A KFF poll released today on how Americans view the rapidly growing measles outbreak found that most adults are aware of it, and though large majorities are confident about the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, doubts driven by misinformation linger.
With well over 800 cases already this year, the United States is on track to pass the last large spike in cases in 2019, given a large outbreak centered in West Texas, a spate of smaller outbreaks, and a small but steady stream of infections in people exposed during international travel.
The KFF team conducted its online and telephone survey from April 8 to April 15 using a nationally representative sample of 1,022 adults.
About half of adults (56%) and parents of children younger than 18 years (48%) were aware of this year's rise in cases. Some groups, however, were more worried about the outbreak, including Black and Hispanic adults.
The level of concern also shows a partisan divide, with Democrats much more likely to be worried than Republicans, 76% versus 28%, a pattern they also found with partisan-leaning parents (73% vs 26%).
When KFF asked if respondents had read or heard about the false claim that the MMR vaccine is more dangerous than measles, one in three adults said they knew about the misinformation, up 15 percentage points from a year ago.
The share of people who had heard about the claim increased in partisans, including Democrats, with...
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