if the flu shot is safe for pregnant women.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends both the flu shot and a COVID-19 vaccine for pregnant people.
The Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) science and health knowledge monitor comprises survey reports that track national levels of health knowledge and misinformation over time.
Building on the Annenberg ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ Knowledge (ASK) surveys, which since 2016 have been focused on health knowledge and misinformation about topics such as the Zika virus, measles, and COVID-19 and vaccination, the Annenberg ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ and Public Health Knowledge Monitor generates indices of knowledge about such vital health topics as maternal and reproductive health, vaccination, COVID-19, monkeypox, and indications and treatment of heat-related illness. It also provides an ongoing measure of public confidence in the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
This second ASAPH report is based on 10 waves of a nationally representative panel survey of 1,657 US adults, first empaneled in April 2021, conducted for APPC by SSRS, an independent market research company. The tenth wave was conducted January 10-16, 2023. It has a margin of sampling error (MOE) of ± 3.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Some of the findings on flu vaccination and misinformation about flu and COVID-19 were previously released.
Data analysis for the ASAPH report was conducted by policy center research analyst Shawn Patterson Jr., and APPC managing director of survey research Ken Winneg. Patrick E. Jamieson, director of APPC’s Annenberg Health and Risk Communication Institute, developed the questions in the surveys.
The Annenberg ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ and Public Health Knowledge Monitor is a project of APPC’s Annenberg Health and Risk Communication Institute, which is funded by an endowment established for it by the Annenberg Foundation.
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