Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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We're the programme that looks at the numbers in the news, in life and in surveys. Yeah, often they're from surveys. I'm Charlotte MacDonald.
Chapter 2: What ideological battles are shaping US vaccine policy?
Vaccine policy in the US is something of an ideological battleground. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a vaccine sceptic. And since taking office, he has attempted to remake US vaccine policy.
Chapter 3: How has Robert F. Kennedy Jr. influenced vaccine recommendations?
In March, a judge blocked his proposal to cut the number of jabs that are recommended for kids. At the same time, last year saw the worst measles outbreak in the US in decades. There were more than 2,000 cases last year and three people died. There have been more than 1,500 cases so far in 2026. There's a lot going on, so it's possible the public's views on vaccination are shifting.
Then, on the 14th of April, a new poll published by online news site Politico added a big claim into the mix. Here's the article's headline.
More Americans doubt vaccine safety than trust it, Politico poll finds.
But is that what the survey actually found?
It's really important that any time you see a poll or a survey data point that is an outlier, that you pause. And that's exactly what I did with this.
This is David Higgins, a paediatrician and public health assistant professor who writes a substack called Community Immunity.
I immediately thought, wow, that seems out of step with other recent surveys and polls.
David's not wrong. The idea that more Americans doubt vaccine safety than trust it would represent a sizeable shift in US public opinion. For example, a Reuters Ipsos poll in February found that 84% of respondents said vaccines for diseases like measles, mumps and rubella are safe for children. A Pew poll from November found that 84% of Americans thought the benefits of the MMR jab
outweighed the risks, a slight fall from 88% in 2023.
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Chapter 4: What recent measles outbreak statistics are concerning public health?
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